The House of Education Committee has just published its inquiry report “Solving the SEND Crisis”.
https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/49536/documents/264041/default/
https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/203/education-committee/news/209313/solving-the-send-crisis-report-calls-for-culture-shift-and-funding-to-make-mainstream-education-genuinely-inclusive/
The inquiry emphasises a need to embed SEND inclusivity in all educational settings, calls for better training for school staff, and advises the government not to “remove statutory entitlements from a system which lacks accountability”.
To inform the inquiry, the Committee gathered evidence from: young people with SEND, parents, academics, SEND professionals, education policy-makers and the Department for Education’s Minister for Schools, Catherine McKinnell.
The SOCR Rally and MP SEND Debate
This week, on Monday 15 Sep, MPs in Westminster held a debate on ‘Children with SEND: Assessments and Supports’.
This was in response to the ‘Save Our Children’s Rights’ (SOCR) SEND petition, which has over 125,000 signatures.
The petition calls for better SEND support, more effective assessments, and guaranteed protection for SEND children’s statutory rights in the autumn SEND Reforms. 1 in 5 children living in the UK today has special educational needs.
The standing-room-only debate lasted over three hours, with overwhelming support from MPs who shared heartbreaking stories from their constituents.
Whilst outside, thousands of parents, teachers, and SEND supporters gathered for the SOCR rally.
What happened in the SEND Debate?
Jenny Craft, MP for Thurrock, spoke passionately about her personal experiences as the parent of a daughter with SEND, calling the SEND system ‘adversarial, baffling and unsupportive.’
She argued that improving the SEND system is a matter of ‘social justice, of fairness, of equality and of equity’, stating:
“I do not want a single other parent to have to fight for the very basic rights of their child.”
The debate painted a bleak, but consistent picture of the current SEND system, drawing on stories from parents facing daily challenges when seeking support for their children with special educational needs:
‘Everything is looked at like a system, like a machine, all the compassion is gone.’
‘No one believes your children and their struggles.’
MP Jenny Craft called for:
- A commitment to meeting SEND needs wherever they arise
- Support and training for teachers, school support staff and anyone who interacts with children on a daily basis
- Early intervention
- Better speech and language support
- Better SEMH (Social Emotional and Mental Health) support
- More funding for high needs placements
- The development of holistic partnership working between local authorities
- More education placements
- More healthcare services
- Incentives and sanctions for schools based on inclusivity in order to make schools more suitable learning environments for SEND children
- For the government to acknowledge that every child deserves an education
Key issues raised included costly and unfair tribunal battles, schools only having a ‘best endeavour’ duty to support SEND, and concerns that EHCPs (Education Health Care Plans) would not be protected in the coming reforms.
Sarah Dyke, Liberal Democrat MP for Glastonbury and Somerton, gave a speech explaining that EHCPs were designed to serve as a long-term plan for relatively stable conditions, and that, therefore, an EHCP “is not always the right solution” for children with social, emotional and behavioural challenges. Having said this, she added that they are currently “the only solution for children and young people that is presented to parents and schools” and that “To change an EHCP needs a full consultation process.”
Georgia Gould, one week into her role as SEND and Schools Minister, was met with a mixed response from the room after repeatedly being pressed to provide a clear action plan on how the government would fix the broken SEND system. She eventually responded as follows:
“No child will be left behind. And we will reform the system so that children with special educational needs are at the heart of the education system. And there will always be a legal right to additional support for children and young people with special educational needs.”
She acknowledged a need to invest in teacher training and set out her guiding principles to tackle the crisis:
- That listening to the voices of parents, children, and teachers must be at the forefront of the SEND strategy
- That support should be given as early as possible, when SEND issues first arise
- That SEND children shouldn’t have to travel miles for their education, and that they would invest in support within the community
- That SEND provision was not just the responsibility of schools, but should be collaborative, involving youth clubs, health services and other support providers
Specialist SEN Tutor Jane adds her thoughts on what needs to happen to improve the SEND system:
“SEND tutors see so many parents struggling to get their children’s needs met. Parents’ main worry is often about the potential refusal of their child’s EHCP application. Even when needs are great, children are being refused the support. Right now, people are rallying together to support SEND families and the government’s understanding of their journeys, which is heartening to see. As tutors, we can listen to and advise parents, but the real help has to come from the proposals that are passed by the government.”
SEND Families Harmed by System
Measure What Matters, a not-for-profit which simplifies local government data and reports for the general public, has collated a huge data set of 474 testimonies from SEND families across 98 local authorities to evidence their experiences of the SEND system.
The document is already over 700 pages long, but Measure What Matters is inviting more parents to contribute their views and share the impact of their experiences. Keyword analysis of this document is deeply concerning, with ‘ignored’ appearing in one in five reports. At the time of writing, the most prevalent words in the document include “mental health” (710 mentions), “stress” or “distressing” (690), “trauma” (300) “anxiety” (281), “harm” (244) and “suicidal” or “suicide” (160).
Joanna Gibbs, CEO of SENsational Tutors, says:
“Sadly, the distressing testimonies shared by MPs, Measure What Matters and our fellow SEND professionals feel all too familiar. Our tutors hear from parents of SEND children every day who feel they are fighting alone for justice for their children. When parents across the UK are saying their local authorities lack compassion and that schools are not meeting their needs, this points to a systemic issue which needs to be addressed. We believe every child has a right to a good education and to be treated with dignity.
Too often, children are being told they have behavioural issues when they have additional needs in an environment offering inadequate or no support. Georgia Gould says her first guiding principle is to listen, and I hope she does, because so many families are urgently calling out for help. But listening isn’t enough anymore; the government needs to take action.”
Source
Measure What Matters — Testimony Collection · Volume 1 (001– 474)
Found at: https://measurewhatmatters.blog/2025/09/15/a-national-picture-of-harm-families-speak-out-on-send/
