‘Everyone went home with a fire in their belly’: Success in presenting petition for SEND families to Downing Street

The ‘No School Fines’ campaign was presented to Downing Street, which was successful in raising awareness of the impact of school fines and prosecutions on families nationally.

This comes as the families of children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) are threatened with action for missing school.

In order to get to the bottom of what their child is experiencing and get a diagnosis, school has to be missed for assessments and families are being penalised as a result.

The ‘No School Fines’ petition, which reached more than 245,000 signatures, was delivered to Downing Street on Tuesday (March 21).

It was first launched in February 2022 by Susan Liverman from Northamptonshire and Maddie Roberts from Bedfordshire, who both experienced threats of fines and prosecution while their children were placed on long waiting lists for support for special educational needs.

Their children were expected to go to school when they were too unwell to do so, and hundreds of other parents have been in touch to share similar stories.

In a statement Susan and Maddie, 44 and 40, said: “SEND and other marginalised families are being fined and prosecuted when their children can’t – not won’t – attend school.

“At nearly 250,000 signatures, we call on the government to stop denying this isn’t happening and listen to families who are saying loud and clear that it is.

“Please, No School Fines for our families.”

Talking to this newspaper following the visit to Downing Street, Susan said: “There was a phenomenal turn out and a fantastic atmosphere.

“Everyone went home with a fire in their belly, and the day was filled with so much support and positivity.

“We’ve had lots of thanks from families with SEND children and the social media response has been overwhelming.”

Around 30 people – varying from parents and carers to the West Northants SEND Action Group – travelled to London to support the campaign duo, some even from as far as Manchester and Suffolk.

A peaceful procession took place up to Downing Street for 3pm – in a bid to show solidarity and how this issue is being exacerbated by the government’s latest attendance guidance and drive for 100 percent.

In September 2022, the Government issued new attendance guidance, which Susan and Maddie believes encourages the use of fines and prosecution.

The government and Department for Education issued a response to the petition before it was presented.

Ahead of the visit, Susan told this newspaper: “They’ve stated the attendance guidance isn’t intended to encourage fines and prosecutions, but this is happening to families again and again.

“We were shocked when it happened to us, as well as finding out just how many others are impacted.”

Susan and Maddie believed the best case scenario for the visit was that the Government and Department of Education “acknowledge the attendance guidance is causing issues”.

The pair were fed up with being issued generic statements about its intention – and positive steps forward were made on Tuesday (March 22).

After arriving in London, Susan and Maddie attended the Change petition offices and waited to capture the final amount of signatures before it was presented to Downing Street.

They then made their way to the George V statue, opposite the Houses of Parliament, with the 30 others who joined them and began the half-a-mile peaceful procession to Downing Street for 3pm.

Susan said: “When we arrived, we took a moment to acknowledge how amazing it was to have got there.”

To deliver the petition, they simply had to knock on the door and a representative collected the box.

Following that, Susan and Maddie went to meet the respective MPs for their areas for a meeting about next steps.

“Both of them acknowledged the size of the petition and public opinion on the matter,” said Susan.

“We agreed a significant change might not be made but there may be information added alongside the attendance guidance.

“We’re not asking them to completely scrap what already exists, but we want families with SEND children to be acknowledged.”

The MPs agreed they would arrange a meeting with Nick Gibb, the minister of state at the department of education, to further discuss the issue and the action to follow.

Susan believes what they put forward was taken on board and none of the political figures pushed back on the claims they made.

This journey all began when the mothers first met in an online support group named EOTAS Matters, which stands for Education Other Than At School.

It was two years ago that Susan’s son Arthur struggled to go to school and they were trying to get to the bottom of what was going on.

Arthur was placed on the CAMHS waiting list and Susan said: “We were asked to prove or provide medical evidence of illness, otherwise things would have got tricky for us and it was as if the local authority was threatening fines.”

Though Arthur is thankfully now back in education, the same thing happened to Maddie’s 10-year-old son Harleigh and hundreds of others who have come forward since the petition was launched.

Looking back on Tuesday’s visit, Susan says she and Maddie are “elated to have been able to highlight this issue”.

“This is an important step forward in furthering the message that SEND children can’t go to school, not won’t,” said Susan.

The pair are proud to have played a role in campaigning to get the message out there and believe this is how a difference is made.