Written evidence submitted by Devon SEND Parents and Carers for Change (SFC0072)

 

The Experiences of Families of Children with SEND in Devon
by
Devon SEND Parents and Carers for Change

 

Contents

  1. Summary
  2. Introduction
  3. Impact of Previous Government Policy

 

  1. Other Causes of the Current Crisis
  1. Long Term Impact on Children and Families and on the Public Purse
  2. Suggestions for Improvements
  3. Executive Summary - This document highlights several key issues and suggestions for improvement:
  4. Main Issues:
  1. Funding Cuts and Safety Valve Scheme:
  2. Challenges in Mainstream Schools:
  3. EHCP Process:
  4. Local Authority Issues:
  5. Long-Term Impact:
  1. Suggestions for Improvements:
  1. Funding and Policy Changes:
  2. Improving EHCP and Complaints Process:
  3. Educational Reforms:

​

  1. Support Services:

 

  1. Curriculum and School Environment:

 

The document emphasizes the need for systemic changes to improve the experiences and outcomes for children with SEND in Devon. ​


The Experiences of Families of Children with SEND in Devon
Introduction

  1. This document has been co-produced by members of Devon SEND Parents and Carers for Change, a non-profit group set up in 2023 to campaign for better SEND services for families in the Devon County Council area. DSPCC has over 1000 members and is run voluntarily by a team of parent carers who all have expertise and experience of the SEND system. We run a Facebook group and page, multiple social channels and hold meetings and events which all aim to make improvements for families of children with SEND.
  2. Devon County Council has failed two Ofsted inspections of its SEND provision. As a group we have been campaigning to try and improve things. We have met with councillors and senior leaders, offered support and advice to the SEND improvement team, held two demonstrations, appeared on television and radio news, presented to council committees, written our own improvement proposals and supported parents to take legal action. Despite our efforts, we can only see things getting worse.

Impact of Previous Government Policy

Devon schools get less funding than average

  1. Children with SEND in Devon have suffered from decades of chronic underfunding by central government. The amount paid directly to schools is currently around £240 per pupil per year lower than the UK average. In addition, the funding allocated to Devon County Council for SEND has not met the level of need. There are more pupils than average registered as having SEND in Devon, and a higher than average rate of EHCPs. The reasons for this are complex, but we will try to highlight some of them in this report.
  2. By 2024 Devon County Council (DCC) had an accumulated deficit in their SEND budget of over £125 million and therefore chose to join the government ‘Safety Valve’ scheme to secure additional funding.
  3. However, to be eligible for Safety Valve funding, councils have to prove they are making significant cuts to their schools’ budget, Section 19 spending, numbers of EHCPs, numbers of children in specialist provision, school transport and post-16 provision.
  4. The Safety Valve requires DCC to cut spending for the most vulnerable pupils, in order to receive a small amount of ‘bailout’ money to cover some of the debts. No one benefits from this system. The council is still in debt, as the additional money is not sufficient, and they are now struggling to make enough cuts to meet the required threshold for the bailout payment anyway. Families and children with SEND are already feeling the impact of these cuts in very negative and damaging ways. We don’t believe the councillors really understood what they were signing up for when they agreed to join Safety Valve. And the people it would impact – children with SEND and their families – were never consulted.

‘Local MPs and councillors were actually boasting on the news that DCC can now spend more money on fixing potholes because of Safety Valve, as if the diversion of money away from education of the most vulnerable children is a good thing.’

 

 

Cuts to Section 19 Alternative Provision for pupils unable to cope in school

  1. Over the last few years there has been a significant increase in the numbers of children with mental health difficulties and school trauma due to insufficient SEND support in school and this is often exacerbated by unfair punishments for things they cannot help due to their disability (e.g. behaviour/attendance/not listening/keeping still etc.), or from bullying relating to their disability. These children need urgent alternative education to which they are entitled by law within 15 days of non-attendance under Section 19.  In Devon, most recent applications for this vital provision have been rejected and existing provision is being cut, despite the fact that this provision is enshrined in law. Children who have been accessing alternative provision that was really beneficial have had this suddenly cancelled, as the council has to prove they are cutting spending on SEND. There seems to be no consideration of the impact on the child.

‘My daughter is under Section 19 and was given an alternative provision. Everyone agreed it would need to be in place for 6 months to a year at least. 6 weeks ago in a meeting I was told that funding for alternative provision is being cut, so my child would then be expected to be back in school. She has never set foot in the school. The school cannot meet her needs and the LA have just conceded before tribunal to issue an EHCP. So my child is now at home under Section 19 with no education.’

 

On 11th September 2024 we were told that the alternative provision provided under section 19 of the Education Act 1996 would be ending. We were given very little notice of this, and no justification was provided, despite me requesting it. I have since obtained further evidence of my child’s need for continued alternative provision, in the form of a letter from a CAMHS Consultant Psychiatrist. This was forwarded to the Inclusion Team on 13th September, but I have yet to receive a response. I have pointed out that not only will my child now have no access to an education, but there is a real safeguarding risk to them as a result of this decision.

 

‘LA policies and hoops make the system for medical needs provision virtually impossible to access. Policies (which are not the law) require levels of medical evidence that are totally unreasonable.
Or school say LA should pay and LA say school should pay, and nothing happens so the child is left without provision.’

Cuts to SEND transport

  1. Cutting transport (taxis) that severely disabled children use to get to college is another way that Devon are trying to save money. The most vulnerable children are expected to take public transport as soon as they are 16, which may take hours and involve several buses or trains. Or parents are having to give up work in order to transport their child to school or college. Post 16 SEND transport is supposed to be discretionary, but even with a strong case, this is being often being refused.

‘They expected my son to catch a bus, then a train to college - one of his biggest anxieties is being late - it destroys his day if late. There are also many other factors - like it being very busy at stations, people rushing, loud noises - which are triggers.
Initially they offered us a ‘vacant seat’ in a taxi, but the pick-up point was a 40min drive each way for me. Making work nigh on impossible.
I fought it for 6 months and took it to tribunal and thankfully won. But it’s the constant fight that drains you and steals a part of your own identity as well as the person you are fighting for.’

 

‘My child is a wheelchair user with Quadriplegia Cerebral Palsy. At 16 they were told to use the bus - without any travel training or assessment having taken place. This would have meant 3 buses each way (6 in total each day) plus 1 mile extra each way in the powerchair without support - and they would arrive late and have to leave early. My child was denied reasonable choice of college because of this and had to attend a different setting.’

Cutting numbers of children in specialist provision

  1. Devon claims to be building more specialist schools and providing more support for SEND children across the county, but we know this is not happening. Only two new special schools are being built with approximately 200 new spaces. This is nowhere near sufficient for the hundreds of children and young people in the county without suitable educational provision. There are over 250 children and young people in out-of-county placements alone, because places couldn’t be found for them in Devon. There are many more children who have had an unsuitable mainstream school named on their EHCP, often a school which has said it cannot meet their needs.
  2. Many children in Devon are now having EOTAS (Education Other Than At School) because they cannot cope in any school. This bespoke form of education is tailored to the most vulnerable learners who often have complex needs and disabilities. However, this in itself is a lottery as to whether suitable provision is offered by the council, who don’t have an EOTAS policy and won’t provide a full list of approved providers to parents. Children are often left for months at a time with little or no provision.
  3. A significant number of parents say they feel forced into home education to protect their children and provide them with the safe learning environment that they need. This is often a last resort for parents who are being threatened with legal action for non-attendance, while waiting for an EHCP assessment or appeal to SEN Tribunal. It impacts the whole family with parents often being forced to give up work, and survive on benefits.

 

Council under pressure to reduce expensive provision

  1. Devon County Council wants to reduce the number of EHCPs across the county, as they’re seen as a funding drain, and this is also a condition of the Safety Valve programme. Their policy is to integrate more SEND children and young people into mainstream schools, adding more specialist units. Whilst this may work for children who are still able to access mainstream school, with additional support, many of our members’ children have school trauma and will never be able to set foot inside a mainstream school again.
  2. And there are insufficient supported places in those units to cater for everyone. Mainstream schools would have to change dramatically to be inclusive for every child with SEND. Their budgets have been cut significantly already and most can no longer support children with complex SEND, even if that child comes with extra funding. With large class sizes and the pressure to have very high attendance (with low attendance triggering Ofsted inspections), children with SEND are often seen as a burden.
  3. Mainstream schools are often unable to provide the level of support that many children with SEND actually need. Combined with that, the large numbers of pupils, environment, noise and constantly changing classrooms (in the case of secondary), make mainstream schools very overwhelming for many children with SEND.

‘We have two children, with the same diagnosis, born 19 years apart. Our eldest son was well supported and able to be part of his mainstream school community. He was included in everything. Our youngest daughter has been failed at every stage - the EHCP that should have been in place by the time she started school at age 5 appeared part way through Year 2 (age 7) and was inadequate. She was without full-time education from the age of 6 and has spent her entire school career being taught in a corridor away from her peers.’

  1. Schools are focussed on targets and league tables, and anyone who might potentially damage those statistics is a risk.

‘The thing that I have noticed the biggest change in is the pressure put on schools (I work in SEN myself). Our son could be valued by the school because he didn’t feel like a burden to them. Yet our daughter has to be demonised by the school to justify why they are not providing her with an inclusive experience. This is heart breaking to me as a parent.’

 

Cuts in specialist post 16 provision

  1. Glendinning Academy special school has just axed its planned sixth form and Pathfield Special School is closing its Pathways Discovery Centre which caters for young people with SEND. Children are expected to attend mainstream colleges once they reach 16, despite many colleges not offering suitable courses, or having entrance requirements that are unreachable by many children with SEND, especially those who have been let down by the system. Colleges are also larger, noisier and harder to navigate, and can be a considerable distance from home.

 

Other Causes of the Current Crisis

  1. As well as the impact of funding cuts through the Safety Valve scheme, there are other causes of the crisis in SEND.

Many academies focus on conformity at the expense of inclusion

  1. Over the course of the last government almost all mainstream schools have become academies. Academies are not accountable to local authorities, and this means that no-one is able to challenge them effectively when they fail to make reasonable adjustments or fail to follow EHCPs. They are accountable only to their own governors, who are often unaware of the laws that they should be following, and to the Secretary of State for Education who cannot possibly deal with every individual complaint. This leaves parents powerless to complain when something goes wrong.
  2. Many academies are renowned for their strict rules, especially around uniform and attendance, the two things which many SEND children struggle most with. We know of families whose children have tried hard every single day to get into school, despite extreme levels of anxiety or illness, only to be punished for wearing the wrong shoes.

‘I have a friend whose child refused school with anxiety, when they finally got him in, he got in trouble for his uniform being not quite right.’

  1. These draconian systems have no place in modern education. In a world where most organisations have adopted casual dress, no ties and comfort over formality, why are schools still expecting children to dress like they are attending a court hearing?

‘The current emphasis in mainstream schooling on uniformity in all things - not just attendance, but clothing, hair, behaviour, learning style, obedience, punishment - is causing more and more children to be pushed into the SEN space.’

  1. Many academies have punitive behavioural systems such as traffic light charts which humiliate children who cannot keep still due to ADHD or who call out in class due to Tourette’s or autism.

‘My child got behaviour points and detentions for not sitting still or for having vocal tics. Detention for not sitting still when had wet clothes after being held down by other children in mud over lunch and not allowed to change clothes.’ 

  1. Children’s behaviour is a barometer of their sense of safety. A child who feels unsafe is more likely to act up or explode at school. Children can only learn when they feel safe, and the mainstream school system often does not feel safe for children with SEND.

‘Current school punishing behaviour that is not the child's fault, it’s due to his disability. Not being in class, spending 90% outside as he is struggling’. 

 

‘They put my boy in a tiny cupboard-like-room and told him to go to sleep. They told me they hoped he would get bored and want to be back in class.’

 

‘Uniform - Allowed to wear a softer jumper but no accommodation allowed for anything else such as shirt and tie. Repeatedly told off for not having top shirt button done up and tie fully on despite it being really uncomfortable’.

 

‘Large academy currently have my son on an Annexe R for 2 hours a week, awaiting suitable EHCP placement. Expecting him to attend lessons with 30 other children and no 1:1, instead of making adjustments for him to work 1:1 with a TA in a quiet space.’

Changes to the National Curriculum have made mainstream schools less inclusive

Reduction in creative and vocational education

  1. The last 20 years have seen a significant reduction in creative arts and vocational subjects being taught in school or provided as extra-curricular clubs. These are often the subjects that children with SEND can excel in. At the very least, they are enjoyable subjects which are regulating and can motivate children to attend when the rest of the day feels overwhelming. We strongly suspect that higher attendance of children with SEND during previous decades was directly related to the more creative and practical curriculum content.
  2. The current primary curriculum – with a focus on rote learning, memorisation and testing does not meet the developmental needs of most children, let alone those with SEND. This needs to be urgently reviewed, as it is during late primary that many children with SEND start to struggle to attend, and often drop out.

‘We need our mainstream schools to be much more flexible, adapting to the needs of more children, no longer these rigid, results-obsessed monsters. The whole system needs reform.’

 

‘SEND students in mainstream should be allowed to choose to focus on core GCSEs if the pressure becomes too much.’

 

Teaching staff and school management not all adequately trained in SEN

‘We need proper training for teachers. They need to learn about the wiring of the brain and how processing really works.
Also, for them to understand sensory issues especially regarding clothes. I have a friend whose child refused school with anxiety, when they finally got him in, he got in trouble for his uniform being not quite right.’

  1. Most initial teacher training courses contain very small amounts of information about SEND, although this is now something that teachers can focus on more if they choose. Parental impressions are that some teachers make inappropriate comments to or about children with SEND, or punish children for SEN related behaviour.

 

Lack of SEN specialist schools

  1. Many local authority specialist schools were closed during the last push to ‘integrate’ SEND pupils into mainstream and new private ones have opened to fill gaps in provision.
  2. The quality of these is variable – some are excellent, for example the Spaghetti Bridge schools in Devon have a great reputation amongst parents, but others seem to be charging exorbitantly high fees whilst not providing the quality education and support that is needed by our most vulnerable children. This needs investigating further, though we wouldn’t want to lose the really good ones.
  3. Parents often have to take their cases to SEN Tribunal to be able to access private specialist schools, usually because these are the only ones that offer the kind of provision their child can access. Independent SEND specialists do not have to follow the National Curriculum and this can give them more flexibility to focus on pupil-led or interest-based approaches to learning. This is something which all schools could learn from and which is motivating and interesting for all learners.

The EHCP process is challenging and not always fit for purpose

  1. There are nearly 9000 children and young people with EHCPs in Devon (DfE Statistics June 2024), of which there are:
  1. Parents are often told by schools that their child will not get SEN support without an EHCP – so either the school applies or they apply for one themselves.
  2. Long waiting lists for assessments for autism and ADHD, as well as long NHS waiting lists for medical conditions mean that it can take two or three years for families to get the diagnoses and evidence they need. According to Devon’s own statistics, submitted to the DfE as above, over 50% of new EHCNA applications are rejected and have to be appealed by parents via SEN Tribunal which is usually about a year’s wait. In 2023 there were 2148 applications for an EHCP in Devon and only 1292 were assessed of which 1059 EHCPs were issued. Taking into account some overlap at the beginning and end of the year, this is still a low number in comparison with applications.
  3. Timeliness is also a factor, especially in Devon which appears to be particularly slow at completing the EHCP process.
  4. As you can see from the table below, under 5% of EHCPs were issued within the 20-week statutory limit in 2023. This was 50% less than the previous year and only 10% of the national average.

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  1. In the meantime, the children are either trying to attend school and really struggling or they are at home with no education (see Section 19 above).
  2. While they wait for EHCPs or assessments for neurodivergence, the parents of children who cannot attend are often threatened with legal action. This has intensified since new attendance rules were introduced recently. Attending unsupported or being forced into school seriously impacts children’s mental health, sometimes causing permanent damage in the form of PTSD. For some children their behaviour in school escalates to the point of being excluded.

‘The school threatened us with legal action if I didn’t force my physically and mentally unwell daughter into school full time. She was on the autism assessment waiting list, had two physical illnesses and had suffered multiple trauma leading to what looked like a nervous breakdown. CAMHS refused to help and I had social services breathing down my neck. My child was 9 years old and suicidal. I felt I had no choice but to deregister and home educate while we waited another two years for the autism assessment. The school head just kept saying, ‘But she doesn’t have a diagnosis’. When I complained to school, they removed all her supports. When I then complained to the CEO of the multi academy trust, alleging disability discrimination, she retaliated by referring me to the safeguarding team at the council. Of course they found no cause for concern, it was just mud-slinging because I had dared to complain.’

  1. Parents in this situation often feel they have no choice but to de-register and home-educate their children. This is happening to thousands of families across the country. Some parents are having to spend thousands of pounds for tutors each year, because once a child is de-registered from a school, the LA is no longer responsible for that child’s education. Others have to give up work to stay at home with their children and survive on benefits. Some children do thrive at home without the pressure of school and start to recover from their bad experiences, often going on to study independently later. But not everyone has a supportive parent at home who is able to help them learn. Home education is an absolute right in this country but it should be a choice, not something parents are forced into because there are no alternatives.
  2. EHCPs are becoming more necessary due to failings in basic support in mainstream. When staff are not properly trained in SEND they do not know how to support pupils effectively and can often make things worse. Local authority specialist teachers are either never called in or are too busy to provide support.

‘EHCPs seem to be largely extremely difficult to come by, but when they are issued they are usually hugely delayed and often inadequate or inappropriate by the time they are finalised, which wastes yet more time and money and causes families further stress and anxiety.’

 

Local authority staff shortages

  1. Councils often cite staff shortages for delays in EHCPs. Staff turnover is high as it’s a stressful job. Devon in particular uses a lot of temporary staff who are expensive, and also hires consultants and ‘interims’ – temporary staff at senior management level who come in to make changes (usually cuts) then leave others to clean up after them.

‘All LAs across the country and particularly DCC seem to be underfunded and short of staff, leading to unacceptable delays and further costs being incurred by both families and LAs whilst putting children with SEND at a huge disadvantage to their peers and resulting in damaging mental health issues and untold impact on their academic achievements and life chances.’

  1. We are told there is a shortage of educational psychologists, occupational therapists and speech and language therapists, which frequently delays EHCP assessments and can make it hard to get this provision delivered in classrooms.

 

Perceptions of SEND parents by those making decisions

‘SEND parents are constantly portrayed as money grabbing benefit takers who want to line our own pockets. We are discriminated against by those who would rather see these children institutionalised.’

  1. Local councillors have questioned why parents want their children to go to specialist schools, implying that we are wanting something above and beyond what our children are entitled to or need, as if specialist school is some kind of luxury education. The reality is that mainstream education is destroying many children with SEN and parents are desperate to find somewhere their child can feel safe and learn.
  2. Schools often see SEND parents as difficult or tiresome, and parents find that their very real concerns about their children are dismissed by staff as parental anxiety or being demanding.

 

LA and Local Government Ombudsman complaints process not fit for purpose

  1. When things go wrong, parents are entitled to make formal complaints. However, complaints made to DCC are often not dealt with effectively. At times the complaints are responded to by the very people whose work is being complained about.
  2. Senior managers rarely respond to complaints and it appears to be left to a junior member of staff to reply, usually using a generic template letter which blames large caseloads.
  3. The next stage in the complaints process is the Local Government Ombudsman. Since January 2024 in Devon there were 33 complaints made to the LGO about SEND alone. https://www.lgo.org.uk/Decisions/SearchResults?t=0&fd=2024-01-01&td=2024-11-07&c=Education&subc=Special%20educational%20needs&dc=c%2Bnu%2Bu&aname=Devon%20County%20Council&atype=County%20council&sortOrder=descending
  4. However, the LGO seem to have limited ability to hold LAs to account. And when parents appeal to the SEN Tribunal about an EHCP, the LGO then won’t deal with the complaint, as evidenced by the link above. Likewise, the Tribunal won’t deal with previous lack of education or LA failures. So parents then have no way of making a complaint at all.

    5. ‘LA found at fault by ombudsman for not providing things in EHCP from 2020!! Now, over a year after ombudsman found in our favour, and despite asking again at review since then, we have still not had the provision recommended 4 years ago and ombudsman said they must provide, e.g. computer equipment and OT assessment. The ombudsman fined the LA for this. But nobody holds them to account for illegal practices. They act with impunity. Don't follow the law but what can parents do about that? Nothing. Then when our kids miss two weeks of school due to anxiety we are fined. One rule for them, another for parents.’

    ‘Tribunal don't want to hear about past events or what the LA have failed to do. There is a long wait for tribunal and our kids are out of education during all this time with the LA not doing anything, even though they are required to. It saves them money though so what motivation have the LA got to put provision in place in timely ways, if they can delay and save cash? The Ombudsman give small fines and don't follow up on their decisions. The onus is on parents, coping with kids out of school to complain. The LA know that they can break the law without consequences - just small fines which are cheaper than educating a child!’

 

Perceived use of delaying tactics around the EHCP process

‘My daughter's EHC Needs Assessment was refused at panel on 21st June as follows:

‘In accordance with section 36 of the Children and Families Act 2014 the Local Authority has considered the evidence provided in support of the request for an Education, Health and Care needs assessment. XXXX's needs have been identified by the school and appropriate provision is in place from the school’s delegated resources and XXXX is making progress. As a result, the LA will not be carrying out a statutory needs assessment.

‘In reality she has not attended since January 2024, was not making progress and her needs were not being met. Her application met the Legal Test and I sent many emails, using templates to the case worker and managers. I got a mediation certificate and lodged an Appeal. I finally had the decision to Assess on 11th July. The deadline for a decision was 11th September. Yesterday (8th November) I got an update on the HUB that a plan was being drafted (they have agreed to issue). The final plan is due on 16th October as 0-25 are months behind on their deadlines.’

 

‘My final gripe is how often a DCC member of staff has mis-cited the law or statutory guidance to me. When I pull them up they all suddenly remember that they do know the actual law but mis-spoke, didn’t mean it as they wrote it or offer some excuse why they feel the guidance can be ignored in this instance.’

  1. There is a parental perception that Devon County Council are deliberately using delaying tactics to save money – such as naming a school in the EHCP that they know the child can never access (this is actually unlawful), and forcing the parents to do an appeal to SEN Tribunal. 
  2. Often children who need specialist provision are offered only the mainstream school they’ve not been able to attend for a year. The parental perception is that the LA hope that parents will either give up and home educate or appeal to SEN tribunal which takes over a year. This way the LA wouldn’t have to pay for the specialist provision in the meantime, saving a whole year of school fees.
  3. This would apply to maintained schools as much as to private ones, as the LA still have to pay for each child with an EHCP.
  4. It appears that, all too often, the LA concedes the appeal at the very last minute, sometimes even the day before a Tribunal, agreeing the provision the parents requested a year earlier. This delay will have saved the LA the cost of a year’s worth of provision. But this usually means a child has been out of school with no provision for a whole year, often with their mental health in rapid decline.

‘We finally got a EHCP draft in July after going to appeal. It was sent to different schools to see if they can meet his needs. They have all said no, but my caseworker says she is still waiting to hear back from some. It's been over two months and Devon has not named a school on the plan. I think this is because they know I will appeal it but can't until I have decision. I feel like they are deliberately stalling and obstructing the process to save money.’

 

‘I’ve been told DCC are pausing my sons EHCP. They’ve told me verbally and I’ve requested it in writing but have had nothing. It leaves me with no legal recourse and it itself isn’t legal. I’ve been told when he’s ready to reattend (burnout) that a review will be held for it to go back to panel. I’d like to know how they are allowed to make rules up as they go along and have blatant disregard for the law.’

 

‘The LA are using sneaky tactics to make things look better than they are in terms of the statutory processes, e.g. finalizing plans way out of time scales and then sending back dated cover letters to make it look like they were sent on time. This happened to me. Also, inappropriate use of panel - finalising plans and then taking them to panel who make new decisions about provision outside of the review process.’

 

Communication issues

  1. In our own surveys parents have cited that poor communication with the LA is the biggest barrier they face when trying to get support for their child’s SEN. It is common for families to receive no reply to emails about their child’s case or to have to send repeated messages and copy in senior managers simply to get a response. The system was recently changed to a general email address from which all emails would be forwarded to the right people, but this system is not working for families who still get no response, and now don’t even know if the right person has received their email.

‘Communication with Devon LA is rubbish. The fact that they don't answer emails, don't turn up when the parents/carers/families protest, don't take responsibility for their actions, is unacceptable. They would rather pretend that everything is alright while trying to cover the failures in Devon instead of helping families. How can they say they want to improve the system when they don't even accept that it is not working?’

 

Long Term Impact on Children and Families and on the Public Purse

  1. The struggles that families with SEND children face is already enormous, many are forced to give up work to care for children who are stuck at home, and survive on benefits. This is often why there is a disproportionate number of children with SEN on free school meals. Poverty is not necessarily the cause, but it’s certainly one of the effects.
  2. The stress often affects relationships, and many find themselves parenting alone. Children and parents are struggling with their mental health with the constant fight for support – support that they are entitled to by law. Parents suffer trauma and feelings of alienation while they fight for a suitable education for their child. They often lose the support of a school community when a child ceases to attend, but support for parents with children who are struggling in school is not easy to find.

‘Families are not being listened to at best, and at worst are subject to gaslighting or left to fend for themselves without appropriate education for their children, sometimes for years on end.’

  1. The longer-term impacts on the children are even worse, with their future mental health a huge concern, very poor support from an overstretched CAMHS system and cuts to funding for suitable educational provision and support. For many children with SEND, their future employability is jeopardized by poor experiences of education and lack of appropriate support. Many of these children are highly intelligent but just cannot cope in a mainstream system.
  2. What will happen to all these children as they become adults? Many may never be able to work, will need care and support in the community and some won’t even make it to adulthood at all.

‘Our son (who has SEN but was supported in school) now has a full-time job and can support himself, but I believe the failures that my daughter has already experienced have forever impacted her life chances.’

Suggestions for Improvements

  1. There is a huge amount that needs to be done to improve the situation for children and young people with SEND and this report has only highlighted some of the areas of concern. Here are some suggestions for improvements that we think would make a significant impact:
  1. Lastly it is important to recognise that the contribution that children and young people with SEND can make to society is immense, providing their learning, physical and sensory needs are met, and at present this is not the case for too many children. Making whole school environments, teaching and learning SEND friendly will benefit all children and not just those with SEND. No one would be disadvantaged by making improvements for children with SEND.

November 2024