Three-year wait for children with extra needs to get support
‘And the system still not where it should be’
CHILDREN with special needs have endured three-year waits for school support to be put in place, community leaders have said.
And the councillor responsible for education has admitted the system is still not where he wants it to be.
Staffordshire County Council has come under fire from the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman for failing to ensure an autistic teenager with physical disabilities had an upto-date Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) in place when she moved from a special school to college, as well as missing a number of deadlines to review plans.
The findings of the report have been considered by the council’s cabinet and the authority has agreed to put in place recommendations made.
At the latest full council meeting, Jonathan Price, cabinet member for Education and SEND (special educational needs and disabilities), said he had experience of the system as a father of a SEND child. “I know how difficult it is for parents on the ground”, he said. “I certainly wouldn’t want to go through that and I don’t want any of our parents to have to go through that either.
“The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman have found this council at fault. It is a historic case in which the council allowed matters to drift and it took too long to resolve the case the parents had raised. There were numerous cases of this in the past.
“This was at a time when demand for Education, Health and Care Plans had risen sharply and it put our staff under severe pressure. Extra investment has been made since then in the team handling EHCPS, but there will always continue to be demand in the system.
“We were not where we needed to be when we had an inspection. We are still not where I would like us to be, but we’re not far and we have certainly come on a very long journey.”
Fellow council members said other families were also facing challenges in getting support for children with special educational needs and disabilities.
Councillor Charlotte Atkins said: “I am only too familiar with so many cases where parents have to fight real battles to get appropriate support for their child, either through an EHC plan or even the interpretation of the plan. We all know the earlier a child can be supported in school, the better the outcome for that child and the whole family. But all too often, parents have to become experts to navigate the complex process of first getting the plan and then fighting their way through the process, as they have to convince the school and the county council that their child is not getting the support they need.
“I’ve supported a number of parents who have had this sort of experience and I can tell you the experience is devastating. It can last two or three years. They may win at the end of it, or they may not, but the mental health implications for the family, for the child, for the siblings, are immense.
“I really plead that the county council finds a way because it can’t be right that these families are put through this. It’s difficult enough meeting the needs of a special needs child. We should be helping them, not creating hurdles and barriers for them.”
Councillor John Francis said: “I’ve had to go through the mill for the last 24 years I’ve been involved with SEND, from Greenhall Special School to Marshlands Special School, and it is a big problem. The Education, Health and Care Plan can fall over, it can’t be done properly, the process is a minefield. You’ve got to be a lawyer as well as a parent.
“The big thing that worries me is that at the schools with the inclusion programmes the Sendcos (special educational needs and disabilities coordinators) have to be top notch and to know everything to do with EHC. And I’m afraid they don’t.
“It is devastating for the child. I know a child where the process started some years ago when she was five and she didn’t get sorted until she was nearly nine - not good enough - it’s abysmal.”
Councillor Price responded: “We’ve had a new head of vulnerable learners and we’ve already spoken about the support we can give Sendcos around training. Staffordshire is experiencing the same increase in demand as elsewhere in the country. We all know a SEND review is required and I believe a Green Paper will be out shortly, where there will be a consultation on the way the Government supports SEND.
“Members are aware we have gone through a difficult transformation. As part of this we had the Send transformation and we’ve gone onto a district model. I’m pleased to say the way Send key workers are now in place will decrease the workload of those officers and enable us to do a much better job.”
The process started when the child was five and she didn’t get sorted until she was nearly nine Cllr Francis