A PARLIAMENTARY candidate for Yeovil has explained that she is “absolutely not saying” that children with special educational needs are a financial burden.

Serena Wootton, the Green Party candidate, clarified and explained a message written on a leaflet circulating in the community.

The message read: “Children with special needs statements (EHCPs) often struggle to do well in mainstream settings, increasing this funding to support these children to thrive will enable them to have a meaningful role in their community rather than a financial burden.”

She said that she is “absolutely not saying these children and young people are a burden, I am saying the additional costs to families, without any additional funding ‘may cause difficulty or make them worry’.”

Her full explanation read: “I am and always have been a campaigner for children and young adults with special educational needs my entire life and have worked as a special needs teacher and then assistant head in an outstanding special needs school, working closely with other professionals and parents.

“I am championing the additional funding needed to support these pupils further to enable them to feel they have a meaningful role in society and do not become a financial burden.

“This is a link to Scope, a leading charity in this area that outlines the additional costs incurred by families caring for their loved ones - https://www.scope.org.uk/campaigns/extra-costs/disability-price-tag-2023

“Just to clarify the definition of the words ‘financial burden’ – ‘an amount of money that someone has to pay that may cause difficulty or make them worry’.

“To be clear, I am absolutely not saying these children and young people are a burden, I am saying the additional costs to families, without any additional funding ‘may cause difficulty or make them worry’.

“The people of South Somerset will have read that I have spent my working career in education, and I continue to foster and champion these ideas further.

“My campaign is not following the national party lines, I am being brave and bringing forward pledges that people have said are important to them, here in Somerset.

“I have visited a number of different schools in the constituency, and they are in need of more funding to provide new and interesting ways to get the best possible results for their pupils.”