Parents take Bristol council to court over SEND provision

Parents said there had been a "top-down" failure to communicate with families

The number of parents in Bristol taking the city council to court over issues with special educational needs provision tripled last year.

The number of appeals jumped from 37 in 2021 - up to 120 appeals last year.

Parents can take their local council to a tribunal if they are unhappy with a decision about special educational needs and disability (SEND) provision.

These tribunals can take more than a year to settle, delaying children's education.

Education chiefs at Bristol City Council faced questions about the increasing number of tribunal appeals during a meeting of the People Scrutiny Commission on 13 March.

Green councillor Christine Townsend, shadow cabinet member for education, said: "We need to keep an eye on the tribunals, because it has gone up by 300%, which is a lot. That is not good parental relationships."

According to council papers, of the 120 tribunal appeals lodged last year, 46 were due to the council refusing to assess children, 10 were due to the refusal to issue education, health and care plans (EHCPs), 62 were the content of EHCPs, and one was a disability discrimination case.

During the scrutiny meeting, education chiefs said the average time parents waited for an EHCP was reducing, and the average wait time in December last year was down to 33 weeks.

However, an increasing number of applications were being made, rising from 728 in 2020, to 850 in 2021, and then up to 1,000 last year, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Labour councillor Kerry Bailes said: "I am a SEND mum and I support SEND families. If things are improving - as parents we are not seeing it.

"The statistics might be improving, but with the relationships between officers and caseworkers, and communication, there does not seem to be improvements from where we are standing."

Abi Gbago, executive director for Children and Education, said the department would communicate more transparently with parents, and admitted the situation was "significantly challenging".