Leicestershire County Council has said it’s disappointed staff are striking over changes designed to ensure children with additional needs receive the right support all year round.
Plans to make changes to the early years SEND team reflect rises in demand for support and would make sure the vital service also operates 52-weeks a year.
The council is working to keep any disruption to a minimum and will keep families informed.
The National Education Union is taking industrial action from 8 to 12 June.
A Leicestershire County Council spokesperson said: “This is about making sure our most vulnerable children and families receive consistent, year round support.
“Modernising the service will ensure we can support children with additional needs to access wraparound and holiday care which is not currently available, and we’re following the correct, legal process required to do this. To be clear, this is not ‘fire and rehire’.
“We value the professionalism of our staff and have worked closely with trade union representatives for a number of months to try to reach an agreement.
“We’re disappointed that we’ve reached the point of strike action and want to reassure parents that we will keep them informed and do our best to keep any disruption to a minimum.”
The early years SEND team supports children with physical, sensory, behavioural and learning disabilities to ensure they receive high quality support, both at home and within nurseries, playgroups and out of school childcare settings.
The strike action relates to changes to advisors within the team. We’re not expecting a big impact on service delivery from the strike action as the staff do not directly deliver childcare.
There are no plans to reduce the number of Early Years SEND and Inclusion Advisors who play an important role working with some of our youngest, most vulnerable children.