Nationwide protest to highlight SEND crisis

The SEND National Crisis march will deliver a 13,000-strong petition to Downing Street at 12 noon calling for urgent funding for education for disabled children and young people. This will be followed by a rally in nearby Parliament Square from 1pm.

The petition calls for rights and equality for young people with additional needs in education, with demands including:

Locations include Manchester, Liverpool, Derby, Rhyl, Worthing, Birmingham, Dorset, Bristol and Newport.

The National Education Union (NEU) is supporting the protest and is calling for its members to join demonstrations in their local areas. Other supporters include the National Association of Head Teachers, the National Deaf Children's Society, the Disabled Children's Partnership and Simpson Millar Solicitors.

Analysis carried out by the NEU last year  found spending in nearly all councils in England (93 per cent) had failed to keep pace with the increase in the number of children with an Education Health Care Plan (EHCP), which rose by a third (33 per cent) since 2015.

Nadia Turki, co-founder of SEND National Crisis, said, ‘We can no longer remain silent when our children are suffering for want of adequate Government funding. We are demanding a necessary change to the framework to ensure workable regulatory controls, and to ensure SEND funding is ring-fenced to ensure delivery precisely where it is most needed.’

Poppy Rose, also a co-founder of SEND National Crisis, added, ‘The Government said austerity was over, but families say the lack of funding for support is having a detrimental effect on the mental health, life chances, and outcomes of disabled children and young people. While the reforms extended statutory support to age 25, young people have consistently found it impossible to secure suitable education or training.

‘It is an intolerable situation that means access to rights, equality, inclusion and the prospect of a bright future are being wrongfully denied to many thousands of disabled children. This is not just a national crisis; it is a national scandal.’