The f40 group, which campaigns on behalf of 43 local authorities that receive among the lowest education funding in England – campaigning for fairer and increased education funding, along with major reform in SEND – has strongly welcomed the Schools White Paper and SEND reforms, saying they contained much of what the group had been asking for.
Chair Cllr Alex Dale said: “f40 welcomes the Government’s commitment to solving the crisis in SEND. The Schools White Paper and SEND reforms set out a radical approach in how we provide support to those children who need it, while ensuring, as far as possible, that pupils and young people are able to thrive and progress within mainstream settings in their local communities.
“We urged Government to be bold and brave with the reforms, and we believe they have done that. While the devil is always in the detail, and we require more information to feel assured by all of the changes ahead, there are many aspects that we believe will lead to improved outcomes for children and a more consistent and sustainable system ahead.
“We particularly welcome the move towards standardised and recognised packages of support. These will offer consistency and equity for all children, depending on their level of need, with the focus placed firmly on early help and additional ordinary mainstream support, alongside specialist intervention, where required. We await more information on the funding mechanisms that will sit alongside the packages.
We are also supportive of the Government’s emphasis on locality and community, linking the education reforms to wider social and Early Years support.
“We do have some concerns about the timescales involved and the slow pace of change, given how unsustainable the system currently is and the length of time the reforms will take to work through the system. It will be 2035 before we get back down to current levels of demand, when support, resources and funding are already too stretched, and the interim period is bound to bring even more challenges.
“And while additional funding is to be made available to schools to improve inclusion over a three-year period, it must be acknowledged that schools will be taking on much greater responsibility for the long-term, so it’s imperative they are provided with sufficient funding, resources, and support to enable them to succeed.
“All education providers, including Schools, Early Years and colleges, must be resourced adequately, or they and the reforms themselves will be set up to fail.
“We look forward to learning more detail about the changes and welcome the opportunity to work with Government to ensure the funding levels and formula in place match the policies, so we have both an equitable and sustainable system for all for the future.”
