Suffolk leaders raise alarm over “broken” SEND system as families continue to struggle
They say Suffolk is an "outlier for all the wrong reasons".
Ipswich MP Jack Abbott and SEND campaigner Steven Wright have warned that Suffolk’s special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system remains “broken”, leaving families exhausted, out of pocket, and without the vital support their children need.
Both have called for urgent reform and for Suffolk County Council to take greater accountability for what they describe as a “decade-long crisis”.
“Nobody thinks this system is working”
Mr Abbott, who has campaigned on SEND issues for more than 10 years, said the system was in a national crisis, and that Suffolk families had been battling it for far too long.
“Nobody working in and around the system thinks this is working currently,” he said. “The fact that families are having to fight so hard just for the very basic support for their children is fundamentally wrong. And we know time and time again how many families have been failed.”
He said parents were still waiting months or even years for Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs), and that even when secured, support often wasn’t delivered.
“EHCPs are just one element to this sort of broken system where families are having to fight for years,” he said. “Even when they have the EHCPs, they’re not necessarily getting the support that they’ve been legally entitled to.”
Mr Abbott said he was frustrated that families were being forced through “exhaustive” and “combative” tribunal processes to get the help their children needed.
“Overwhelmingly, families are winning time and time again in their appeals against Suffolk County Council,” he said. “It shows that the County Council were pushing families down this pathway probably knowing that they’re going to lose.
What we don’t always think about is the number of families who can’t go through this process because they’re absolutely knackered or because it’s far too expensive… they’re just being left with nothing. That is fundamentally wrong. It’s completely unjust.”
“Culture is fundamentally broken”
Mr Abbott said that while national reforms to SEND were expected in the new year, Suffolk needed to face up to its own problems.
“We’ve been in the top three worst offenders in the country for the last eight years,” he said. “I think the culture is fundamentally broken at Suffolk County Council.”
He added that despite “a number of damning CQC Ofsted reports” and years of complaints from families, the council had failed to act.
“For Suffolk County Council to still sit there and pretend there isn’t a major problem here is, in my opinion, one of the fundamental roots of this crisis.”
"We are an outlier for all the worst reasons.”
Mr Abbott said that while additional government funding had been provided, including £10 million for the high-needs block and a further £10 million for new specialist places, the progress was not enough to meet demand.
“That was almost to backfill the huge gaps that were already there,” he said. “We are an outlier for all the worst reasons.”
“I’m absolutely furious that 10 years later, we have families who have so badly failed in this way. The consequences for those children are absolutely enormous. This will affect the rest of these children’s lives by not having the support that they should have had for years now.”
He also criticised what he described as the council’s refusal to take responsibility:
“They complain about the increase in need… but someone should start asking more questions about why, in a national pandemic, they cut children’s centres and health visitors, other really crucial early support.
"Whilst this is a national crisis, they are an outlier because of how bad they are. I think some people should really start asking some serious questions to their leadership now.”
“We are talking about lives being permanently damaged”
Steven Wright, whose two children have additional needs, said he had been fighting Suffolk County Council for years to get the right support. He described the current situation as “a catastrophe for families”.
“We are talking about lives being permanently damaged by the failure of Suffolk County Council,” he said.
Mr Wright said the number of families being forced to go to tribunal was proof of a failing system.
“The tribunal process is an appeal, and the council should not be using it as a quality control mechanism,” he said. “The fact that almost every case is being overturned shows that the initial decision-making is poor.”
He added that the process was leaving families “physically and emotionally broken”.
“These parents are going through years of stress, stress that affects their jobs, their marriages, and their mental health,” he said. “It is completely unacceptable.”
Mr Wright also said the council’s failure to plan effectively was worsening the crisis.
“There are simply not enough specialist school places, and too many children are being forced into mainstream settings that can’t meet their needs,” he said. “It’s firefighting rather than forward planning.”
Council response
Suffolk County Council has previously said that it is working to improve its SEND provision and has invested millions in new specialist school places.
However, both Mr Abbott and Mr Wright say families are still waiting too long for support, and that progress on the ground remains slow.
Mr Abbott added:
“I wish that the leadership of Suffolk County Council, or even some of their backbenchers, had as much fire in their bellies about this, because I don’t think the situation would exist like this if they did.
Every single child should have the best education and the best chance in life. At the moment, to be really blunt about it, that isn’t happening here in Ipswich and Suffolk today.”