Forum says Send parents feel 'gaslit' by council

Suffolk Parent Carer Forum chair Claire Smith said: "Attitudes are demonstrating defensiveness and a lack of listening from the county council"

Parents of children with special educational needs (Send) say they fear they are being "gaslit" by authorities failing to listen to their concerns or deal with complaints.

The Suffolk Parent Carer Forum said recent feedback on Send issues, following an annual survey completed by 230 parent carers, had revealed "a lack of listening" from the county council.

Claire Smith, chair of the Forum, said families making contact with Suffolk County Council often felt "they were not being heard, they didn’t experience empathy and were being met with defence".

Suffolk Send Local Area Partnership said it was working to improve things.

Ms Smith said some families felt they did not feel the complaints system was working for anyone but the local authority "with complaints shut down and not being resolved, meaning bad situations continue".

"We need listening to learn, not listening to defend," she said.

An open forum event was held at the United Reform Church in Stowmarket where parents met representatives from Send services and organisations in the voluntary sector.

"Families tell us complaints are shut down and no empathy is shown," Ms Smith added.

"They are just met with defence. Families strongly feel the local authority is ring fencing. The complaints system is broken.

"We do not want lip service or procrastination. We want solid actions that change culture."

A spokesperson for Suffolk Send Local Area Partnership said: “We know that timeliness for issuing Education Health Care Plans is not good enough and causes distress for children and young people, and their parents and carers.

"That is why we continue to prioritise every effort into improving this process.

"Our improvement plans are working. We are doing better – last year we were at 4.6%, now we are at 23.5%.

“There is a long way to go, and – quite rightly – we are being held accountable by lots of people, including officers from the Department for Education."

In April, the council apologised to a girl with autism and her family after criticism from the Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

The Ombudsman found the authority had taken 18 months to create an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP), despite pleas from the girl's mother.

Council bosses were told to pay £8,300 in compensation.