A charity representing SEND children’s families, whose funding was pulled after Bristol City Council controversially withdrew its backing, has had the money restored in a major U-turn. Bristol Parent Carers (BPC) lost its annual £17,500 grant from the Department for Education (DfE) and status as the local authority’s official forum partner at the height of last year’s SEND parents’ 'spying' scandal.
But the two organisations have made amends, each issuing a press release to signify a new era of cooperation. Last summer it emerged that the council had taken steps to block the funding for the special needs charity just days after it was revealed City Hall staff were monitoring the social media posts and photos of some parents of disabled children, who had criticised SEND provision in Bristol.
The authority said the surveillance took place following a request from BPC, a claim the charity denied, and insisted that its withdrawal of support for the forum’s government funding was unrelated. At the time SEND campaigner and Lib Dem Cllr Tim Kent slammed it as “truly disgusting behaviour” that would leave the parents of disabled children to “suffer the council’s vindictive wrath”.
Read more: Government orders Bristol City Council to fix SEND parents crisis
A letter sent by deputy mayor and cabinet member for children’s services, education and equalities Cllr Asher Craig to the DfE asked the government to keep hold of the grant that year so the council could explore new models of parent participation. That began a long and ultimately fruitless route back to square one, which took a turn when a re-inspection by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission in October concluded the local authority had made sufficient progress to address four of five “significant weaknesses” in its SEND provision that the watchdogs found in 2019.
But the report also said the fifth one, the “fractured relationship” with parents, had not been healed, not least because of last year’s SEND 'spying' scandal following years of mistrust, and the DfE ordered the council to produce an action plan to fix it. The end result is that BPC has now secured the £17,500 DfE funding grant again for the next year and both the charity and the council have issued press releases celebrating the fact.
BPC said on its website that it was delighted to be “once again formally recognised as the Bristol DfE-funded parent carer forum after a year of uncertainty”, comments which appear in neither press release. That was followed by a quote from the organisation’s chair Hayley Hemming – also not part of the mutually agreed PR – who said: “With the support over the last year from our fantastic volunteers and neighbouring parent carer forum colleagues alongside Contact [the national delivery group supporting SEND families] and our local health services, we have remained committed to ensuring that the DfE funding is reinstated in Bristol for the benefit of local families.”
Cllr Craig said in the press release: “Representing all communities is incredibly important to our administration. I know that Bristol Parent Carers, who are already part of our community of groups, are, like us, committed to supporting and advocating for all SEND families.
“We are on track to meet our mayoral pledge to provide 450 specialist provision places by 2024 and are opening more specialist resources bases in schools across the city. Ofsted found that we have made sufficient progress in addressing four of the five key areas of weakness highlighted in their 2019 inspection.
“This is an exciting time and opportunity to be working together, with partners, to shape the future, make further progress, and create equitable opportunities for a valued part of our Bristol community.” Parent carer forums are a network of voluntary organisations across England comprising families with disabled children and young people who aim to ensure local services meet youngsters’ needs.
Read next:
Bristol City Council 'making sufficient progress' on SEND children but still failing parents
Bristol City Council scraps funding support for special needs charity in surveillance row
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