Union officials have voiced serious concern over the restructuring of the special educational needs department at Barnet Council.
Barnet's Unison secretary, John Burgess, said: "Our members explained how their much-valued work with excluded children would be lost and that children, parents and schools would suffer."
But chief children's officer for SEN, Graham Durham, denied that the reshuffle would mean more than 40 job cuts. He said: "It is absolutely untrue that 40 jobs are under threat. In my area, roughly five jobs are being reduced, and may be managed without any redundancies. Unions obviously have to defend their members' interests but it is not true that staff are unhappy with the changes. They see many benefits.
"I think more support will be available to schools. We make full-time provision for all excluded pupils and will continue to do so."
April 30, 2003 19:00
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