THE “national scandal” of inadequate funding for special educational needs and disability (Send) provision must be ended by the government, campaigners will demand today.

Disabled children and young people, their relatives and supporters will protest in 25 places across England and Wales.

In London, organisers Send National Crisis will deliver a petition with around 15,000 signatures to Downing Street before a rally in Parliament Square in the afternoon.

One of their demands is for an independent inquiry into the “unfair treatment of young people with additional needs nationally,” and another is that a “significantly higher” number of schools make Send provision available so that parents’ choices of schools are not limited.

Send National Crisis co-founder Nadia Turki said: “We can no longer remain silent when our children are suffering for want of adequate government funding.

“We are demanding a necessary change to the framework to ensure workable regulatory controls, and to ensure Send funding is ringfenced to ensure delivery precisely where it is most needed.”

Co-founder Poppy Rose said: “Families say the lack of funding for support is having a detrimental effect on the mental health, life chances and outcomes of disabled children and young people.

“While the reforms extended statutory support to age 25, young people have consistently found it impossible to secure suitable education or training.

“It is an intolerable situation that means access to rights, equality, inclusion and the prospect of a bright future are being wrongfully denied to many thousands of disabled children. This is not just a national crisis; it is a national scandal.”

The National Education Union’s joint general secretary Kevin Courtney will join the group in delivering the petition to Downing Street.

The union revealed last month that Send provision in England has lost out on £1.2 billion since 2015, and that funding granted to local authorities has failed to keep pace with rapidly increasing demand.

The number of children and young people with an Education Health and Care Plan has increased by 33 per cent since 2015. Funding has only increased by 6 per cent over those four years.
 
Mr Courtney said: “Last year, when the NEU won an additional £350m for children and young people with additional needs, the government admitted that ‘more needs to be done.’

“We hold them to those words today. Get on with it.”

Events will also take place in Berkshire, Birmingham, Bristol, Buckinghamshire, Cambridgeshire, Cumbria, Derbyshire, Derby City, Dorset, Essex, Halton, Hertfordshire, Hull, Isle of Wight, Liverpool, Norfolk, North Wales, Suffolk, Surrey, Sussex, Warwickshire, West Sussex, Worcestershire, and Yorkshire & Humber.

BLOB: Campaign group Send Family Action will have their case heard in a two-day High Court hearing on June 26 and 27 against Education Secretary Damian Hinds and Chancellor Philip Hammond.

The hearing will examine whether the government’s current level of funding for Send is lawful.