Pressure is mounting on Aberdeenshire Council to clarify their position on speech and language therapy cuts.
The local authority voted to cut all funding for the service in February, saving the council £200,000 over the next financial year.
Despite repeated efforts by The P&J, charities and families, neither Aberdeenshire Council nor its leader Gillian Owen are able to provide clarity on whether the cut means dedicated speech and language therapists being removed from schools.
This would mean parents being forced to take their kids out of school for therapy at NHS settings. An outcome which they say will be “catastrophic”.
Indeed, one Aberdeenshire dad has called on Ms Owen to “consider her position”.
In an interview with The P&J in early March, Ms Owen said she was waiting to hear the outcome of meetings between the council’s education service and NHS Grampian.
NHS Grampian run the in-school speech and language therapy service with council funding, which is now being withdrawn.
Speech therapy cuts mean ‘therapists will not be in schools’
Billy Alexander, CEO of Autism & Neurodiversity North Scotland (A-ND), believes the cut will ultimately mean the loss of in-school speech and language therapy.
“There are nine speech and language therapists who currently work within schools in a setting that children are familiar and comfortable with, and that doesn’t disrupt their education – because they’re already there.
“This cut now means that speech and language therapists will not be in the schools, and children will need to be removed by their parent and taken to an unfamiliar environment for speech and language therapy, and then taken back to school.
“There are so many issues with that that I wouldn’t even know where to begin. It’ll be traumatising for all involved. It’s really worrying.”
The council cut will affect more than 6,000 children and their families.
MSP’s letter to Aberdeenshire Council chiefs follows Peterhead meeting with families
Now Banffshire and Buchan Coast MSP Karen Adam has written an open letter to Ms Owen and council chief executive Jim Savege.
Affected families were consulted in the writing of the letter, which is also signed by A-ND and Auditory Verbal UK.
Ms Adam said parents were “significantly worried”, and that Aberdeenshire Council’s decision contradicted its own policies regarding promoting inclusion.
She also said that the cut ignored the council’s own impact assessment, which states that “there is a risk of adverse impacts on the development of children as a result of funding withdrawal from speech and language therapists.”
The MSP recently held a public meeting in Peterhead regarding the speech and language therapy cut.
In the letter, she said “none of my constituents in attendance had been contacted by Aberdeenshire Council regarding these proposed cuts and the impact they would have on their families.”
No response from council chief executive for 30 days – ‘My constituents are not satisfied with the uncertainty’
She added: “It is clear that parents of children with additional support needs, whose families will be most affected by these cuts, do not feel listened to by Aberdeenshire Council.
“Furthermore, these cuts risk pushing children out of mainstream school, which would be contrary to Aberdeenshire Council’s responsibility to promote inclusion as laid out in the Promoting Inclusion and Reducing Exclusions in Educational Establishments Policy 2022.”
Ms Adam went on: “I wrote to you, Mr Savege, on March 12 regarding my concerns over Aberdeenshire Council’s recent budget decisions. My office followed up with you on March 25.
“I received a response on April 11, but I cannot in good faith leave it there when my constituents are not satisfied with the uncertainty which still surrounds this particular issue.
“I therefore am writing once again to reiterate my concerns on this matter and to raise with yourself and the council leader the significant worries of a number of constituents and disabilities, equalities and human rights organisations.”
Aberdeenshire Council ‘kicking the can down the road and avoiding accountability’
A-ND’s Billy Alexander was withering in his criticism of both the cut itself, and the lack of communication and consultation with affected families.
“All this talk about SLAs [Service Level Agreements] is kicking the can down the road and avoiding accountability.
“They know perfectly well the impact of the decision and what this means.
“If they didn’t, they surely must do now with so many individuals highlighting the life-altering impact this decision could have.
“Not one person I’ve spoken to has said ‘I can get why they’ve made that decision.’ Every single person, and particularly affected families, has said ‘this is madness’.
“Families are devastated, and so worried about what this is going to mean for their kids.
“Many expect their kids will be excluded from school, and they’ll be left to come up with another solution.”
Billy slammed the ongoing lack of clarity over whether the cut will indeed take speech and language therapists out of schools, as he believes.
“While a council member can stand there and say ‘oh, I don’t know what’s happening’, you’ve got a responsibility to know.
“You’re in a position of power and influence. You’re making a decision that’s going to cripple so many children and families.”
North-east autism charity chief says families feel ignored
He added: “Families feel like they weren’t consulted, they’re not being listened to, and they don’t have a voice.
“Who did the council speak to to understand what impact this would have?
“The council has said that kids will still get speech and language therapy.
“Yes, there is technically still going to be speech and language therapy provided by the NHS. It was provided by the NHS, and it still will be provided by the NHS.
“It was very clever of Gillian Owen to state that in her interview with The P&J.
“But your child is now going to have to be taken out of school for that. And it’s you that’s going to have to do that. That’s the issue.”
A-ND have now set up an online to petition to reverse the cut. An existing petition started by an affected parent we spoke to previously now has almost 5,500 signatures.
‘Reverse this decision’
Billy admitted that some families “felt defeated”, but vowed to “fight the good fight” and continue to fight their corner.
“I absolutely plead with the council to reverse this decision,” he said.
“It’s a small drop in the ocean compared to their wider budget. If they do this, our kids’ life chances are going to decrease.
“That’ll impact society, and probably cost the council about £10 million over the next 10 years.
“It’s such a short-sighted decision. It’s mind-blowingly ridiculous, it does not make sense.”
Reacting to Ms Adam’s open letter, an Aberdeenshire Council spokesman said: “We can confirm the council has received further correspondence from Ms Adam on the subject of speech and language therapy and will formally respond to her in due course.”
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