EIGHT national charities have accused Newport council of getting their numbers wrong in their controversial decision to leave a Gwent-wide children’s special needs service.

Last October, Newport City Council made a decision behind closed doors to leave the Sensory and Communication Support Unit (SenCom), which supports children with any hearing, visual and communications needs across Gwent.

Now, Wales Council of the Blind have sent a letter to Newport City Council asking them to change their minds.

The bosses of RNIB Cymru, Guide Dogs Cymru, Sight Cymru, UCAN Productions, Sense Cymru, Thomas Pocklington Trust, Vision UK and Visionary all signed the letter – dated January 28.

READ MORE: 'Naive' to think SenCom changes won't come without consequences

It points to “wild discrepancies” in the records of Newport children using the service, a lack of consultation until after the decision was made and “considerable errors” in the city council’s financial predictions.

The authors are also convinced leaving SenCom will mean “substantial changes to the service” for Newport children.

South Wales Argus:

(Benjamin Mills, 11, is about to move to secondary school, and is worried about Newport leaving SenCom)

They say questionnaires, letters and details about stakeholder events were only sent out after the decision had already been made by the council.

The council’s legal team, according to the letter, have previously said there was “no consultation with service users and other stakeholders prior to the decision being taken to withdraw from the SenCom joint service because this change of service provider did not affect the service that they were receiving.”

READ MORE: Parents of a blind Newport boy speak out about SenCom decision

But the authors of the letter point to an accepted legal principle called ‘the Gunning Principle’.

It means that public bodies need to have an open mind during consultation, and not already have made the decision.

The letter talks of a “wild discrepancy” between Newport and SenCom’s reckoning of the number of children on its books.

Newport say there are 380 city children who receive support, but SenCom puts the number at 690 – with the caveat that some may have been counted twice because they receive support from more than one team.

The disparity will do nothing to ease the concerns of parents, charities and politicians that the council is unable to match the level of service currently on offer from SenCom.

READ MORE: Eleven-year-old is latest to raise fears for future after council decide to pull out SenCom

The Council for the Blind are also worried that Newport have underestimate the scale of the service, and “believe that whatever budget [Newport Council] arrived at must be in considerable error.”

The South Wales Argus understands the city council will have to pay at least several hundred thousand pounds worth of exit costs on leaving SenCom.

South Wales Argus:

(Robert with daughter Demi-Rose Hiett, 2, who is registered blind and relies on SenCom support)

The money will cover the redundancies of 10 highly trained and experienced staff currently working SenCom, who will leave their positions as a result of the decision.

Currently, SenCom supports children from, and is funded by, all five local authorities in Gwent. Newport say their contribution to the service is £651,025 a year.

Newport say it will save the city £250,000 a year, and have consistently claimed they can provide an “equivalent” offering.

It’s also understood seven staff have now agreed to transfer from SenCom into the new Newport service.

READ MORE: Newport City Council defend their decision to withdraw from SenCom

But a proposed structure for the new team, suggests more than seven staff will be needed to run Newport’s new service, meaning more expense and a potentially lengthy recruitment process with a fast approaching April 2019 handover date.

And according to Newport’s budget proposal £100,000 will also be put aside to pay for specialist equipment.

South Wales Argus:

(Brogan Battersby from Newport is the subject of a legal challenge to reverse the council's decision)

The figures cast doubt on the authority’s ability to save money and keep the service at an equivalent level in the short term.

A judicial review case, which hopes to reverse the decision, has been issued to the High Court by law firm Watkins & Gunn on behalf of nine-year-old Brogan Battersby from Beechwood in Newport.

Newport council refused to comment on the letter, the exit costs, staffing concerns, the discrepancy between user numbers and the recruitment process.