Children Wellbeing & School Bill

Children Wellbeing & Schools Bill – “Children NOT in School“

SEN Parent Support Group

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Problems with SEND LAW & moving forward with the imminent Bill!

This will impact us all:

The term SEND by definition has been used as per the CAFA since 1996, the send system is in CRISIS because children are NOT receiving the support they so desperately need and are LEGALLY entitled to!

Simply put: The SEND Crisis resolve would be about finding a way to ensure that children and young people get the support that the LAW states they should receive, not by implementing further legally binding ‘codswallop’ on the parents struggling to navigate this complex system in addition to taking away their freedom to EHE when the child is clearly able to take no more!

The narrative in the media does not work in our favour, it suggests that there are too many children that have SEN and that therein lies the problem. It also suggests that we as parents manipulate the system for the (I say this with sarcasm) “benefits we may potentially receive!” If only they knew, really knew how hard everything was!

It would seem that the system works when parents are EMPOWERED by the likes of us and others albeit to my knowledge no other group empowers to the level that we do here at SEN Parent Support Group.

The expectation within Law is built on the fact that the framework works from a schools point of view, to support the child. However, the onus is always on the families to PROVE SEN, due to the cash strapped schools not wanting to admit ‘SEND’ due to the funding they will then have to find! (see SEN Finance within our ‘Featured’ Section of our closed group for further details on notional budgets & finance’)

Although the SCOP 2014 sets out guidance for determining if a child potentially has SEND it leaves considerable discretion, due to lack of clarity, for schools to mis interpret this information and therefore there is no current ACCOUNTABILITY and this in my experience, is where it is all going wrong!

In my experience within this 15 years I have had within SEND from a parental / professional point of view it is not solved by Bridget Phillipson’s Children Wellbeing and Schools Bill, not in the slightest! In fact, what this bill potentially will do is cause further harm, and literally drive parents to despair and that is without even touching on the damage that it will cause our SEN Children, their Mental Health and their well-being overall. Yet this bill, within the realms of “children not in school” is described as “being in the child’s best interests and that ensuring the education to be provided is suitable”

Not only does this initially impact all of the EHE of SEND children, it has the ability and the momentum to impact & damage those EBSA children with unmet needs that are currently attending school at the moment. How?

If your child is averaging 3/4 days at school due to unmet or unidentified needs and your CYP needs continue to go unmet, therefore your child’s attendance further decreases to 1-2 days p.w. and their Mental Health declines at a faster rate, what can you do?

What options do you have?

Prior to the bill you could EHE. When (not if) this bill comes in, and when it does it could be as soon as May/June, what options do you have then? Well, you can EHE however, according to the Children Wellbeing & Schools Bill you will have to:

Register on the CNIS (children not in school register) in which you will have a statutory timeline to do so, and if not you can be fined up to 2.5k. You will have to prove that your child is being educated thoroughly, to which this standard has not been set in statute law, so, they could deem unsuitable at any point and initiate a SAO (School Attendance Order!)

If EHCP is already in situ you will have to gain LA approval first and the above will still apply! (working on the basis that EHCP is not working) – albeit you still have recourse to go to the Sendist Tribunal here.

The worrying thing here is that if you are not deemed to be providing a “suitable education” then they COULD potentially implement a S47 order then progress to a CPP, (child protection plan) if they deem this a safeguarding issue. This could be potentially implemented for a child that has EBSA and is accessing school, albeit not full time. As with anything that is newly implemented there will be a steep learning curve, and that could include misjudgement.

Join our discussion / debate / Webinar FREE on Tuesday 15th April 2025 at 6.pm. where we will be looking into this further and potentially looking at ways to protect you and your family now!

SEN Parent Support Group – Navigating the SEND Journey for better outcomes TOGETHER!