KCC slammed as autistic Harry fights for funding
This is unfair, says mother as son’s bid for money is rejected
acole@thekmgroup.co.uk A mother claims her teenage autistic son is being discriminated against after being rejected for funding for a drama course as he cannot complete the maths and English element.
Sue Davis, of Foxden Drive, Downswood, claims 19-year-old Harry was refused money by Kent County Council for a twoyear drama course.
But KCC has said it is still looking at the request and the decision could be reversed on appeal.
Harry has a statement of special educational needs and was at Bower Grove Special School in Maidstone until he was 16.
He is not able academically and does not have any GCSEs but was overjoyed when he passed his audition for Dartford’s Reynolds School in February.
He is able to complete 16 of the 18 units needed but, because he cannot sit the other two, KCC said he could not get a grant.
Mrs Davis was told she would have to pay £6,000 for his tuition, which she cannot afford.
She has appealed and will find out whether the ruling can be reversed after 14 weeks.
She said: “It just isn’t fair – it really isn’t. He has got a chance to better himself and do something he loves. The school is happy for him to do the course.
“If he was normal they’d just be absolutely fine with him doing it and he would have been funded.”
Harry, a former Hazlitt Youth Theatre member, hopes eventually to go to drama college.
He said: “I was so happy when I heard I’d got in.”
All pupils with statements, including Harry, are having their documentation changed to an Educational Health Care Plan (ECHP).
Julie Ely, KCC’s head of spe- cial educational needs assessment and placement, said: “The council has been in contact with the family and is transferring her son’s statement of special educational needs into an ECHP plan.
“The council is doing everything we can to process this as soon as possible to give the family a decision within the statutory timescales.”