A single mother who pays for her daughter with special educational needs to go to an independent school by working during the day and in the evenings has begged Keir Starmer to ‘reconsider’ the policy to impose VAT on fees.
Amy, whose daughter will become profoundly deaf, said her child was not able to manage in a mainstream school and said the policy would have 'a massively detrimental impact' on her and her child.
Speaking on GB News Amy said: “As a single parent to a child with special educational needs, I have felt no choice but to send my child to an independent school, and this VAT increase in fees would have a massively detrimental impact on me as a mum who has to work additional hours to try and afford to pay for my child to go to that school.
“So I have a six year old daughter. She is currently in Year One at school. She has a sensory neuro and hearing loss, which is permanent and progressive in nature, so eventually she will become profoundly deaf.
“She started off in reception at our local mainstream school, and we lasted four months before I had to move her because she just could not cope in the large mainstream school and the sensory environment was too much for her.
“She was dysregulated and she really needed a calm, small, nurturing class. So in the end, the situation got worse and worse, and I decided to move her.
“There's been a huge improvement in her mental well being. She's much happier. She's able to settle and she's able to remain in the classroom. She has lots of friends and a lot of the issues that were apparent in the state mainstream school have now subsided. She's far more supported in her current school than what she was previously.
“It was horrendous [in mainstream schooling]. It was horrendous to see my beautiful, lovely, well behaved five year old change in a matter of weeks. It was devastating, and I had all sorts of things thrown at me. ‘Maybe she's behaving like this because you're a single parent, and maybe it's because her father passed away.’
“Actually, no; her needs just aren’t being met as a SEN child, your school is not able to give her the resources that she requires. Hence there was such a breakdown in placement.
“At the moment, it takes over a year for an EHCP [Education, health and care plan] to be granted, and that requires significant resource and fighting from the parents, on top of looking after a child with additional needs.
“So I can say that there is no funding at all: I have not received any funding from my daughter to attend her independent school.
“I have applied for an EHCP. We are now 56 weeks along the line, the statutory deadline is 20 weeks, and I still haven't got a final plan.
“And in that, a lot of her needs have been removed from the county council, so I'm currently in a battle to try to get those needs to get back into the plan so she can have the appropriate placement listed on that legal document.
“I don't have loads of money. I am a freelance interpreter myself, and I always used to work nine to five, Monday to Friday. However, since sending her to the school and for me to be able to pay my fees, I work three additional evenings a week.
“So I put her to bed at seven, I log on at 1930 and I work until 12 o'clock at night, three times a week to be able to have the funds to pay her fees.
“I just hope that [Starmer] really consider this, particularly for the children, the SEN children, who are in independent schools. You're not going to save money because their needs need to be met in a state school that's going to require even more funding than in an independent school. Please reconsider it for these children.”
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