Send children 'fall through the cracks' - watchdogs

More needed to be done to support children and young people with learning difficulties, watchdogs said

Too many children with special needs and disabilities (Send) "get lost in the system and fall through the cracks" in Suffolk, watchdogs have said.

Send children have been facing a system that "has not worked well for a long time", according to a report by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

They inspected services including Suffolk County Council, NHS Suffolk and North East Essex Integrated Care Board (ICB) and NHS Norfolk and Waveney ICB.

Tracey Bleakley, chief executive of NHS Norfolk and Waveney ICB, said Send services had not met the "high standards" young people "need and deserve".

The report said often children only received the "right" kind of support when they reached "crisis point".

Too many families were not heard and there was poor communication with parents, the report said.

"The reality that parents experience is that their children get lost in the system and fall through the cracks," it added.

"Families resort to making complaints to receive the support they have a right to and need."

The report also said families had been experiencing long waiting times for services such as autism diagnosis and assessment.

'Serious concerns'

It found an "extremely high number" of families went through mediation, but "there is little evidence that families" found this helpful or supportive.

The report, based on an inspection that took place in November, said "serious concerns" raised in 2016 and 2019 "have not been not urgently or effectively addressed".

Claire Smith, chair of the Suffolk Parent Carer Forum, said: "This sad reality has been the situation for too many, for too long.

"Families are offered apologies and promises of improvements but very few are feeling them."

Rachel Hood, Conservative cabinet member for education, Send and skills at Suffolk County Council, said: "The report has confirmed that we already know where our problems are and we will continue with our programme of significant investment and reform so that improvements are felt by all."

She said there were more than 21,000 Send children and young people in Suffolk schools, an increase of 30% since 2019.

"We are aware we have struggled to keep up with this demand," Ms Hood added.

The council and health providers have released a joint action plan to improve services.

This includes a pledge to invest more than £55m to create more than 1,250 additional Send places in specialist and mainstream schools.