A THURROCK woman is calling on local people to support a petition supporting the rights of young people with special needs ahead of its forthcoming deadline date.

Joanne Lee from Stanford-le-Hope, who has a child with special needs, has been spreading the word about the government petition.

She says: "Over the past few weeks I have been sharing downloadable printed posters with shops and online Facebook communities to try and spread the word to SEND parents (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) and also schools/teachers.

"Thankfully the petition, which closes on Wednesday (14 October) has now reached the target of 100,000 signatures which will secure a parliamentary debate but the more signatures the better.

"SEND community and campaigners are extremely concerned that the government's proposed White Paper SEND reforms will significantly weaken legal rights and will limit EHCPs to the 'most complex' children.

"An EHCP is a legal document which sets out all the provision required to meet a child's special educational needs. An EHCP is currently legally binding: the support written into it must be delivered, and parents can appeal decisions to an independent tribunal.

"Many of these individual plans will be replaced with Individual support packages which will not be appealable at the SEND Tribunal. This will also remove school choice for those children and as a result more complex children will be forced into mainstream schools which could result in their needs being unmet.

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"In many cases where complex children are unable to attend school due to unmet needs, parents have to fight for support via the SEND Tribunal to obtain the specific provision their child needs.

"Many complex children can go 'under the radar' in mainstream settings, when their outward presentation or behaviour is misunderstood. Instead of being identified as SEND it can be misinterpreted as bad behaviour such as those with autistic profiles, ADHD or PDA (a complex profile of autism). This could leave them unsupported without the parental right to appeal to the SEND Tribunal.

Link to the Petition:

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/764268

The issue of EHCP statements has been making news in Thurrock this past week, with concern that Thurrock Council is not doing enough to support children in the area where there are long delays in issuing the statements. See stories: Council's poor delivery and SEND budget fears.