Devon child with special needs sent to Surrey school

Alfie Bonell has been going to boarding school in Surrey since September

A seven-year-old child with special educational needs is at boarding school hundreds of miles from home.

Alfie Bonell, from near Loddiswell in south Devon, has been going to boarding school in Surrey since September, a round-trip of more than 400 miles.

His mother Julia blames a lack of special educational needs and disability (SEND) provision.

The government said the SEND system was under review and it had increased funding by 25% to £8bn in 2021-22.

Alfie was diagnosed at the age of five with a language disorder and also struggles with numeracy and literacy.

Julia Bonel would like to get "support much closer to home"

Ms Bonell, co-chair of the Devon Parent Carer Forum, a local support group, said many other families were dealing with long and difficult struggles to get the right help.

She said she was forced to take her fight to a tribunal to get him the right support from Devon County Council.

"We were fighting against each other, but if we were all able to work together more effectively we would have got to the same place but probably with a lot less stress and worry," she said.

The shortage of specialist places in Devon meant he had to go to school in Surrey, boarding there during the week, she said.

"He phones us every evening, so we do feel connected with him, but obviously we'd prefer it if we could get that support much closer to home," she said.

Another mother said assessments should take a maximum of 20 weeks but hers took seven months for her autistic daughter.

Devon County Council said it had made improvements after a report in 2019 criticised it for taking too long to agree support for children.

Julia Bonell with son Alfie: She said she was forced to take her fight to get him the right support to a tribunal

Last year the county council overspent by £49.8m on SEND funding as demand soared.

The number of children qualifying for SEND funding in Devon had risen from 3,572 in 2015 to 7,295 this year, said the county council.

The Department for Education said the "vast majority of needs assessments" concluded without the need to resort to tribunal hearings.

"But we recognise that there remain some inconsistencies in the support provided around the country," it said.

A review under way would "ensure" services were "consistent, high quality, and integrated across education, health and care".

Devon County Council's Conservative group said it had campaigned for extra resources and had been working "really hard" to improve the service.

The group said it had invested in extra staff, improved communications with parents and was investing about £20m in providing 600 extra special school places.

The Liberal Democrat group said it would publish a plan for change to improve children's services.

Progress would be scrutinised and reported on monthly and it believed Devon could learn from other councils which had improved.

The Labour Group said the government was failing children with special educational needs and disabilities.

It said without adequate funding, thousands of children were losing out on a proper education and the vital support they needed to learn.

The independent group said it was "easy" for the government "to tell us what we need to do, but ultimately they have to fund it appropriately and adequately for it to work".

It would "strongly challenge" the government "but first they need to fund the budget gap we and other councils have built up".

The Green Party said services for children and for SEND services had been hit by "austerity cuts" and schools were "challenged to fund adequate numbers of addtional specialist staff".

A spokeswoman said: "This Conservative government has managed to open the treasury purse in the past year for Covid, let's hope the coffers remain open to allow a rebuild of children's services which are even more urgent after this challenging year for many young people."