Colin Nickless 💚

Cllr Sam Journet has resigned from his post as portfolio for SEND in Essex. In his resignation he stated - Some of what I've seen from civil servants has shocked me and doesn't sit comfortably with me. EHCP requests have been refused, and there have been cases where I directed officers that a decision be reconsidered and that did not happen. I wasn't asking for a particular outcome. I was asking for decisions to be looked at again because of the struggles SEND children and their families are facing in our community. When parents are worried about their child and feel their concerns haven't been heard, as a SEND Councillor myself, that matters to me deeply and I will not stand idly by whilst that is happening under my watch. @_Chris_Coghlan has been leading the fight for SEND to parliament and raising concerns of misconduct in public office and officers ignoring UK law - 98% of Sen tribunals are found in a parents favour where the law has simply been applied Is it time for cllrs and MPs who have very real concerns about SEND council decisions to come together and work cross party for a statutory inquiry into SEND services across the UK ? Do these failures to support Sen children with education, health and appropriate social care also then feed into to other inquiries like the Mental Health inquiries where many people failed included autistic or ADHD people who had been failed throughout their schooling, bullied belittled and misunderstood and struggled during adulthood, or vulnerable Sen children groomed in care homes and part of the grooming gang inquiry ? @andyburnham has made it his mission to end homelessness , he must be aware that many people he mets are SEN and often undiagnosed slipping through the cracks of society, had an education that didn’t work for them, vulnerable to abuse exploitation and often fleeing to escape abuse , not managing to stay in education or struggling to get a job and manage a household, some with things like undiagnosed ADHD self medicating via drugs. Because often when we see a homeless adult we don’t stop and wonder their origin story Andy Burnham has also stated he wants to work cross party to fix issues including social care, his stated he wants more options at age 14 for children who prefer more technical skills courses. His stated he wants to address misogyny- well that happens to Sen woman and girls who wait insane lengths of time to get a proper diagnosis compared to men and boys and this again impacts their education, health and care through out their childhood and on into adulthood. Cllr Journet from his statement clearly wanted to make changes and improve Sen services and felt he wasn’t able to do so and had concerns about some decisions - are regulators demanding accountability where faults are found and has the government given these regulators the teeth to actually make a difference ? Ultimately public services are funded by public funds so it is only right that should include accountability on why so many decisions are being made badly - the councils in England win just 2% of cases where UK law is simply applied at SEN tribunal, yet SEN tribunals include multiple council staff and often barristers. These people are not free they are being paid via your taxes to argue claims that have legal merit just 2% of the time whilst denying the lawful school place and therapies that child needs in the year wait to get to a final hearing something that Cllr Playle perhaps should of thought about before commenting - adhering to the law should not be viewed as “lofty” bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crz6… #CouncillorResignation #CouncilAccountability #PublicMoney #TaxpayersMoney #CouncilTax #PublicTransparency #LocalDemocracy #PublicInterest #SEND #EHCP #EssexPolitics @TaniaLT @stevenmwright @NicklessColin @mariecgoldman @LibDems @UKLabour @Shelter @LabourKeriHowe @sheilaoliver16 @RupertLowe10 @EdwardJDavey @c22cuk @Autismmother1 @reformparty_uk