BRITAIN’S largest education union has urged ministers not to cut legal protections for children with special needs as a survey revealed nearly one in two parents are worried they could see support reduced in upcoming reforms.

Government plans to overhaul the special educational needs and disabilities (Send) system are expected in the Schools White Paper early this year.

The National Education Union (NEU) has backed the Save Our Children’s Rights campaign to protect all Send children’s access to Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans.

The legal documents that set out the support a young person with Send is entitled to and their increased usage has led to spiralling spending for councils.

Education minister Georgia Gould has said that there “will always be a legal right to additional support” for young people with Send.

NEU general secretary Daniel Kebede said: “Educators see first-hand the impact of an underfunded Send system on children, families and school staff.

“The legal framework is not the problem: the lack of investment and capacity is. The government must listen to those working in education and commit to a properly funded, inclusive system that enables every child to thrive.”

A spokesperson for Save Our Children’s Rights said: “The current legal framework set out in the Children and Families Act 2014 has been endorsed as robust and fit for purpose by two House of Commons Education Committee inquiries in 2019 and 2025.

“We are calling on the government to ensure the Schools White Paper commits to protecting the existing Send legal framework and delivers the funding needed for a sustainable, inclusive Send system, regardless of a child’s category of need or the setting they attend. This is essential to support children and young people with Send now and in the future.”

A survey by disability charity Sense has revealed that 47 per cent of parents are worried their child with Send could see support reduced in the reforms.

More than one in three said that they had left their job because of a lack of appropriate support for their child and four in 10 said they had had to cut their working hours.

Sense chief executive James Watson-O’Neill said: “A shocking number of children are being failed by a baffling and underfunded Send system.”