Last week thousands of parents and campaigners across the country took part in a Day of Action to highlight the national crisis in Special Educational Needs (SEND) funding. Claire Young spoke at the rally in Bristol, where she was joined by her council Shadow Cabinet colleagues James Arrowsmith (Children and Young People) and Jayne Stansfield (Schools, Skills and Employment).

Parents shouldn’t have to fight to get support for their child with SEND but they do – to get their child’s needs identified, to get early support in school, to secure an education health and care plan and to get that plan implemented. And it’s a fight that never ends, because at every stage there is the risk of losing provision. As councillors we hear from parents who feel like they are losing that battle.

In South Gloucestershire, as elsewhere in the country, the government funding for SEND hasn’t gone up as demand has gone up. Between 2016 and 2018 the number of pupils with identified Special Educational Needs in South Glos went up nearly 25%. To make matters worse at a time of underfunding across the board, South Gloucestershire is one of the lowest funded per pupil authorities in the country.

The children who are being let down won’t have another chance to be children. We will be keeping up the pressure until we get some action.

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