Parents hold backpack protest over failures in SEND provision

Each bag symbolises a child "failed" by the council's lack of provision, parents said

Parents of children with special educational needs (SEND) are claiming a council is failing to provide specialist provision.

A collection of backpacks were laid out at the offices of West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) to illustrate personal stories of children affected.

"We live with the damage every day," one parent told the BBC.

A council spokesman said parents were being offered one-to-one meetings and said 500 extra places were planned.

Campaigners also claim parents can be threatened with prosecution if their children do not attend school.

The protest is similar to a demonstration carried out in Warwickshire in July 2021, where parents laid out 60 backpacks, each representing a child "let down" by the county council.

The school backpacks represented children without school places, those placed in "unsuitable" schools, and children whose parents were being prosecuted for poor school attendance, parents said.

Parents of SEND children held a protest outside 1 Angel Square, the council's Northampton offices

"Our children have neuro-diverse - or SEND - needs and we thought those needs would be met, but sadly they haven't," a parent said.

• Parents lay backpacks for 'failed' schoolchildren

A spokesman for West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) said each family would be offered one-to-one sessions with SEND officers to "discuss their circumstances".

"West Northamptonshire, like local authorities across the country, is currently facing significant pressures on its SEND provision, resulting in a shortfall of specialist places," the spokesman said.

He said 250 new special education placements would be created within the current academic year - and a further 250 within the next two years.

Councillor Fiona Baker, cabinet member for children, families, education and skills at WNC, said: "We know this does not immediately address the challenges faced by some families and these improvements won't happen overnight.

"I fully appreciate the strength of feeling around these issues."