A powerful new video campaign titled “Dear Prime Minister” was launched today by the Save Our Children’s Rights (SOCR) coalition, featuring actor and campaigner Sally Phillips. The campaign aims to protect the current legal safeguards for children with special needs ahead of the upcoming Schools White Paper, which many fear will prioritize cost-cutting over care.
The campaign video features parents, carers, and children from across England sharing their personal struggles to secure statutory support. Their primary fear is that the government’s “National Conversation” on SEND reform is a precursor to raising the legal threshold for an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) or even removing the right to appeal to a tribunal. A petition with 132,789 signatures was delivered to 10 Downing Street alongside the video, demanding that legal rights remain “non-negotiable.”
Campaigners are urging the government to ensure that any move toward “inclusive mainstream” education is backed by enforceable legal protections, rather than just “best endeavors” guidance. As one child in the video pleads: “Prime Minister, please, I am begging you, save our rights.”
