Warwickshire County Council plans to cut by a quarter spending on SEND mediation services have been met with concern. 

The council's cabinet – the Conservative panel of decision makers in charge of major service areas – last week gave the go ahead to seek new arrangements for providing mediation in relation to its decisions on special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). 

Parents or carers unhappy with the council's decisions on their child's needs or how those needs are being met have a legal right to enter the mediation process for free.

The council's report highlights how demand for mediation trebled alongside the increase in requests for SEND assessments between 2021 and 2024, anticipating £335,000 will be spent across the current financial year, up from £174,000 in 2021-22.

The authority has reduced the budget for such services from £300,000 to £250,000 per year from April.

The county currently funds three separate mediation providers but now plans to crunch that down to one, instigating a procurement process that it hopes will bring down the cost per case, predominantly through relying on online meetings, while the council is putting in a new process to talk through disputes in the hope of resolving problems without mediation. 

The plans raised questions from Cllr John Holland.

"There is no doubt that our service to children with special educational needs and disabilities is an area that causes a great deal of concern," he said. 

"If parents currently have a choice of three and that is reduced to one, what happens if the parent feels that one provider is not properly meeting their needs?" 

Cllr Jerry Roodhouse cast doubt over the ability to cut back with demand continuing to rise.

"I recognise that if we can get in earlier to resolve the issues that does help, but as we all know the demand is ever increasing," he said. 

"When you put some of these things in place it actually increases demand instead of slowing it down." 

Cllr Kam Kaur the county's political lead on education, replied: "Nearly all mediations are held online. Providers should be able to offer a better value service, we are hoping that will bring down the value of that procurement contract.

"Admittedly, demand is higher but with it being online, it is a smoother, easier process."

She noted the extra layer of talks between the council and parents and carers, insisting the proposals had been run by service users. 

"The service change hasn't just been brought here because we thought this was what we wanted to do," she said.

"We have done it with families and parents that have used the system already. We have shared our thoughts and how we are going to progress this Warwickshire Parent Carer Voice, we have not done it in isolation, we have done it with current users to make the system simpler.

"Their concerns were about timeliness, which was also looked at and embedded into the system as well."

Applications to tender will be invited from the start of April with a deadline of May 12. The new deal will be awarded in late June with the new mediation service kicking in from September 1.