Ministers should not “weaken” laws protecting children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), campaigners say.

A campaign backed by politicians and charities is urging the government to include disabled people and their parents and carers at the heart of its ongoing SEND review.

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In an open letter to prime minister Boris Johnson published today, campaigners claim that those most directly affected have been “largely excluded and even misrepresented” in the government’s SEND review.

In 2019, ministers announced a review to look at how services for families can be improved, but campaigners have claimed that they are not being adequately consulted.

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The letter says: “Disabled children and young people have been disproportionately disadvantaged by the impact of Covid and school/college closures.

“The current cross-government SEND review was initiated, and its scope subsequently widened, to address these issues. However, we have serious concerns about the way it is being conducted.

“The SEND review has taken almost two years so far and has been delayed three times.”

The parent-led campaign group Let Us Learn Too has called on the government not to “water down legal duties” for children with SEND.

The letter warns: “We have already seen the destructive consequences of the temporary weakening of legal duties under the Coronavirus Act 2020 and related legislation.

“Disabled children and young people lost essential special education provision and support, which damaged their mental and physical health, undermined their educational outcomes and left some children and young people unable to access education at all.”

They also have called for schools and colleges to be “adequately funded, resourced and supported to be inclusive”, with appropriate, early provision put in place to meet the needs of all disabled children.

“Too often provision and support for disabled children and young people is delayed until they reach crisis point, causing distress and long-term damage,” the campaigners say.

Hayley Harding, one of the founders of Let Us Learn Too, said: “Before my son was diagnosed with autism, I would never have believed the fight that families have to go to just to enable their children to learn in England.

“The right laws are there but unfortunately many local authorities blatantly ignore them, leaving many children unable to go to school.

“This review is the perfect opportunity to rectify this and introduce accountability. It’s unbelievable that the Department for Education is shutting disabled people and their parents/carers out.”

Labour former education secretary Lord Blunkett, one of the signatories of the letter, said: “In all the attention now being paid to children returning to school and avoiding further damage to learning, and therefore to equality of opportunity by today’s generation, it is regrettably too often the case that children with special educational needs are overlooked.

“It is vital that their voice and the concerns of their parents should not be lost in addressing wider issues of overcoming the continuing challenge of Covid, and we recognise that often additional measures and therefore responses need to be in place to ensure that children with additional needs do not fall through the cracks, and therefore lose out once again.”

A Department for Education spokeswoman said: “We aim to improve outcomes and better prepare young people with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND) effectively for adult life through our Send review, which is an ongoing process.

“These claims are misleading. This government is committed to supporting and protecting children with SEND - ahead of our public consultation and publication of our proposals, we are working closely with children and young people with SEND, their parents and carers to ensure their views remain at the heart of this work.”