Parents of kids with special educational needs forced to quit work

Three out of four parents of children with special educational needs and disabilities (also known as SEND) have been forced to give up work or cut their hours, according to a report by Sky News.

The report, produced in conjunction with the charity Support SEND Kids, found that parents of children with special educational needs and disabilities found maintaining a job difficult due to a lack of local authority help.

Some parents also spoke out about insufficient school support and a lack of employer flexibility.

In a survey of more than 500 parents, two out of five (40%) had to leave their jobs, and more than one in three (33%) reduced their hours. Mostly women were affected.

According to the Sky News report, the number of special educational needs schools in England doesn’t meet the rising demand of children with special educational needs and disabilities. This means children often have to attend mainstream schools on reduced timetables, while others are waiting months – sometimes years – for a place at a special educational needs school.

Caroline Withers, trustee of Support SEND Kids, says access to special educational needs provision is being “gate kept” by local authorities.

She said: “Budgets have been cut, and then local authorities have entered into agreements with central Government about the funding deficit they hold, and as part of those funding packages, they’ve agreed to withhold more places from children.”

She added that “the adversarial nature and withholding of support” in the system is “at the core of any reform”.

A Department for Education spokesperson told Sky News: “We want every child to have the best start in life and to give flexibility to parents, which is why we’re rolling out more Government-funded early years places, breakfast clubs in every primary school and wraparound childcare before and after primary school.

“We are also committed to putting inclusion and early intervention for children with SEND at the heart of the education system, and have already started that work by providing new online training to early educators to help them identify and support children with SEND.”