SEN0173

Written evidence submitted by CWaC SEND Accountability

As increasing numbers of Parent Carers in Cheshire West and Chester were struggling to get their children and young people the support they needed, recognition of their needs and ultimately the education that they needed, we decided we needed to act. CWaC SEND Accountability, was born out of frustration and shared trauma of navigating our local SEND system. CWaC SEND Accountability has raised awareness of the drastic failings of the CWaC SEN Team, failings which are professional, legal, and moral. The dishonesty, lack of transparency, and unlawful conduct has a devastating impact on the welfare of vulnerable families and exposes children with SEND to the real prospect of poor outcomes. CWaC SEND Accountability have staged 2 protests, had numerous meetings with the Labour administration in CWaC, meetings with cross party councillors, MP’s, the Parent Carer Forum, spoke at Full council meetings, conducted surveys, created online community groups for support and been contacted regularly by families struggling. We started this campaign in March 2024 and although lots of positive steps have been taken, we are yet to see any meaningful change int he experiences of the families in our community.

In the most recent survey conducted by CWaC SEND Accountability we had 135 families participate. Some of the alarming statistics that came from the survey were as follows:

•    “The SEN Team have met all statutory obligations and timescales for my child.” 126 respondents disagreed. Only 6 agreed.

•    “The action or inaction of the SEN Team has directly compromised the wellbeing of my child/young person” 108 agreed.

•    “The mental health of my family has been negatively impacted by the SEN Team” 127 agree

•    “My family have had to incur costs due to issues with the SEN Team (for example, legal advice, private EHCNA reports etc)” 83 agreed.

•    “The action or inaction of the SEN Team has directly compromised the wellbeing of my child/young person”. 108 agreed.

•    “Securing and maintaining an EHCP that is fit for purpose in Cheshire West and Chester has been a battle” 125 agreed.

•    “All of my attempts to communicate with the SEN Team (for example, telephone calls and emails) have been answered/responded to in a timely manner” 126 disagreed.

•    “The SEN Team are transparent” 126 disagreed.

•    “I trust the SEN Team” 125 disagreed, 8 disagreed and 2 did not answer.

•    “I know who to contact at the SEN Team and I am directed to someone else in a timely manner if that person isn’t available.” 124 disagreed, 8 agreed and 3 did not answer.

•    “The SEN Team have lied to me and/or deliberately misled me” 103 respondents agreed, 27 respondents disagreed

•    “My family’s opinions and preferences were meaningful included in the EHCP process” 108 disagreed

•    “I feel that Cheshire West and Chester are doing everything they can to address the concerns raised by the SEN community” 132 disagreed

•    “Cheshire West and Chester are taking the concerns raised by CWaC SEND Accountability seriously.” 120 disagreed.

•    “I trust that Cheshire West and Chester will implement meaningful change.” 123 disagreed.

We have made multiple Freedom of Information requests to CWaC. These are some of the findings from those requests:

•    36.8% of requests for needs assessments were refused in 2023. 1 in 5 of these refusals were eventually overturned via mediation or tribunal, or other means.

•    In 2023 94.1% of EHCPS completed were in breach of legal timeframes. Meaning only 5.9% of EHCP’s were completed within 20 weeks and leaving many families outside of timeframes with no idea as to when they will receive their child/young person’s EHCPs. With statistics like this it makes CWaC the 14th worst council in England for compliance to Legal timeframes.

Since the beginning of 2022, the number of Tribunals that CWaC has successfully contested is 1 out of 140. Unlawful decision making is continuing in CWaC forcing parents to tribunals as this is the only process in which they are held to account. It is unnecessary trauma and expense for vulnerable families. If these families were listened to and their opinions valued there would not be so many seeking mediations and ultimately tribunal.

We have families battling through Tribunal due to unlawful delays and decision making causing their children to miss the phase transfer deadlines. Families with children out of education having delays to assessments and receiving plans. Therefore, exacerbating the length of time these children and young people are out of education. Children and young people in education but not receiving the right level of support to be able to thrive.

Children and young people are not having their legal rights maintained with out-of-date EHCPs. Phase transfers are happening with out-of-date EHCPs no longer fit for purpose. We have had families tell us that their child or young persons EHCPs are not being reviewed and/or amended for up to 4 years.

During our campaign we have highlighted numerous times the plight of families in Cheshire West and Chester. We have highlighted the discrepancies that exist between the Local level of legal compliance and that of the National level of legal compliance. The local level of EHCPs being issued within 20 weeks being 5.9% and the National level of EHCPs being 49%.

A recent Ofsted inspection of the Children’s services where the CWaC council was asked to make improvements to all but one area of the Children’s services highlights fundamental failings within the department. Furthermore, the inspection stated “Over-optimism by leaders about the consistency of practice means that although improvement plans focus on the right areas they have lacked sufficient pace and impact”. The same has been observed about the SEND services and highlighted but still no recognition of the local failings have been forthcoming from the Leaders.

The Leader of the Council Louise Gittins has become the Chair of the Local Government Association (LGA). The LGA commissioned and published a joint report with the County Council Network “Towards an effective and financially sustainable approach to SEND in England”. In the preface of this report written by Louise Gittins and the Chair of the CCN our children and young people were called “an existential threat to the financial sustainability of local government”. It was recommended that our children and young people lose their legal rights to improve the financial sustainability of Local Governments.

This is a short summary of the experiences of families in our community and the journey of our campaign. There is plenty more we could explore, but, ultimately, our children and young people being failed, hidden and ignored is unacceptable. The impact of this is significant on our community.

January 2025