22/09/2026
If you DON’T have children with special educational needs or disabilities, please read this.
There’s a petition closing in 3 weeks, asking the government to protect the legal right to support for children with SEND.
If it gets 100,000 signatures, it will be debated in Parliament. At the time of writing this post, it has 57,665.
Many people signed a very similar petition earlier this year, before the schools White Paper was published with its disastrous proposals for SEND reform.
This one is different. We now know what a total car crash the SEND reform proposals are, and the government is still not listening.
So why should you care about these proposals if your child doesn’t have SEND?
They put the main responsibility for deciding whether a child needs support and what that support should look like on already overworked teachers, most of whom have little or no specific training on SEND.
They also give responsibility (and power) to local authorities - the same ones that break the existing law over and over again.
Over 98% of parental appeals to the SEND tribunal against decisions by local authorities are upheld.
That’s an extraordinary statistic - imagine the outcry if any other public or private body was breaking the law to this extent.
A carefully drip fed stream of articles in the media has claimed that the SEND crisis has been caused by pushy, demanding parents whose children probably have fake diagnoses.
A tribunal doesn’t find in your favour because you’re pushy and demanding, but because the law is on your side. And support is given based on actual observed need, not diagnosis.
The proposed reforms aim to solve the current crisis by removing parents’ rights of appeal and reducing the accountability of local authorities and schools.
How will this affect your child?
Well, there will be more children in your child’s class with unmet needs.
They may be noisy, disruptive, need a lot more of the teacher’s time and attention. The proposed funding will not provide the level of support they need.
Never mind my children’s education. Please sign and share this petition as widely as you can, to protect the education of all children.
Link in comments.
