Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson is drawing up plans to overhaul the misfiring special educational needs (SEND)system in schools, with plans for a white paper due to be published in the autumn.
“If you thought winter fuel and welfare was big, this will be much bigger [if they get it wrong],” one Labour backbencher, who is in favour of reform, warned.
In March this year 20 council warned they were facing bankruptcy, due to the amount of debt they were building up because of SEND overspend.
And it is these the government wants to reform by placing more provision inside mainstream schools.
Parents are often forced to battle through specialist tribunals in order to receive the care plans, with 24,000 such tribunals being held last year, the largest number on record.
But ministers are confident they will be able to avoid another damaging welfare-syle rebellion over forthcoming special educational needs reforms, having learned its lesson about liaising with the backbenchers.
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson (Photo: Peter Nicholls/Getty Images)One MP, who is backing plans to reform the system, was adamant that it would not result in another backbench rebellion.
“There’s no doubt it’s a sensitive issue and there will be a lot of work going into it. Every single MP will have parents visiting their surgeries crying because they can’t get support for their kids. So,the argument that we shouldn’t be doing something in this space is tone deaf.”
A series of key meetings
Officials are also able to point to the fact that, unlike the welfare reforms, plans to overhaul the SEND system were written into the Labour manifesto, making it far harder for MPs to oppose the changes, given they stood on the policy platform at the election.
In a further shift from how the party leadership managed the welfare reforms, the Education Secretary has been holding regular meetings with different groups of MPs to spell out the need for change in this area.
square KITTY DONALDSON SEND reform is needed - but No 10 can't afford another party meltdown
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“They know they can’t let that happen again,” the MP said, adding that a failure to get buy-in from MPs would be “painful” for the Government.
Downing Street refused to rule out slashing education plans for children with special educational needs but insisted it would be “totally inaccurate” to suggest children, families and schools would lose any support.
“That’s why we want to actively work with parents, families, parliamentarians to make sure we get this right.”
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