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Families Fight to be Heard in Lancashire

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Parents are now expressing growing concerns regarding attempts by Lancashire County Council, to hold Special Education Needs and Disability (SEND) partnership events across Lancashire. Following an Ofsted report which identified weak collaborative work with strategic partners and a failure to appreciate the views of parents of children with special educational needs and disabilities in the 2017 Ofsted/CQC inspection.

Their concerns demonstrate according to Cllr Sobia Malik “That these events show little or no intent in developing any form of meaningful and sustainable partnership. Parents are becoming angry that their children have become tick boxes to satisfy the Ofsted criteria.”

So low had the trust between parents and SEND services sunk, the independent body “Contact” was funded by Department for Education to help rebuild the relationship.

Sobia went on to say “At present there is still no clarity about the working relationship of Lancashire County Council (LCC) SEND service and “Contact”. It makes no sense that “Contact” hold their own meeting and they have not been invited to this first wave of (LCC) SEND partnership engagement events. The Children’s Services Scrutiny Committee stated that elected members should be informed of the (LCC) SEND events and they have even failed to do that.”

“Following the Ofsted recommendations, the Conservative administration should have shown leadership by ensuring (LCC) SEND service, Contact and the Parent Carer Forum were all working together from the outset. The county lacks strategic judgement, creating confusion and anger amongst parents. The Conservative Administration at LCC need to show some leadership if we are to gain the trust of parents of children with SEND in Lancashire. Families have clearly been let down enough by the system and they are fighting for the rights of their children to be heard. The planning so far does not bode well for the future of these children.”

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