2022 in Review
As 2022 draws to a close and I write my last blog of the year, I thought I’d reflect on the year.
This year we have seen a number of government led reports and reviews which aim to tackle the SEND crisis nationally. Sadly very little ‘new information’ has been shared and if anything the situation seems worse than ever.
In February of this year the Local Government Association published a report that shared nothing new in terms of the problems in the SEND system, and rather than acknowledging the extent of poor decision making by local authorities, sought to criticise “affluent” families for daring to take an appeal to SENDIST (The Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal). You can read more about it here.
More recently the government has published its annual dump of data relating to the SENDIST tribunal appeals. It makes for sobering reading – further demonstrating the chaos we have in the SEND system at this time. The staggering headline is that just 3.7% of appeals are found in the LA’s favour – what a colossal waste of everyone’s time and money. Given the exponential growth in appeals being lodged with a staggering 20% now reaching a hearing, it is no wonder that appeal hearings (with the exception of school transition and young people out of education) are now being lodged up to a year in the future. If you like statistics you can check out Matthew Kerr’s post about it here.
Meanwhile in the middle of the year the government published its SEND Review and subsequent to that a green paper “Right Support, Right Place, Right Time”, upon which it consulted, with a raft of reforms all of which appear to attempt to save money rather than, as purported, to truly improve the quality of provision for children and young people with SEND.
Closer to home, this year I’ve worked with some amazing families on what have been some of the lengthiest and most protracted cases to date. We’ve encountered everything from LA’s dragging their feet, seemingly to delay the inevitable, and consequently taking a full academic year to issue an EHCP for one young person, to a case where a young person’s existing school, under the mistaken belief it was doing the YP a favour, stated (with caveats) it could meet the YP’s needs, even though the placement was close to breaking down, and before the EHCP was issued, had done so. Thankfully in the latter case, a productive mediation meeting secured the right provision for the YP and they did not have to endure a lengthy appeal to achieve the right outcome.
Meanwhile, in the background I’ve been working hard on building a new online platform, where I will build a bank of courses which will ultimately cover as many aspects of advocacy as possible. I know that not everyone can afford professional support, and whilst there are lots of great charities who help families to navigate this difficult and emotionally challenging journey, sometimes being able to access timely support is still elusive. I’m hopeful that over time I can build a knowledge base, with a community around it, providing peer to peer support, backed up with my own knowledge, to make SEND advocacy more affordable and to reach a wider audience. Having heard that legal firms are quoting £12.5k + VAT to support families with tribunal appeals, it is more important than ever that the original EHC Needs Application is undertaken right first time.
We all know, as parents of children and young people with SEND that no matter what we are experiencing right now, it’s unlikely to be sustained for any length of time. So, whether this finds you at the top of the roller coaster, enjoying the ride for a while, or at the bottom, where life is a struggle and can be hard to navigate, know that this too will pass.
Wishing you a super festive season.