Council agrees to reconsider cuts to support for deaf children after legal action

Stoke-on-Trent City Council has agreed to reconsider its decision to cut educational support to deaf children after legal action brought by the National Deaf Children’s Society.

Stoke’s full council had agreed to save £187,000 from its special needs service in February, as it sought to make cuts worth £36m.

But the NDCS argued that Stoke had failed to properly assess the impacts the cuts would have on deaf children and that they risked putting deaf children at an even greater disadvantage.

Last week the High Court ordered the local authority to halt the cuts ahead of a hearing on 12 September.

It also ordered Stoke not to make any changes to the job descriptions of Teachers of the Deaf. The NDCS had claimed that the council’s proposals would have meant they no longer taught deaf children directly.

Cllr Debra Gratton, cabinet member for children’s services at Stoke, said: “This year’s budget was the toughest the council has ever had to deliver, and the authority was forced to face an unprecedented level of savings. This meant that the council had to go back to the drawing board and look fundamentally at the way it delivers all services across the authority.

“The decision was taken at full council to support proposals to make savings in the provision of services for deaf children. Like with all the spending cuts, this was a very difficult decision to take. But the welfare and education of all the city’s children is, and always will be, very important. We have listened to the arguments made by the National Deaf Children’s Society, and we have listened to parents, children and teachers.

“In light of this, it has been agreed that the original decisions be reviewed, following proper and meaningful consultation, to help us to continue to provide the best level of services for city children.”

Cllr Gratton added that the council was also mindful that the legal challenge could prove costly. “This is taxpayers’ money which could much more productively be spent delivering public services than being eaten up in the law courts,” she said.

Jo Campion, NDCS Deputy Director of Policy and Campaigns, said the charity was pleased that Stoke was reconsidering its proposed decision.

But she said it was “very disappointed that it has taken them this long: months of discussion, a Freedom of Information request and a High Court action, to bring about this U-turn”.

Campion also warned that “the battle is not over yet as Stoke City Council is not reversing their previous decision to cut three Teachers of the Deaf”.

She added: “Parents continue to believe that the service needs to be improved and we will be supporting parents to ensure that their concerns are heard."

NDCS and Stoke are currently in the process of agreeing a court order which will quash the council's decision.

Philip Hoult