New report calls for urgent improvements to an ‘entirely broken’ SEND support system
Kids, the charity dedicated to supporting children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities, young carers and families, has released a new report into what it describes as the entirely broken SEND support system.
The report, named ‘On the Cliff Edge’ documents wide-ranging experiences of young people with SEND including young people left without any support for two years before they could access adults’ services; cases of young people being evicted unlawfully or being dismissed from their job without being offered adequate support; and cases of young people, especially those with the most complex needs, who are excluded from society.
The ‘cliff edge’ depicts how the support system is leaving too many young people with SEND and their parents on ‘the precipice’ with that precipice becoming steeper the more complex the needs of the young person. The report describes how it is too hard to find information about options for the future, leaving young people waiting without the vital support they need, and then failing to meaningfully include them in society.
The report calls for transitions into adulthood to be transformed recommending that the Government must step up and demonstrate action on a national level to fix the disjointed transitions support system by appointing a Minister for Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), who will take responsibility for fixing the disjointed transition support system and close the support gaps.
Katie Ghose, Kids Chief Executive, said “the term ‘cliff edge’ crops up again and again. Whatever pathway young people with SEND they have been navigating through childhood, the cliff edge comes as they face a huge gap in support when they move from children’s to adults’ services. This leaves so many families desperately struggling to fill the gap. Fresh thinking and urgent action are needed”.
Read the full report here.
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Published on 10th May 2024