T was relief for parents yesterday who fought an “emotional” campaign to protect the support for their disabled children in Argyll classrooms.
Argyll and Bute Council agreed to abandon a proposal to axe the number of Additional Support Needs (ASN) assistants, who help disabled children in mainstream classrooms.
ABPACC member Jan Roberts of Oban said: “As a group we will all be delighted the 45% cut has been taken off the table.
“It is concerning that 8.4% has already been cut from the budget. We would be keen to know if that has had a detrimental effect on any services or if it is operational or bureaucratic efficiencies as some councillors said.
“We would be looking now to try and get evidence if it has had any effect on children. That cut was applied without any consultation to us.”
She added: “We have all been aware of this threat since October 2. To say it has taken over our lives is an understatement. Members of this group have children with a variety of different needs. Many of us work and have other children.
“It has been very stressful having to find the time to fight this. We were doing it on days off, and at night times, when our children need us. It has been upsetting, traumatic and emotional.”
Julie McKenzie of Oban Community Council, which supported the campaign, said: “I am very relieved for the parents who have been campaigning so hard. They are all going to be very relieved.”
The council’s controversial “service choices” consultation will see it slashing its budget by £18million over the next two years.
The most unpopular proposal so far was the plan to axe 72 ASN assistants. Cutting the ASN budget by 45% would have saved the council £1.4million.
At yesterday’s full council meeting members were asked to note the progress of a review into ASN services which has been running since March and consider whether to withdraw the proposal to cut the number of assistants.
They were also asked to note that the review had found operational service efficiencies which have already reduced the ASN budget by 8.4% at the start of the school year in 2015/16, resulting in a part year saving of £175,000.
Councillor Rory Colville, Lead Councillor for Education and Lifelong Learning, proposed a motion that the council remove the option of reducing the number of ASN assistants from the service choices.
The Community Services department was instructed to identify alternative savings options.
He said: “Lets move on. We have recognised the extent of the concerns.”