More than 50% of Send children miss school - MP

Jenny Riddell-Carpenter, Suffolk Coastal MP, released a new report on Send provisions in her constituency

More than 50% of children have missed school because their special educational needs and disabilities (Send) could not be met, a Labour MP said.

Jenny Riddell-Carpenter, who represents Suffolk Coastal, released a report reviewing her constituency's Send provision.

She carried out a survey, and of the 97 families that responded, 58.8% said their children had missed school due to their needs not being met.

In response, the council said it recognised it did not "always get things right", but it had taken steps already to improve the service.

The new report gave six recommendations to improve the situation

The report, Send in Crisis - a review of the Send challenges facing families in Suffolk Coastal - was based on her public survey and a Freedom of Information request.

A total of 51.5% of families said they were struggling with Send-related challenges and did not have the support they needed.

Meanwhile, 28.8% said their child was absent for more than a year.

As well as this, there had been a 200% increase in appeals lodged against the county council over the past five years.

While the report noted issues with Send provision was not limited to Suffolk, it said the system was "broken".

"Too many families across Suffolk Coastal are suffering – and under unimaginable pressure - as they fight what feels like a losing battle, to get the most basic education, health and care provision for their children or young people with Send needs," the report read.

It stated the council also "failed to deliver 60% of education, health and care plans (EHCPs) within the legal 20-week timeframe", worse than the national average of 50%.

Recommendations

Six recommendations were made in the report:

• Additional specialist provision should be opened in the former free school in Saxmundham

• Work should be carried out with primary schools in rural locations with declining populations, to enable additional school capacity to open up in the next few years

• A national review and family-led conversation about the scale of the Send crisis should be held to recognise the severity and the devastating impacts

• The government should provide sustainable funding commitments for Send provision - one that meets today's demands and is scalable to meet the growing future demand

• The parents' and young people's experience of Send should be put at the heart of the solution, building it around the young person's needs

• Suffolk County Council must create clearer communications and action planning with families

'Working hard'

Sarah-Jane Smedmor responded to Riddell-Carpenter's report and said the council was working hard to address the issues

Sarah-Jane Smedmor, the council's executive director of children and young people's services, said it was "working hard" to improve Send provisions.

She said the council had already earmarked the former free school in Saxmundham as a Send school and previously agreed to the creation of 200 new specialist Send places across the county.

As well as this, the authority was "focusing on quality assurance and undertaking multi-agency audits" of EHCPs to ensure they were of a "good standard".

"We know there is more to do, and our improvement plan will help ensure all of our children in Suffolk get the education and support that they need," Ms Smedmor added.

The government had previously said it would invest £740m to increase the number of places for pupils with Send in mainstream English schools.

Schools Minister Catherine McKinnell said the system had been "failing families with Send children for far too long" and while it would take time to fix the issues, the government remained "steadfast in our commitment to deliver the change".