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Children's Well-being & Schools Bill

An Urgent Call to Protect Children and Parents from the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill
I’m writing today with a real sense of urgency about a piece of legislation that I believe will have profound consequences for families, especially those with disabled children.

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill is still very much alive and will be debated again in Parliament on 1st December. We have a small window to act, and I need your help.

The government is selling this Bill as the solution to the "ghost children" and poor attendance crisis. It sounds like a clean answer, but beneath the surface, it contains some deeply troubling moves that shift power away from families and into the hands of the state.
Here’s what has me, as your Disability Officer, so concerned:

· It doesn’t fix the real problem. The laws to protect children already exist. The tragedy is that they haven't been implemented properly. Council's and other agencies haven't used the powers they already have. Instead of facing that failure, this Bill reaches for more control over parents.
· It makes the council the gatekeeper for your child. If this Bill passes, councils will have the power to stop parents – particularly those whose children have an EHCP for a special school or who are under a Section 47 investigation – from moving their child from a school that might be making them ill. Think about that: the same councils that often delay assessments or refuse provision will get to decide if your child is "allowed" to leave a harmful situation.
· It blurs safeguarding and attendance in a dangerous way. A Section 47 investigation is just that – an investigation, not a finding of guilt. It can be triggered by something like a disability-related concern. Yet, under this Bill, simply being under investigation will be enough to strip you of the freedom to educate your child differently. That is not how a fair system should work.
· It criminalises loving parents. The Bill proposes that parents could be prosecuted not just on whether their child is receiving a suitable education, but on whether the state believes school would have been "better". This is a chilling thought for exhausted parents already fighting for basic support.
· It will fall hardest on disabled children and their families. Parents of children at special schools will face restrictions that others don't. Children in the wrong placement will be trapped there longer. Families already on their knees will face more bureaucracy, more fear, and more isolation.

I personally fear that in a couple of years, people will be saying, “we didn't realise what it actually meant.” 
So, what can you do before 1st December?

You don't need to be a legal expert. You just need to be a constituent who cares.

Please, I urgently ask you to write to your MP (Telford and Wrekin MP's contact details are below). It will only take 10 minutes.

Tell them you are worried about this Bill. You could mention:

1. Your concern about councils getting the power to block parents from removing children from harmful schools.
2. Your opposition to the greater criminalisation of parents trying their best.
3. Your worry that vague ideas of "suitable education" will override the individual needs of disabled children.
4. Your discomfort with more surveillance falling on families instead of fixing the broken system.

Ask your MP to attend the debate on 1st December and to raise these concerns. Ask them how they intend to vote and why. You are entitled to an answer.

This is about telling Parliament that people are paying attention. That "wellbeing" is not a free pass for state overreach. That the rights of children and parents, particularly those who are most vulnerable, still matter.

Thank you for your time and your action. Together, we can fight for real change.

Telford Residents
Shaun Davies MP
shaun.davies.mp@parliament.uk

The Wrekin Residents
Mark Pritchard MP
mark.pritchard.mp@parliament.uk

In hope,

Mark W
Disability Officer
The Green Party
(Telford and Wrekin) 

The Children's Well-being and Schools Bill
Can be found here:  https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3909/news
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