Lack of support for special educational needs in the UK

In the UK, educational support for special educational needs (SEN) children is supposed to be woven into mainstream health and education provision.

However, integration of care is not aided by the historic divide that has always existed in caring between “children’s nursing” and “learning disabilities nursing,” nor in the fragmentation of responsibilities for supporting special needs between the health, education and social services agencies.

Accordingly the UK government has been compelled to reform a system acknowledged as “not fit for purpose.” As Sarah Teather, the UK’s former minister for children quoted by Medical News Today, said in May 2012:

“The current system is outdated. Often it is not clear to parents, [nor] to local services, who is responsible for delivering on the statement of special needs. Thousands of families have had to battle for months, even years, with different agencies to get the specialist care their children need. It is unacceptable they are forced to go from pillar to post, facing agonizing delays and bureaucracy to get support, therapy and equipment”.

The UK system is in need of significant reform.

From 2014 the UK’s Children and Families Bill (now making its way through the House of Lords) would give parents new rights to buy-in SEN services and disabled care for children.

It will also legally require health, education and care services to work together to plan and commission services for disabled children and young people. A single unified assessment would give parents qualification for a personal budget for support, giving them, for the first time, some control over spending, rather than rely on their local authorities as sole provider.

Other reforms aim to streamline state services, something welcomed by Christine Lenehan, director of the Council for Disabled Children, the UK government’s strategic partner on the SEN reforms. Again quoted by Medical News Today, she says the reforms will tackle “the battleground for families by ensuring joined-up local services and clear local information”.