Volunteers ‘won’t bail out government on special needs care’

Plans to give volunteers and charities a greater role in the assessment and care of children with special needs have come under fire from education experts.

A new Government green paper outlining proposed reforms to the system says each child with special needs or a disability will now get an individual care plan that takes into account their education, health and social care needs, replacing the current system of Special Educational Needs (SEN) statements.

SEN statements give parents the right to access various services and local authorities are legally obliged to provide the package of care outlined in them.

The Department for Education paper said: “We propose to explore how the voluntary and community sector could take on a central role in co-ordinating the assessment process and provide the support of a key worker for families of children with SEN or who are disabled.”

But voluntary groups will be unwilling and unable to fill a hole left by cuts in Government funding to local authorities, according to Philippa Hobbs, principal officer at the Council for Disabled Children, an umbrella group for professional, voluntary and statutory organisations.

She told Channel 4 News: “I don’t think it’s really the role of the voluntary sector to provide what in effect would be statutory services.

“How can the voluntary and community sector co-ordinate this assessment if it’s a statutory assessment? The state would have a clear interest in ensuring that there was a sufficient service that was leading to better outcomes for children and young people.

“I don’t see the voluntary sector either having the capacity or the will to step in and take on some of those functions. If the local authority doesn’t have the funding to buy those services from a voluntary sector provider, the voluntary sector isn’t going to be able to provide it.”

She added: “There’s quite a focus on early intervention. I think the concern will be that the very services that currently provide that intervention are the services that are being cut from April.

“I think the Government hasn’t recognised the impact of the cuts that are going ahead in local Government.”

The Department for Education say it will publish a prospectus soon setting out how voluntary and community organisations can get Government. Money from a £100 million Transition Fund and Prime Minister David Cameron’s flagship Big Society Bank will also be available.

“This will enable the voluntary and community sector to play a key role in putting into practice the reforms set out in this Green Paper”, the document states.

The paper, which will be subject to a consultation period before becoming law, has also been criticised by unions.

Dr Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) said: “Savage cuts are already being made to many of the specialist services teachers rely on to help them support children with special educational needs.

“Educational psychologists and speech and language therapists are being made redundant as local authorities cut their funding following budget cuts from government.

“As schools turn into academies and start acting independently we are worried that local authorities will have less funding to provide community education services and there will be increasing pressure on services for vulnerable pupils.”

But there was support for some of the proposed reforms. Barnardo’s chief executive Anne Marie Carrie said: “The new assessment process and holistic Education, Health and Care plan could help banish the time, stress and money currently spent deciding whether children should or shouldn’t be labelled SEN.”

The green paper also propose that parents be given control of the funding for their child’s support. These budgets are currently controlled by schools and local authorities.

Parents will also have a greater role in a simplified assessment process that identifies their child’s particular requirements.