Children and Families Bill – Government reforms to special educational needs (SEN)

The Children and Families Bill was published on 5 February 2013 and follows the publication of the SEND (special educational needs and disability) Green Paper in March 2011.  The bill can read on the UK Parliament website.

The Bill is due to have its second reading in the House of Commons on 25 February. We have produced a briefing for parliamentarians to urge them to seek assurances from Government that the Bill will recognise the needs of deafblind children and their families.

You can read all Sense’s policy positions on reform including our briefings on the Children and Families Bill.

The Government have set out the following timetable for the draft provisions:

• Pre-Legislative Scrutiny (Education Select Committee) October 2012
• Final drafting – December 2012
• Introduction to Parliament – January 2013
• In House of Commons – January – April 2013 (estimate)
• In House of Lords April – July 2013 (estimate)
• Passed by Parliament and receives Royal Assent – expected November 2013

The SEND Green Paper

On 9 March 2011, the Government launched a Green Paper entitled Support and aspiration: A new approach to special educational needs and disability.

The Green Paper sets out some fundamental proposals to reform the education system. These include:

• A system that provides a child with joined-up support from birth to 25 years
• A single Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) that will be delivered through a single assessment process
• The legal right of every parent to a direct payment for their child's special educational needs (SEN) support
• The replacement of School Action and School Action Plus (the extra support given to a child because that child has special educational needs) with a single school-based category of SEND
• The introduction of a "local offer" of school-based support
• All of the above proposals, including direct payments, to be piloted shortly for SEN provision

The Education Bill is putting the legal framework and supporting scheme in place now and the proposals will be piloted in the 20 "pathfinder" authorities (PDF 19KB) in the South East and South West of England.

In order to respond to the SEND Green Paper, Sense's Public Policy and Children's Specialist Services teams have surveyed the views of parents, children and young people.

We used the results of this survey to inform our response to the Government's consultation on the Green Paper and to make sure that the voices of deafblind children, young people and their parents are heard by the Government.