Send system 'feels broken', children's services head

Charisse Monero, director of children's services at North Northamptonshire Council, said Send was at a "crisis point"

A council's executive director of children's services has said the special educational needs and disabilities (Send) system "feels quite broken".

Charisse Monero, from North Northamptonshire Council, told a schools forum - a body that meets to discuss education issues - that the government needed to do "significant work".

"We are saying we are in a crisis point," she said, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

A spokesperson for the Department for Education (DfE) said: “For too long, children and young people with Send have been let down by a system that is not working, but this government is determined to deliver change."

The council has said its school funding budget has been under pressure as the demand goes up from families for an education, health and care plan (EHCP) for their child.

Ms Monero told the forum, which was streamed on YouTube, that there had been "missed significant opportunities" to get "fundamentals right".

"Everything we do at the moment is very reactionary and very statutory-based," she said.

"I think the Send system at the moment as a whole feels quite broken, and there’s significant work that central government need to do - but that’s going to take a long time.

"So if we can lobby and leverage that now, I think we need to do it.”

'Go bust'

David Paice, the council's assistant director for inclusion, said there was a forecast deficit of £25m in school funding for the 2024 - 2025 financial year, and a danger of the council going "bust" if changes were not made.

"We can get our own systems right, but the demand is so in excess of what the budget is coming in.

"If we all continue to operate as we are we will go bust," he said.

“That has very, very serious implications for everybody, most of all the young children who are not being well-served by us systemically - despite everybody’s best intentions.

"We will have to operate differently and that will require a collective coming together.”

The DfE spokesperson added: “Urgent work is already underway to ensure more children are getting earlier and better support to thrive in education through our curriculum and assessment review, Ofsted reforms, and new early years Send training.

“We will continue to work as quickly as possible to ensure that every child gets the best start in life.”