The mums forced to become legal experts for their kids PLUS Noel will ‘have it out’ on the red carpet
Hello,
The minefield of legalese and red tape that meets parents applying for special education needs support is, frankly, unjust.
The countless hours spent scribbling away and researching, the late night form-filling and the stressful waits for a decision pile further pressure on families already struggling with children in need of additional support.
My colleague Ethan Davies has been speaking to mothers whose applications for more help were refused by Manchester Council’s children’s services. They say they were expected to become experts in SEN law while waiting up to a year for an independent tribunal to make a decision.
A group of mums who all protested outside Manchester Town Hall last autumn, claim Manchester council’s children’s services team have:
- Denied an eight-year-old boy an education and health care plan (EHCP) after he was diagnosed with autism, and his school and parents asked for one.
- Refused to assess a nine-year-old girl with autism after she was signed off school for months due to ‘major burnout’.
- Failed to keep a long-standing volunteering placement for a teenage boy, instead offering ‘to take him out for a burger’.
- An eight-year-old girl was out-of-school for 13 months due to delays in sourcing a place – only for new school staff to say ‘they cannot keep her safe’.
Catriona Moore, of the Independent Provider of Special Education Advice, says these examples highlight a national culture within local authorities.
“It’s all in the law, but we have a situation where the law is widely not applied so parents have to become knowledgeable to find out what their children are entitled to,” she says.
“The tribunal appeals have gone up and up. It’s at record levels now, and absurdly high numbers of appeals go in favour of the parents and against local authorities.
“A 12 or 13 month wait has become the norm. The tribunal is absolutely swamped.”
You can read the full details here.
A win for families
Some good news now. A Manchester Evening News campaign to secure funding for homeless children’s travel has been successful.
Mayor Andy Burnham has committed to giving 8,000 homeless children in temporary accommodation free school travel.
Under current government transport rules, youngsters are only eligible for free travel if they live more than two miles from class (three miles for over-8s) and no ‘suitable school’ is nearer. But it’s almost-impossible to be further than two miles from a school in the city.
Fatou Tall’s daughters Bousso and Nabou spend hours on the bus every day, commuting from Royton to Harpurhey via the 409 and 81. They’re often out of the house for more than 12 hours a day, with her ‘oldest always coming back with a headache’, Fatou said in January.
A huge weight has now been lifted from Fatou’s shoulders. “Having extra money to spare will mean a great deal because it will make us more stable. The kids can concentrate and focus on their education,” she says.
Ethan Davies has been leading the campaign and has all the details here.
Hope, fear and flat whites
Sadiq Khan was in Levenshulme yesterday, on the campaign trail with Labour’s Gorton and Denton candidate Angeliki Stogia. The London mayor enjoyed a flat white at Grounded CIC while explaining that this byelection is a choice between “hope and fear”.
Ms Stogia meanwhile, insisted to our man on the ground Stephen Topping that the Peter Mandelson scandal has not come up on the doorstep. Rather, she said, people are worried about the cost of living, the NHS, fly tipping and investment in communities.
One scandal that DID come up, at least in the conversations I’ve been having across the constituency, is the reason we’re having a byelection in the first place.
Certainly in Denton – where retiring MP Andrew Gwynne had his constituency office – the reasons for his departure are well known. And as George Lythgoe explains here, the fallout from the Trigger Me Timbers scandal is ongoing.
How to make millions
Hospitals across England emit pollutants on a mass scale as part of their day-to-day operations. But Manchester’s hospitals are being hailed as groundbreaking examples of change that could stand to make the NHS millions.
Standing on the wind-battered roof of Wythenshawe Hospital this week, surrounded by solar panels, one energy minister said loudly over the noise of an extractor fan: “With things like these solar panels, they can make very short term gains on it.
“With the investments that have been made so far, they’re saving about £250,000 a year. I heard from the trust they have been able to disconnect some parts of the campus in some parts of their estate from gas, and have been able to see real savings.”
Greater Manchester will receive £4.8m as part of a £74m national investment, to clean up their energy usage and cut bills.
Our health reporter Helena Vesty has the story here.
‘We’ll have it out on the red carpet’
He hasn’t written a song for two years – but Noel Gallagher has been named Songwriter of the Year. Even Noel thinks it’s a bit daft but says he assumes organisers at The BRITs were ‘desperate’ to get a Mancunian on stage during the event at Coop Live in a couple of weeks.
“I’m not sure how I’ve got away with that one but I’ll take it,” he told talkSPORT. “To be honest I think they were just desperate to get someone from Oasis up there because it’s Manchester. Our kid said he’s not going.”
Noel said he understands The Brits is “all based on record sales”. “We sold a million records last year.
“Didn’t even get off the couch and I’m not sure there’s a songwriter that can match that. But you know, if anybody’s got a problem with it, meet me there. We’ll have it out on the red carpet.”
Weather etc
Wednesday: Light rain showers and light winds. 11C.
Roads: A56 Deansgate northbound closed due to new road layout from St Marys Gate to A6 Victoria Bridge Street until November 14, 2026.