Education minister Georgia Gould was asked multiple times this morning on BBC Breakfast whether she could confirm no child will lose their education, health and care plan (ECHP) under Labour’s special educational needs reforms. She refused to do so:
“We are saying that education, health care plans are a really important part of the new system. We are creating new layers of support. We’ll be saying more about that later. We we will be transitioning to a new system. So the system is going to feel completely different and we’re going to have new legal frameworks that govern the support in mainstream schools.”
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson will unveil the SEND reforms later today, waving through a £4 billion “investment” package to sell the overhaul. Labour backbenchers are already twitchy about what it means for EHCPs – the legally binding plans that spell out what support children are entitled to. A leak of the proposals to the Times suggests children with less complex needs will see their EHCPs reviewed at set trigger points, raising fears that support could quietly be scaled back. After weeks of grumbling on the green benches, Starmer looks to be bracing for yet another backbench rebellion…
Starmer was read out a list of his 13 U-turns on BBC Radio 2, to which he responded:
“Well, I am a common sense merchant.”