Services 'failing children' despite SEND report

Campaigners have said children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) are still being let down one year on from a highly critical report.

Inspectors found Oxfordshire County Council was not meeting the needs of children requiring its help.

Oxfordshire SEND Parent Action, formed by local SEND families, said children and young people were still being left without access to education.

The council said it had committed an additional £1m to support SEND services since the inspection.

Last year's report found that few children requiring SEND services in Oxfordshire had their needs met, with many waiting years for help and not being supported until close to crisis point.

The inspectors said the service had "long-standing failings", leading to "a tangible sense of helplessness" among families.

One year on, Oxfordshire SEND Parent Action spokesperson Dr Claire Brenner said: "We’re making every effort to help make things better, but we’re seeing no improvement on any front.

"Oxfordshire County Council and the NHS board have shown us nothing that demonstrates progress. They are continuing to fail families."

She added: "When we’ve seen [the council] drop £51m on a park and ride scheme in Eynsham that cannot open, and pay our council taxes into the £161m and counting Botley Road scheme, I struggle to accept that there isn’t the money to support our most vulnerable children."

Carterton mother-of-four Lucy, whose four-year-old autistic son Finley has not been accepted into a school, told the BBC she felt "angry" and "let down".

Finley underwent one of the council's education, health and care plans (ECHP) which recommended he go to a mainstream school.

"There’s no way he’s going to cope with 30 children in a class," she explained.

"Because his ECHP states one-to-one all day, all the schools are saying they can’t meet his need because they don’t have the resources."

She said Finley "loves to learn and he deserves an education, and it’s just discrimination... they just don’t want to give him a chance, no school wants to give him a chance".

The council has promised 300 more special places by 2028 as new schools are completed.

Its priority action plan was approved in December, and has established an improvement board to monitor progress.

It said it was "particularly pleased" that indicators showed children with SEND were performing above the national average in some areas.

It continued: "A recent ISOS/LGA report described the national system as ‘broken’. This isn’t an Oxfordshire specific problem, it’s a national problem.

"But in Oxfordshire we are prioritising transforming the SEND system so that our children, young people and families are able to fulfil their potential."

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