Andy Burnham is likely to face a battle with the parents of children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) despite having the option to offer concessions to controversial reforms.
Providing extra educational support for SEND children – such as paying for taxis to take them to school and back – is costing local authorities billions of pounds, and they are racking up huge debts as a result.
The Government wants to tackle this by limiting the number of children eligible for legally entitled support by toughening up the criteria, and by educating more SEND children in mainstream schools.
Shorts
Many parents, however, are opposed to the reforms as they believe their children’s education will suffer.
