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This week saw the government announce an £80 million package to fund support for children and young adults with special educational needs and disabilities. A little more than a year after the SEND reforms first took effect, the £80 million will extend the work done by independent support, charities and local authorities to complete the transition to the new system.

This funding includes £15 million for the Council for Disabled Children’s independent supporters programme. This programme was created to help families navigate the new system and secure assessments and, when appropriate, Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans. This additional funding will extend the length of time the programme will run until 2017. The government also promised to fund this work in 2017-2018, to make sure that the new system is in place by April 2018.

Renewed funding has been allocated to the Family Fund Trust, which offers small grants to low income families with disabled children, and to parent carer forums across the country, who provide information, advice and support to families of people with SEND. Local authorities will receive more funding in recognition of the additional duties placed on them due to the transition to EHC plans – a detailed breakdown of funding per local authority is available here.

At Seashell Trust, we are delighted that families will continue to benefit from independent supporters as they transfer from the old system to the new. We have hosted a number of independent support drop-in sessions for Seashell Trust families and we are looking at the best way we can make sure our families and families in the local area receive high quality advice, information and support. Our close partnership working with Stockport’s parent-carer forum PIPS (Parents In Partnership Stockport) looks set to increase over the next academic year as we co-deliver workshops and training for both parents and professionals as well as supporting the development of SAYS, Stockport’s young people’s forum.