‘We were struggling’: Govt criticised over ‘lack of support’ for children with special needs
The government is being urged to bring forward its review into support for children with special educational needs and disabilities after claims that a lack of guidance to specialist schools has left disabled children behind.
The disability charity Sense says thousands of children have been affected after schools were forced to implement their own risk assessments without a blueprint from the government, resulting in inconsistencies across the country.
Sarah White, head of policy at Sense, said: “What we found is those risk assessments have been used quite differently and many settings risk assess children to be safer at home rather than at school. Those processes didn’t involve children or their families.
“For many children with complex disabilities, school isn’t just about education. It’s also where they access additional support therapies, where they get visits from speech and language therapy, they might receive physiotherapy and other treatments. So stopping them going to school was a barrier to them receiving the additional care and support that they would normally receive during the school day.”
Max’s parents have said his epilepsy has got worse since he has been at home
Sophia and Lee Tattersall say they had no say in the decision of their son Max’s school to send him home.
“For the first four weeks we didn’t hear anything and after six weeks we were really struggling,” Mrs Tattersall explains.
“His behaviour got really bad and he started attacking me. His epilepsy got worse.”
Weeks later, Mr Tattersall had a heart attack – an incident he says was compounded by the stress of not getting any help in trying to get Max back into school.
“You don’t get a rest, there’s no break, no time to relax or step back, enjoy yourself or free yourself. It’s 24/7,” Mr Tattersall said.
“He’s our son but he’s still like a full-time job.”
Sophia and Lee Tattersall say they have been struggling
The Department for Education says it asked schools to support vulnerable pupils, including those with education, health and care plans, to attend where possible.
A spokesperson said: “Our guidance to schools made clear that they should ensure pupils with special educational needs and disabilities were able to access remote education alongside their peers, and we asked schools to work collaboratively with their families, putting in reasonable adjustments where necessary.”
Paul Silvester said he could have done with more support from the government
Paul Silvester, headteacher at Newman School in Rotherham, says he chose to include parents and guardians in the process, but could have done with more support from the government.
“The problem was it was a generic statement saying everybody with an EHCP should come into school. How we were open was left to us. I would’ve liked more guidance from the government on that,” he told Sky News.
“Perhaps on the rota basis – whether every child should be in every day, guidance in relation to the transport needs of young people coming to schools, guidance in terms of family support – identifying the families which might need more support from school, and perhaps a little more nuance in terms of equipment and ways to make sure our children and staff were protected.
“I don’t think I’ve seen very much guidance to schools and particularly to special schools on what to do.
“The guidance we got was from our local authority.”
UK
Post Office scandal: At least 8 convictions may be linked to second IT system used by Post Office
At least eight convictions predating the Horizon Post Office scandal are being looked at by the body investigating potential miscarriages of justice, Sky News has learned.
The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) has confirmed it is examining multiple cases of former sub-postmasters affected by Capture software.
The computer accounting system was used in the early 1990s, prior to Horizon being introduced to Post Office branches from 1999 onwards.
Horizon was at the centre of the Post Office scandal and saw hundreds of sub-postmasters wrongly convicted of stealing from their branches.
The Kroll report, commissioned by the government earlier this year, found that Capture had bugs and glitches and there was a reasonable likelihood it had caused cash shortfalls too.
Lord Beamish, the former Labour MP Kevan Jones, has been supporting victims and is calling for the government to extend current legislation to automatically quash convictions.
The Post Office (Horizon System) Offences Act was passed in May but does not include Capture victims.
Lord Beamish told Sky News he has raised the issue with the Justice Secretary and called for a House of Lords debate.
“The government are going to have to take this seriously,” he said. “We can’t have a situation where we have a two-tier system where people get exonerated from Horizon and the Capture cases are either forgotten or have to go through a very lengthy legal process to get their names cleared.”
Chris claims his mother was wrongly jailed because of accounting problems with the Post Office software Capture
He added he had “little faith” in the CCRC’s “ability to deal with cases”, after multiple Horizon cases were referred to the body years ago.
“The problem with these cases is the lack of evidence… that has been destroyed or lost so actually proving some of these cases through that process will be very difficult.
“Therefore I think a blanket exoneration like we had with Horizon I think has got to be discussed and considered for these cases.”
The CCRC told Sky News it has five cases under review “in which the Capture IT system could be a factor”.
It also said it is “seeking further information” on eight cases referenced in the Kroll report.
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The CCRC added that the time taken for a case review to be completed was dependent on the “complexity” of each case “and how readily available information about it is”. In a statement, it admitted: “The availability of information can be a particular hurdle in older cases.”
Chris’s mother died earlier this year following a battle with Alzheimer’s and never got to clear her name
Chris Roberts’ mother, Liz Roberts, was convicted in 1999 of stealing £46,000 from the Post Office and spent 13 months behind bars.
Liz, who was in the advanced stages of Alzheimer’s disease, passed away earlier this year.
Chris said she was jailed four days before he turned 17, and he used to have “nightmares” that she was “going to die in there”.
“There was no evidence of any financial gain because they went through everything. And obviously the money wasn’t in our accounts because it didn’t exist,” he added.
Despite being offered “three deals” by the Post Office to plead guilty, Liz refused and was sent to prison.
Liz Roberts during happier times before she was jailed for theft – her son insists she was innocent
Chris believes that the 2019 High Court win by Horizon victims was a missed opportunity for the Post Office to look back at Capture cases.
“It would have been worth something then because my mum would have died knowing that everybody else knew she was innocent,” he said.
“My dad would have died knowing that the love of his life wasn’t vilified as a criminal.”
Chris wants his mother exonerated and “those actively responsible” to “stand up in court… and justify themselves”.
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Sky’s Adele Robinson examines Britain’s biggest miscarriages of justice
A Department for Business and Trade spokesperson said: “We were horrified to learn about the issues with the Capture system and are working closely across government to thoroughly examine Kroll’s independent report and consider what action should be taken.
“We continue to listen to postmasters and others who have been sharing their views on the report’s findings since its publication last month.”
Official accounts have revealed for the first time how much the King’s 2023 coronation cost UK taxpayers.
According to the accounts, the government spent £72m on the coronation – the first in Britain since Queen Elizabeth II’s in 1953.
The figure includes £50.3m of costs attributed to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), which coordinated the coronation, and £21.7m in costs for the Home Office for the policing of the event.
By comparison, Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral and events during the period of national mourning cost the government an estimated £162m – £74m for the Home Office and £57m for the DCMS as well as costs to the devolved governments.
The figures come from the culture department’s recently released annual report and accounts.
The department said it had “successfully delivered on the central weekend of His Majesty King Charles III’s Coronation, enjoyed by many millions both in the UK and across the globe”.
People walk past a souvenir shop during the coronation. Pic: Reuters
It described the event as a “once-in-a-generation moment” which provided an occasion for the “entire country to come together in celebration”.
Both the King and Queen were crowned at Westminster Abbey in May last year, in a ceremony attended by dignitaries from around the world.
A star-studded concert at Windsor Castle, featuring Take That and stars such as Olly Murs, Katy Perry and Lionel Richie, took place the following night.
It had been described ahead of the event as being a “slimmed-down affair” – with the country still in the grips of the cost-of-living crisis – and accounts show an “underspend” related to the coronation of around £2.8m.
Olly Murs performing at the Coronation Concert. Pic: Reuters
Did coronation boost the economy?
Despite talk of a coronation boost, the UK’s economy actually contracted in the month of May 2023.
However, experts said that was mostly due to the cost of the additional public holiday for the event, which weighed on output.
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Each bank holiday costs the UK economy around £2.3bn, with the extra bank holiday for the late Queen’s funeral estimated to have cost around £2.4bn, according to government figures.
With the extra coronation bank holiday, data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed negative growth of 0.1% during May 2023.
However, that was slightly better than economists had predicted ahead of the event.
Prior to the event, economic forecasters, the Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR), had predicted a boost of £337m for the UK’s economy due to the coronation – including £104m in extra pub spending and an estimated £223m spend from tourism to the UK during the period.
Hotel revenue was also said to be up by 54% compared to the same point in the previous year, while bookings for UK-bound flights for the coronation weekend jumped by 149% within 24 hours of the day being announced, according to TravelPort.
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