Devon County Council SEND services getting worse - parents

Devon County Council (DCC) failings have put special needs children in a "dire situation", parents say.

Parents told councillors on Tuesday the authority's support for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) was worsening.

It comes four months after parents staged a protest outside the council offices in February.

DCC said it was working to improve SEND services as quickly as possible.

Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission first identified significant problems in the county in 2018 and found improvements were still too slow in 2022.

Another inspection in May 2023 found improvements in the quality of social work practice "remains inconsistent".

Giving evidence at a meeting of the Children's Scrutiny Committee, parents said "multiple failings", including long waiting lists for support, were letting their children down.

Nicola Brewin said one of her children had been out of school since 2016, telling councillors it had put her family in a "dire situation".

She said there were "needless barriers" to her child receiving proper support.

"The reality is an institutionalised culture that would rather my child be on a waiting list for years than to provide meaningful support now," she said.

Caroline Bolingbroke, another parent, said her 13-year-old autistic child had been unable to attend school for four years.

The council has developed an improvement strategy to improve SEND services across the county - which includes recruiting more caseworkers.

But Ms Bolingbroke said the strategy was a "wish list" and did not provide a clear direction.

She added: "We don't have a voice in our children's future, our children don't have a voice - when is anyone going to listen to us?"

Astrid Harding said parents felt like they needed to "fight for our children's rights".

"I feel outraged that our children and young people are missing out on their rights to an education - we are parents and carers, not teachers," she said.

Elaine Kimble said the council needed to better consult the parents of SEND children on what was best for them.

"We are absolutely sick and tired of decisions constantly been made for us without any proper consultation," she said.

DCC said it had made fixing the SEND system a "top priority" for the council and it was committing extra resources accordingly.

"We understand the concerns and frustration of parents and share the desire to drive real improvement across SEND services as quickly as possible," a spokesman said.

"Giving the right support to children with SEND to the age of 25 is a national challenge and one which Devon along with many other local authorities has found difficult to get right.

"We are working closely with parents and carers, with our schools and health partners, and with the government to make things better in Devon, but there are no quick fixes.

"The most recent Ofsted inspection last month did point to some positive improvements and suggested we were now moving in the right direction, but we acknowledge that there is still much more to do and it will take some time to get this right."

Follow BBC News South West on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected]