CYP Now - Make SEND system about collaboration not conflict

Between 2015 and 2021, the annual number of appeals about decisions to the SEND (special educational needs and disabilities) Tribunal spiralled by a whopping 280 per cent.

Derren Hayes: “If these new reforms are to work there must be a culture change among agencies in the way they approach meeting children’s needs”

The increase in appeals – and similarly large rise in demand for mediation between councils and parents – is a reflection that the SEND support system has become increasingly adversarial in nature (Special report big debate).

It is all too common now for parents and local authorities to spend more than a year locked in dispute over what support a child with SEND should receive, with significant cost in legal fees for all parties – it was recently revealed that Birmingham City Council had spent £10m fighting such cases since 2015 – and damage to a child's wellbeing.

This situation has to stop if children are to get the support they need. The only way to achieve this is to move away from a quasi-legal system for securing support to one based on collaboration between parents and all the key agencies.

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