Legislation passed to improve the provision of education and support for young people with additional support needs has failed to be implemented fully, according to one of Scotland’s major charities.

These views are expected to be mirrored in a report on the implementation of the Additional Support for Learning Bill due out on 14 November, the same day as the Scottish budget.

Tam Baillie, assistant director for policy and influencing at Barnardo’s, who sits on the National Advisory Group for Additional Support for Learning, said that the Act was “a piece of legislation that has ambitious scope, but has failed to reach the range of young people that we had hoped, especially those with social, emotional and behavioural difficulties”.

There are also concerns about the wording in the Bill being too ambiguous to be useful, particularly the references to young people requiring a “significant” level of support.

The record number of young people being excluded from school does support claims that the Act is not managing to reach children with needs beyond traditional “special needs” classifications.

Concerns about the legislation appear to be less about levels of funding available, but more about clarifying the law and what its position is in relation to other expectations on organisations dealing with young people, and raising awareness across Scotland about what this legislation could do if implemented successfully.

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