SEND Funding

Daniel Francis Excerpts

Thursday 12th June 2025 Commons Chamber

[Graham Stuart]

The hon. Lady is two things: she is quite right, and she is tempting me down a path I do not want to go down—I want to focus on the distribution, because it does not get the attention. However, she is absolutely right. Labour criticises the performance of the then Conservative Government, but I think funding for SEND actually grew 60% from 2019 to 2024. She is right that it is not about who is in government—somehow, we need to find ways of capping this demand, which will outstrip any Chancellor, however well intentioned. That is an issue.

I will turn back to the point on which I am focusing, which is distribution. If demand in a system is growing at a scale that no Government can meet, distribution, although ignored, becomes even more important. If a system is straining and struggling, having grossly unfair distribution that no one seeks to or is able to defend—it is not a case of one party or the other claiming they are getting it right; they recognise it is unjust—is a major mistake, and we must find ways to balance it over time. It is not obvious at the moment that anyone is able to stop this imbalance between supply, which is so small, and demand, which is so big.

Colleagues will have local champions back home who do their best to fight against regional inequalities. I take this opportunity to pay tribute to Councillor Victoria Aitken in the East Riding, who is the portfolio holder responsible for SEND, and her role with the f40 group. For any newer Members present, the f40 group fights on the issues of and focuses on the funding formula disparities. It is technical and quite dull, but it is vital for the provision of services to our constituents. In her role with the f40 group, Victoria has been tireless in campaigning to address these issues within the SEND system, but sadly, the work of Victoria and others like her is not enough.

I want to share the story of my constituent Ellie and her son Harry, who is nine and a half years old and has ADHD. From the very start of his education—as early as foundation stage—both Ellie and his teachers recognised that Harry needed extra support. However, without an EHCP in place, the help he required simply was not available, despite the school doing all that it could.

Last summer, as Harry was preparing to enter year 4, Ellie contacted me in desperation. Harry was still only just beginning to read, and was spending his break times playing with children much younger than himself. Ellie had fought tirelessly to secure an assessment so that he could access one-to-one support, but the process was gruelling, and caseworkers were at capacity. Ellie had to give up her job to dedicate herself to the countless hours needed to complete forms, lodge appeals, chase responses and provide support at home. She put her own education on hold and, in her own words, has had to “battle the system” every step of the way.

Just last week, after years of delay, Harry was finally granted an EHCP. However, the school still does not know when the funding will arrive to put the support, which has now been recognised, in place. Harry will start year 5 this September, several years behind his peers. Ellie describes Harry as a kind and lovely boy who has been failed—not by his school, but by a system that delays, deflects and denies the support that children like Harry need. Yet Ellie remains determined to keep fighting, no matter the cost to her or her family, to ensure that Harry gets the help he deserves.

[Daniel Francis (Bexleyheath and Crayford) (Lab)]

I congratulate the right hon. Gentleman on securing the debate. I declare my usual interests: my wife is a special educational needs co-ordinator at a local authority school in our patch, and my daughter has an EHCP and a complex set of disabilities, so I have absolutely fought this battle myself. Does the right hon. Gentleman agree that what he has just described is a broken system that needs reform, and that whatever we see in the White Paper in the autumn, we will hopefully see reform that relies in particular on more training for all teachers across the profession? I think that is some of what he has just described.

[Graham Stuart]

The hon. Gentleman is right. There is a capacity issue, as I say, relating to demand. Getting people—not just specialists, but the whole system and everyone in it—to have a better understanding is really important. The hon. Gentleman will see that in his constituency, as I do in mine. It is not enough just to have the SENCO; it is about getting the leadership, the training and the right protocols in place to ensure that the whole system is better able to meet the needs of children, and that will then reduce some of the other impacts, including cost impacts, on the system.

In recent weeks, I had the privilege of visiting Inmans primary school in Hedon, where staff spoke candidly about the mounting pressure created by soaring demand for SEND provision—pressures that far exceed the funding currently available. At St Mary’s school in Beverley, headteacher Laura Wallis expressed her deep concern at the growing gap between pupils’ needs and the resources she has at her disposal, making it ever-more difficult to provide the tailored support every child deserves.

Young Carers: Educational Opportunities

Daniel Francis Excerpts

Thursday 13th March 2025 Westminster Hall

[Daniel Francis (Bexleyheath and Crayford) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms Furniss. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Harlow (Chris Vince) for raising this important issue. I know it is a passion close to his heart, and he knows it is a passion close to mine too, as a parent of a young carer—I will come to that in due course.

Fewer than 1% of pupils are young carers, but it is important to remember that there will be many more we are unaware of who do not receive the support that they desperately need. Too often, the sacrifices and hard work of young carers go unnoticed and unsupported. Many children will be unaware of the burden their peers face as young carers. Many young carers will feel as if their friends are unable to relate to their home life and the extra pressures they experience outside the school gates. Again, that is something that I know, very close to home.

I pay tribute to the all-party parliamentary group for young carers and young adult carers. Its inquiry in the last Parliament, whose report was published in November 2023, found that young carers are struggling to balance their education with their caring responsibilities. Young carers are at risk of poor attendance, low attainment and more challenging experiences in education settings, such as bullying or social isolation. Young carers told the inquiry that they find it challenging to ask for help with their education at home and do not want to add extra stress to their family members, who are often also undertaking caring responsibilities.

There is no doubt that pupils’ school experiences, both inside and outside the classroom, are fundamental in shaping their first steps into the workplace. Evidence to the inquiry highlighted how issues with attendance, attainment and experiences in educational settings have a distinct effect on the likelihood of young carers pursuing or continuing their studies beyond 18, as my hon. Friend the Member for Harlow mentioned. It also affects young carers’ and young adult carers’ ability to enter and remain in employment, as well as their experiences in the workplace.

The recent report “Caring and classes: the education gap for young carers”, published by the Carers Trust, found that almost half of young carers at secondary school in England were persistently absent in 2022-23, which means that they missed at least 10% of their education. That is equivalent to one day off school every fortnight, and because they are missing school due to their caring responsibilities, it can be difficult for teachers to recognise when a pupil is struggling and to identify the support and help they need. I therefore welcome the work of the Young Carers in Schools programme, run by the Carers Trust and the Children’s Society. The programme helps schools to support young carers by ensuring that they attend and by helping to improve their wellbeing.

More importantly, the programme provides schools and teachers with a comprehensive guide to identifying young carers. As a result of the programme, 94% of the schools involved said that staff were more likely to know what to do if they identified a young carer, and 94% had a better understanding of the support required by young carers. I hope that with the combined support of teachers, schools, parents and carers, young carers will be able to reach their full educational potential, and I commend the organisations, charities and schools that support young carers throughout their childhood, both inside and outside school.

I want to mention two other matters. First, I was lucky recently to attend the Bromley Rotary club’s youth awards in my neighbouring borough, which is in the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Beckenham and Penge (Liam Conlon). The awards recognised 36 people from 17 schools for their outstanding contributions to the community. I was hugely impressed that the majority of those young people received awards because they are young carers—they care for family members and in many cases also raise money for local charities associated with their family member’s disability. I know my hon. Friend the Member for Beckenham and Penge would welcome it if I paid tribute to those awards, which started 10 years ago with only four schools participating. They have now grown, with 20 schools participating.

Lastly, closer to home, I am the parent of twins who are 11. My eldest daughter has cerebral palsy and a range of very complex disabilities. Her twin—two minutes younger—is the carer in many respects, because they have that doting twin bond. During covid they were six and their mum was undergoing chemotherapy, so it was a very intense period for my youngest daughter. Her sister needed full-time care support and no carers were allowed in the house. She dealt with that admirably. My daughter is lucky, as my hon. Friend the Member for Harlow said. We got by, and she was certainly my No. 2 during that period in keeping things going in the house. We got through it, and her secondary school, where she started last September, recognises carers—it recognises the contribution that she makes and the support that she may sometimes need.

Particularly with twins, the issues become more predominant as they get older; my daughter has a sister who speaks 12 words, while she speaks about 20,000, frankly. As the gap between them gets bigger, there is still the doting bond, and the feeling of, “That is my twin, and I will be there most probably forever to support them,”—even after I’ve gone. Being a young carer is so important to her life, so I see that situation first hand.

I pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Harlow for his work as chair of the all-party parliamentary group for young carers, and for securing the debate. It is a subject very close to both of our hearts, as he knows. I look forward to hearing the Minister’s response.

Home-to-School Transport: Children with SEND

Daniel Francis Excerpts

Tuesday 3rd December 2024 Westminster Hall

[Daniel Francis (Bexleyheath and Crayford) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Mark. My constituent Jessica has raised the case of her son. The London borough of Bexley introduced a charging policy for post-16 children in 2018. Although her son has not changed schools, they now have to pay £400 towards transport to reach his school in the London borough of Bromley, despite the fact that he is on the highest mobility component rate for personal independence payment and Jessica receives universal credit. Bromley children in the same class do not have to pay that charge and contribution.

With the current system, there has been a crisis in school transport. My own local authority had seven local government ombudsman cases against it in 2017, and a further report found failings because the local authority did not remedy those cases. Because of those failings, we have situations such as the one that Jessica has raised, where she or her son must contribute £400 towards transport, and yet children in the same class with identical circumstances do not have to contribute because they live in a different London borough. The system therefore does need some reform.