Leicestershire SEND National Crisis PAGE

Leicestershire SEND National Crisis PAGE Welcome to the Leicestershire SEND national crisis group.

The SEND National Crisis is a parent led organisation and are a part of the National SEND Alliance https://sendcommunityalliance.org.uk/.

24/04/2026
19/04/2026
16/04/2026
29/03/2026

White Paper (noun):
A document in which the government explains what it might do…
before quietly talking about it as if it already has.

Dear The Labour Party politicians—

a quick refresher, since this seems to have been misplaced somewhere between the press briefings and the talking points.

A White Paper is:
• a proposal
• a statement of intent
• a “we’re thinking about it” document

It is not:
• law
• policy in force
• a magic wand that dissolves existing legal protections if repeated confidently enough

And yet—

here we are.

Watching it being discussed as if:
• rights have already changed
• protections have already been reduced
• and families just need to get used to the new reality

Efficient.

Not accurate, but efficient.

Because as things stand—right now, today—

The law still applies.

Children are still entitled to provision that is:
specific, quantified, and enforceable

Not:
“as appropriate”
Not:
“within available resources”
Not:
“subject to how the system is feeling that day”

Of course, if the plan is to move towards:
• less specificity
• less enforceability
• more “flexibility”

Then let’s call it what it is:

A proposal.

Not a done deal.
Not inevitable.
Not something the public has quietly agreed to while reading the small print.

Meanwhile—

The Conservatives have mastered the art of strategic silence.
Labour MPs appear to be reading from the same laminated cue card.
And the rest of the system is behaving as if disabled children are an optional subplot.

They’re not.

A consultation, traditionally, is the bit where you:

👉 listen

Not the bit where you announce the ending and invite feedback on the font.

So just to clarify—

You can repeat it.
You can reframe it.
You can say it slowly and with great confidence.

But until it goes through Parliament…

It’s still only a proposal.

20/03/2026

“Wraparound care for every child.”
But not yours.

That’s the bit they don’t say out loud.

We keep hearing it.

Breakfast clubs.
After-school clubs.
Wraparound care.

More support for working families.
More opportunity for children.

It sounds brilliant.

On paper.

But here’s the reality for SEND parents:

👉 Our children often can’t access it.

Not because we don’t want to.
Not because our children don’t need it.

But because the support simply isn’t there.

No trained staff.
No understanding of needs.
No flexibility.
No funding for the additional support required.

So what happens?

You’re told:

“We can’t meet their needs.”
“We don’t have capacity.”
“It wouldn’t be safe.”
“We’re not equipped for that level of support.”

And just like that…

your child is excluded
from something being promoted as “for all”.

This is the part that doesn’t get said out loud.

When policies are designed around the “average child”…

SEND children don’t just get left behind.

They get quietly filtered out.

So while headlines talk about:

👉 helping parents back to work
👉 extending the school day
👉 supporting families

SEND parents are still asking a much more basic question:

Can my child even stay?

Because without proper support in place,
wraparound care isn’t inclusive.

It’s conditional.

And the impact is real.

Parents unable to work.
Families under pressure.
Children missing out on social time, structure, and belonging.

This isn’t about criticising the idea.

It’s about the gap between:

👉 what is being promised
and
👉 who can actually access it

Because “available” doesn’t mean “accessible”.

And SEND families know that better than anyone.

If wraparound care is going to work…

it has to work for all children.

Not just the ones who fit easily into it.

Until then, this isn’t universal support.

It’s selective access.

And if your policy only works for some children…
it was never built for all of them in the first place.

19/03/2026

They’ve already decided.
And they’re still calling it a consultation.

I don’t think people fully understand what’s just come out.
Because it changes how we need to read everything.

The Government has responded to a legal challenge around the SEND reforms.

And in that response, they’ve said something that should stop all of us in our tracks:

👉 They don’t believe they have a duty to consult
on some of the most significant changes.

👉 Including changes to Tribunal powers
👉 And shifting responsibility for EHCP provision
from local authorities… to schools

Why?

Because those decisions have already been made.

Read that again.

While families are sitting here:

• spending weeks trying to understand the consultation
• trying to answer it properly
• trying to have a voice

Some of the biggest decisions about our children’s rights
may not even be up for discussion.

So what exactly are we being asked?

Because this is where it starts to unravel.

A consultation is supposed to shape decisions.
Not follow them.

And yet many of us have already felt it.

That sense that something isn’t quite right.
That the direction feels… fixed.
That no matter how carefully you respond,
you’re working around something that’s already been set.

This is why.

If you remove:

• the ability to challenge through Tribunal
• clear legal accountability
• and shift responsibility onto systems already under strain

without properly consulting on it…

you are not reforming the system.

You are redesigning how access to support is controlled.

And parents feel that.
Even if they can’t always put it into words.

This is the bit that hurts the most:

Families do this in good faith.

We learn the law.
We gather evidence.
We sit in meetings.
We fight for support that should already be there.

Because we believe it matters.
Because we believe our voices count.

But what if…

on the decisions that matter most…

they already don’t?

This isn’t about being dramatic.

This is about something very simple:

You cannot decide the outcome first
and call the process consultation after.

And if that is what is happening here…

then this isn’t just a broken system anymore.

👉 It’s a managed one.

⚠️ Important: This is based on a reported legal challenge and the Government’s response to it. It has not yet been tested in court and may be clarified further.

If you’re reading the consultation and thinking
“why does this feel so hard to answer properly?”

You’re not imagining it.

You’re trying to respond to something
that may already have its direction set.

And that’s something we all need to understand.

17/03/2026

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Leicester

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