Local government ombudsman report into SEND in England offers damning assessment a complete failure of special educational needs system. That has put children’s development back by years.
England’s special education system is failing, causing thousands of children to have their development put back by months or even years, according to a damning report by the local government ombudsman.
Failure of special educational needs system in England
Last year, 576,000 children and young people in England had an EHCP, an assessment and agreement detailing the extra support they require, funded from a council’s high-needs budget.
A further 1.2 million children are estimated to have special needs but may not qualify for an EHCP.
The local government and social care ombudsman
Amerdeep Somal, the local government and social care ombudsman, said her caseload was now dominated by complaints from families involving special educational needs (Sen) provision and schools, with more than 90% of complaints being upheld.
A catastrophic failing by the department of education.
“The result is that young people, and their families, don’t get the help they need and lose vital weeks, months and years of education and development as a result. They don’t get that time back.”
Complaints about schools and special needs provision accounted for 26% of the local government ombudsman’s cases in 2023-24, with 92% upheld. “A situation where we are upholding nearly 100% of complaints cannot be one that is working for children and their families,” Somal said.
Inability of many councils to process applications
A key failing was the inability of many councils to process applications, or then failure to implement EHCPs after they had been agreed with parents, because of a lack of funding, facilities or qualified staff.
The staff shortages were highlighted by North Yorkshire county council, which could not recruit sufficient education psychologists despite four recruitment rounds and offering higher salaries, leading to long delays in children receiving support.
The ombudsman’s criticisms echo those of the National Audit Office, which recently said the special needs system was “financially unsustainable” in its current form.