SEND support flaws exposed

Disability campaigners and service providers have warned that derogatory comments made by county councillors about children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) are reflective of a system-wide problem with how local authorities make support decisions.

The concerns have been raised after three members of Warwickshire County Council’s children and young people scrutiny committee made remarks about children with SEND at a public meeting in late January.

‘Something in the water’

Conservative councillors Brian Hammersley, Jeff Morgan and Clare Golby came under fire for the comments they made, which included Hammersley saying “something in the water” was causing an increase in the number of children receiving SEND support.

Morgan also questioned whether children receiving SEND funding were “just really badly behaved” and are in “need of some form of strict correction”, with Golby asking if “a rise in social media use” was causing an increase in SEND cases.

Following a backlash over the comments, the three councillors were removed from their committee roles and a formal investigation launched.

Far from being an isolated case, SEND campaigners say the three councillors’ opinions are representative of a support system “out of touch” with the needs of children and families.

Writing on the Special Needs Jungle website, Rachel Filmer, the parent of disabled twins, expressed the frustration felt by many families.

“SEND parents listening to these comments feel a strange mix of rage, exhaustion, fear and even vindication,” she wrote. “Increasingly, local and central government resent the burden of our disabled children. We are only shocked that our politicians feel emboldened to express these views in a public forum.”

Thomas Keaney, founder and chief executive of The Complete Education Solution (TCES), says he was “horrified” by the councillors’ remarks.

“Those remarks feel symptomatic of a system that’s either out of touch, or in denial,” he says. “Whether by blaming parents, casting doubt on the veracity of diagnoses or refusing to fund appropriate provision, it amounts to a vain hope that by not ‘recognising’ needs they will somehow disappear.”

Keaney adds that inadequate funding from central government is “undoubtedly a major factor” in some local authorities’ support decisions, which he describes as “ostrich-like”. He also says a “fundamental lack of special needs knowledge is leading to some uninformed, uncompassionate decision-making” by councils.

This is borne out by latest figures from HM Tribunal Service which showed the number of tribunals for people appealing against local authority decisions on education, health and care plans (EHCPs) for children with SEND was up nearly a quarter in 2022/23 to an all-time high of 14,000 cases (see graphic).

The proportion of cases found in favour, at least in part, of the appellant also reached a record high of 98 per cent – up from 96 per cent in the two previous years. Meanwhile, 28 per cent of appeals were against refusals by councils to conduct an education, health and care assessment in the first place, which is the first step towards getting an EHCP.

Children’s commissioner for England Dame Rachel de Souza described the issue as a “huge problem for many children and families”.

“We must focus on identifying and supporting children’s additional needs early, rather than expending huge resource on adversarial complaints processes which are disruptive to children’s education and care – and place huge stress on families,” adds De Souza.

Fragmented system

According to Family Action, the fragmented nature of the SEND system means children and families are going without support while awaiting assessment and diagnosis. Local authorities are not prioritising this because it was largely overlooked in the government’s SEND Review, the charity’s deputy director for services and innovation in the south region, Amy Brooke adds.

“To support children and families consistently, reliably and successfully, we need a more systemic approach, that holds education, health and social care equally to account, challenging areas where there are high numbers of successful appeals and supporting local authorities to invest in intervening early via a holistic, trauma-informed approach for the whole family,” Brooke says.

For Keaney more professional curiosity and training is needed.

“Many TCES families have felt compelled to become experts in their child’s diagnosis. Officials making life-changing decisions about children must be at least as well informed as families are.”

The Warwickshire councillors’ comments, alongside the rise in appeals to the tribunal, points to a SEND system not meeting children’s needs, campaigners say. De Souza agrees, adding: “We need radical reform of the SEND system, so it is as ambitious for children as they are for themselves.”