MP delight at £1,560,475 from the government for brand new SEND service in Portsmouth

Portsmouth North MP Amanda Martin has today welcomed significant investment from the Labour government into local SEND provision. Portsmouth is to be allocated £1,560,475 to set up a new ‘Experts at Hand’ offer.

As announced in February’s Schools White Paper, the service is designed to provide children with early support and fast access to professionals like speech and language therapists, occupational therapists and educational psychologists. The offer will involve partnerships between special schools, alternative provision and mainstream settings to put support in place without needing to go through lengthy assessment processes.

Families in Portsmouth have expressed concerns about long waits in the SEND system, which has led to issues escalating to crisis point before intervention. Labour’s reforms set out in the Schools White Paper, including the introduction of Experts at Hand, are designed to move support earlier in the process, closer to home, without parents having to fight for it.

The final guidance for Experts at Hand will be published next month, setting out how Portsmouth should use the funding to start standing up the service and the grant conditions associated with it.

Minister for School Standards, Georgia Gould, said: “Too often, young people with SEND face a long wait for the support they need, holding them back from building important skills and thriving in education.

“We recently set out our generational SEND reforms to turn this around, and now, we’re getting on and backing councils with the funding needed to transform the system and make sure every young person receives the right support early on. “Our Experts at Hand offer will make sure families don’t face a postcode lottery in support by boosting teacher capacity and ensuring nurseries, schools and colleges across the country have access to a bank of specialists who are ready to provide the additional help children may need.

"We’re clear that opportunity is for every child and that’s why we’re also putting £9 million in to widen access to supported internships in every region – opening doors for more for young people with SEND to build the confidence, skills and relationships they deserve.

MP for Portsmouth North, Amanda Martin, said: “I’ve heard from families in Portsmouth at my local roundtables, surgeries and my postbag about the incredible waits they’ve faced to get the support their children deserve. It was really pleased to welcome Minister Gould to Portsmouth late last year to meet with local headteachers and hear directly from them the challenges facing teachers as well as parents.

“The motivation behind Labour’s changes to the SEND system is to put support in place earlier and more quickly, so issues don’t escalate and families get the help they need without a fight.

“Experts at Hand will open up access to specialist support that for too long has been unattainable, so that every child in Portsmouth can achieve and thrive.”

The announcement follows last month’s high needs capital allocations, where Portsmouth received a further £2,200,000+ to create new specialist SEND places across Portsmouth North and enable more children to attend their local school. The funding was part of a record amount allocated to councils nationally.

A public consultation on SEND reforms is ongoing. Parents, children and young people across Portsmouth alongside sector professionals, are invited to share insights, evidence and feedback.

Alongside Stephen Morgan MP Amanda is hosting a SEND roundtable this Friday in Baffins, more detail and information on how to book can be found here: https://amandamartin.org.uk/events/#send