Local MP welcomes significant investment from Labour government into local SEND provision
Melanie Onn, MP for Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes, has welcomed significant investment from the Labour government into local SEND provision.
North East Lincolnshire is to be allocated £1,297,208 to set up a new ‘Experts at Hand’ offer.
As announced in February’s Schools White Paper, the service is designed to provide children with early support and fast access to professionals like speech and language therapists, occupational therapists and educational psychologists. The offer will involve partnerships between special schools, alternative provision and mainstream settings to put support in place without needing to go through lengthy assessment processes.
Families in North East Lincolnshire have expressed concerns about long waits in the SEND system, which has led to issues escalating to crisis point before intervention. Labour’s reforms set out in the Schools White Paper, including the introduction of Experts at Hand, are designed to move support earlier in the process, closer to home, without parents having to fight for it.
The final guidance for Experts at Hand will be published next month, setting out how North East Lincolnshire should use the funding to start setting up the service and the grant conditions associated with it.
Melanie Onn, Member of Parliament for Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes said:
“I’ve hear time and time again from families across Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes just how terrible their experiences have been trying to get SEND support – long waits, constant battles, and children being left without the help they need. I’ve raised this in Parliament because it simply isn’t good enough.
“I’m really pleased that ministers have listened and to have secured this investment for local families who desperately need it.
"The motivation behind Labour’s changes to the SEND system is to put support in place earlier and more quickly, so issues don’t escalate and families get the help they need without a fight.
“Families across Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes have felt the impact of 14 years of support being stripped out of the SEND system. Making sure help is there when people need it most is what Labour is about, and we’re now getting on with fixing a system that’s been left broken.
Schools Minister, Georgia Gould said:
“Too often, young people with SEND face a long wait for the support they need, holding them back from building important skills and thriving in education.
“We recently set out our generational SEND reforms to turn this around, and now, we’re getting on and backing councils with the funding needed to transform the system and make sure every young person receives the right support early on.
“Our Experts at Hand offer will make sure families don’t face a postcode lottery in support by boosting teacher capacity and ensuring nurseries, schools and colleges across the country have access to a bank of specialists who are ready to provide the additional help children may need.
"We’re clear that opportunity is for every child and that’s why we’re also putting £9 million in to widen access to supported internships in every region – opening doors for more for young people with SEND to build the confidence, skills and relationships they deserve.
The announcement follows last month’s high needs capital allocations, where North East Lincolnshire received a further £256,134 to create new specialist SEND places across Great Grimsby and Cleethorpes and enable more children to attend their local school. The funding was part of a record amount allocated to councils nationally.
A public consultation on SEND reforms is ongoing. Parents, children and young people across North East Lincolnshire alongside sector professionals, are invited to share insights, evidence and feedback.