A major inquiry has been launched as struggling families say they continue to be failed by a ‘broken system’
16:02, 31 Dec 2024Updated 16:03, 31 Dec 2024
Parent based in Sefton(Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)
Families across Merseyside are fighting an ‘endless cycle of failure’ as a crisis of ‘lost childhoods’ continues to blight our communities. Over the last year, the ECHO has documented a series of heartbreaking and distressing stories highlighting the ‘broken system’ of special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) provision in England.
The crisis in SEND provision is multi-faceted and impacts families and organisations in different ways, but the one universal truth is the system has been ‘brought to its knees’ – causing misery for children and parents and threatening to drive dozens of local authorities into bankruptcy.
Earlier this month, the Parliamentary Education Committee launched a major inquiry into the SEND crisis and is tasked with examining every phase of education and development, from the early years through to the age of 25. Committee Chair, Helen Hayes MP gave a stark assessment of the prolonged and ongoing failure to adequately support children and families in need, she said: “There is absolute clarity that as a country we can’t continue with this endless cycle of failure.
“Turning this ship around will likely take years of careful reform, but the cross-party Education Committee will play our part by making evidence-based recommendations that the government can implement.”
Ms Hayes outlined a bleak picture across the whole spectrum of SEND provision which she believes has ‘bled into the rest of the education system’. According to the introduction of the inquiry, the failures in SEND have caused ‘attrition’ in the teaching workforce, soaring levels of pupil absence and a spiralling financial emergency which threatens to bankrupt councils across the country.
It is a sobering diagnosis and one shared by the government, charities and local authorities including the Department for Education (DfE) who are now analysing the barriers SEND children are facing and the impact on their life chances. A spokesperson for the DfE said: “The SEND system has been on its knees for years – with too many children struggling to have their needs met and parents forced to fight for support.
“It will take time but we are determined to restore the confidence of families up and down the country and deliver the change they are crying out for, and we will work closely with the Education Select Committee to do this.”
Protest outside Bootle Town Hall in 2023 about the state of Children’s Services in Sefton.(Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)
Nonetheless, professionals working in the sector believe the government’s response must be bold, creative and innovative – focusing on tackling delays in EHCP referrals, improving early intervention and addressing a ‘postcode lottery’ creating imbalances in the provision. Anne Longfield, Executive Chair of the Centre for Young Lives said: “The SEND system is broken, and many families are at their wits’ end, deeply frustrated at the waiting lists and the layers of bureaucracy and hoops they need to jump through.
“The life chances of thousands of children are being held back by an inadequate, underfunded, and overstretched system.” She added: “Improving the SEND system and making our education more inclusive so it meets the needs of all children is crucial not only to those children with SEND but to our country’s economic success.”
The under-reported story about the failing SEND provision in England is the profound and life-altering effect it has on families and children in Merseyside and beyond. The ECHO has spoken to countless parents in the last 12 months who have offered first-hand accounts of dealing with a broken system and how the ongoing crisis is impacting their lives.
In June the ECHO covered the harrowing experiences of Sefton resident, Jennifer Boyle who wanted to raise awareness about the challenges families are facing. Jennifer has a 14-year-old boy, Lee who is non-verbal, double incontinent and has no sense of danger. More recently, he has been diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and epilepsy and suffers from developmental delay, intellectual disability and behavioural problems.
After years of trying to get Lee adequate support, the family reached a crisis point in 2022 when Sefton Council’s SEN Transport scheme withdrew Lee’s single occupancy entitlement for taxi journeys to school. Jennifer informed the local authority Lee was unable to travel with other pupils – something which was acknowledged in his risk assessment.
Jennifer Boyle(Image: Liverpool Echo)
As a result, Jennifer was struggling to get Lee to go to school and said he missed months of education and deprived him of a daily routine which brought stability to his life. Jennifer added the withdrawal of the transport service constituted one example of many in which Lee was not given the support he needed – resulting in him becoming depressed and vulnerable to engaging in impulsive actions. What happened next was a perfect storm of events which culminated in the ‘worst day’ in Jennifer’s life.
Monday, February 12 started much like any other day. Jennifer had been up for most of the night caring for Lee and was focused on getting through another difficult day. Lee was feeling particularly stressed so Jennifer decided to take him into town via the train and visit McDonald’s – two things Lee really loves to do. However, what happened next will haunt Jennifer for the rest of her days.
After arriving on the platform at Liverpool Central Station, Lee bolted up from his wheelchair and launched himself onto the tracks. In the CCTV footage, Jennifer can be seen pushing her son Lee into the station in his wheelchair and then briefly stopping on the platform – at which point Lee can be seen standing up from his chair and jumping off the platform.
Jennifer can be seen with her arm outstretched trying to grab him, before running to the platform edge and hanging over the side to try and grab her son to safety. She is then joined by a number of people, including a security guard in a hi-vis jacket who runs to help.
She said: “I was just freaking out. One of the lines was live so I’ll be forever grateful to the security guard because if my son had put his foot on that rail it would have taken us all out. I remember the moment I had to let go of my son to let the guard take over because he was stronger – it was sheer panic.
“If it wasn’t for the guard, then me and my son wouldn’t be here now. Afterwards, Lee didn’t understand what had happened and was still wanting to go on the train for his trip.”
Jennifer is very clear on Lee’s motivation for jumping on the tracks and confirms it wasn’t an attempt to take his own life. The mum-of-two wants people to know the complexities behind Lee’s actions and also how they were more symptomatic of problems associated with his condition and the accumulated strain of not being able to access vital support systems.
She said: “My son is non-verbal so he has no way of communicating his frustration and fear so this presents in increasingly harmful and impulsive behaviours. It’s a difficult thing for me to say, but every day is a struggle to keep my child safe in the community.”
The issue of vulnerable children missing school is one the ECHO hears a lot from parents struggling with the education system and its intersection with the SEND provision. In November, we covered the story of Stacie McKie who said she was forced to withdraw her 10-year-old daughter, Lacie from school because they were not adhering to her education health and care plan (ECHP) – resulting in the deterioration of Lacie’s mental health and wellbeing.
Mum Stacie McKie at home(Image: Mum Stacie McKie at home)
Stacie said her daughter has been diagnosed with epilepsy and is on both the ADHD pathway and the autism spectrum disorder (ASD) pathway – a developmental disability affecting how people communicate, learn and behave. As a result, Lacie has an EHCP with a series of recommended learning and support practices to help her (and staff) manage the school day and ensure it is productive.
An EHC Plan is a legal document that local authorities and schools are required to follow and identifies the help and support a child needs to meet their special educational, health and social care needs. Stacie said: “I worry about Lacie’s future in the education system and wonder whether she is ever going to get where she needs to be because it seems so broken to me.
“I have had to take her out of [school] because she is not getting the help she needs, but it’s hard because Lacie likes routine and doesn’t understand why she can’t go to school.”
Stacie is by no means the only one who has experienced difficulties negotiating with schools when it comes to the SEND support offered to their children. In October, the ECHO reported the concerns of numerous families in Crosby who accused a school of consistently failing children in their care.
Jenny Cooper placed her child in the school after being told it was a good place for SEND provision but said things soon started to go wrong: “After year 7, it was a really negative experience [for my child]. They hated it because there was nothing for them to do and they ended up totally lost.
“In the mornings all I hear is ‘I don’t want to go to that place, they don’t help me’. I look into my child’s face sometimes, and they just look scared, like a rabbit in headlights. I dread it every single day.
Jenny Cooper(Image: Liverpool Echo)
“I started to get really concerned and asked the school ‘Why are you not helping my child?’ because they don’t know what they should be doing at any time during the school day.
Jenny describes the catch-22 she finds with her child and the school and believes their autism is not managed appropriately and symptoms are defined as ‘bad behaviour’, she added: “It has ruined their self-esteem. It’s taken away what little confidence they had.”
Asked about her feelings regarding the education system’s management of children with special educational needs and disabilities, Jenny said: “I think it’s atrocious. Nobody seems to know what to do with kids like mine.”
The sense of despair among the parents we spoke to is almost tangible and has taken its toll on them physically, emotionally and psychologically. The dual fight to fix a broken system whilst providing ongoing, full-time care to young people with complex needs means many people have had to give up their careers. As a result, families become increasingly isolated and desperate and don’t know where else to turn for help.
Earlier this month, the ECHO spoke to members of Voice of the Families (VotF) – a peer-to-peer support group set up to help families across Sefton. Parents in the group described themselves as ‘exhausted’ and ’emotionally battered’ and are now calling for a complete overhaul of the provision offered to children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
David Moorhead is one of the organisers behind, Voice of the Families and he’s submitted numerous complaints in regards to the lack of support for his child. David said his child was ‘abandoned’ by their college and the support set out in their EHCP was not being delivered – culminating in the college failing to enrol them for year two, after passing year one.
Voice of Families Campaign Group outside Bootle Town Hall.(Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)
David said: “I reported absolutely everybody. I went to all their managers. I spent days and days in meetings with management pointing out how absolutely dreadful the caseworkers were, how the college lecturers were, and how the SEND department at the college was awful.
“My child had just about survived but could easily have dropped out if I hadn’t been organising everything. I don’t work. I don’t have a career. I spend my time constantly making sure they get the support they are entitled to. It’s a struggle every day.”
There are about 1.9 million children and young people with special educational needs because of disabilities or learning difficulties. A significant proportion of this group are young people 16 years old and above who are falling between the cracks.
The issue of SEND support provision for post-16s is a key issue for VotF who are frustrated at the ‘drop-off’ in support for young people as they ‘get lost’ between children’s social care and adult social care. This is certainly the case for one parent who said their child had been forced out of school because of their EHCP-approved support being withdrawn – citing an eight-month delay in getting a social care assessment.
The mum said: “As a family we feel physically and emotionally battered, battling for everything my child needs to allow equal access to the curriculum, training and mental health services.
“I’ve had to listen to my child say they feel ‘invisible’ because they’re passed between schools and services like a lost piece of luggage that no one wants to claim. Adult Social Care, however, freely admits they do not have any expertise or experience in dealing with the EHCPs. So we’re left to advocate for ourselves.
David Moorhead from Crosby.(Image: Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)
“My child’s needs did not stop when they turned 16. They did not stop when they turned 18. But the support mechanisms did.”
Responding to the concerns raised by the parents Sefton Council leader Marion Atkinson said supporting families and children with SEND remains a priority for the local authority. Cllr Atkinson added: “Over the past 12 months we have been reviewing our delivery of services and have made significant investments to help improve both the timeliness and quality of EHCPS and we are now above national standards.
“Families have told us we need to share information in a more accessible way and as a result, we are making improvements to our local offer website and exploring app-based solutions to make information sharing easier.
“The challenges and pressures in the SEND system extend across the country and we are committed to sharing our own learning and developments and being part of national improvements.”
The hope for parents, charities and local councils is that the establishment of the Education Committee’s inquiry into SEND provision will address the problems being highlighted and create an effective platform for long-lasting and comprehensive change. Education Committee Chair Helen Hayes MP added: “In recent years, report after report has documented the failures of the SEND system to deliver the support children and their families need.
“Despite the best efforts of professionals in schools and local authorities, across the country, children are being let down. As a Committee, we now want to move beyond simply pointing out the problems and focus on finding solutions that are realistic and practical for the Government to implement.”