PARENTS have said they are “completely aware of how broken the system is” after Essex was named the worst county for SEND assessment waiting times and dubbed a "postcode lottery".
In Essex just one per cent of children receive special educational needs and disability reviews for an educational health care plan (EHCP) within the legal time limit of 20 weeks.
Requests for assessments, meanwhile, increased by 143 per cent between 2015-16 and 2022-23, with almost 4,000 requests made between 2022 and 2023 alone.
Gemma Cutter revealed she had to “fight through court” for her son to have his needs met after a “damning report” from an educational psychologist made the “local authority concede".
He is now finally able to enjoy school, but only after “eight years of missed education”, she said.
Kat Gibbs, meanwhile, has said as well as more SEND schools there needs to be more trained teachers and SEND staff, including transport drivers and aids.
And Samantha Selfe said the ECHP process is clearly not working and a better partnership between education and the NHS “would benefit all”.
Lousie Richards and Sal Lour added there needs to be more done to help children when they turn 18, at which point there becomes “no support”.
Craig Mitchell Heath said one policy which would help would be an increase in carer’s allowance as £70 a week is an "insult" when in some cases the level of need for children is so high carers cannot work.
Sean Hughes, on the other hand, feels children should be at the top of the government’s priorities instead of “the green agenda.”
Colchester mum Laura Wingar has been waiting since August 1, 2023 for an assessment for her son Freddie, who has autism and ADHD.
Finally, Kirsty Justine said: “To be honest it doesn’t even matter what’s written down - they do what they want regardless".
Parents have spoke out against the support on offer after Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey, who is a carer for his disabled son, called for a new national champion to coordinate support for children with the most complex needs as part of a £300 million funding boost.
Tony Ball, councillor and education boss at Essex County Council, however, previously moved to reassure parents.
He said, "like many areas in the country", Essex faces a problem with the recruitment and retention of educational psychologists as well as an increase in requests since the Covid-19 pandemic.
But he said he recognised the impact this had on parents and families.
“Families can be confident that we are taking this matter extremely seriously and already have plans in place to address the issue," he added.
"We will leave no stone unturned as this work continues.”
Bosses at Essex County Council, meanwhile, have said all of Essex’s "in-county special schools" are full, with there being “significant delays coming from the Department for Education”.
Four free special schools in Essex were approved by the DfE in 2017 – with only one of those four now being “fully open”.
They also said there are 221,520 pupils in Essex, with 24,862 pupils on SEN Support, 13,282 pupils with an EHCP, and a total of 38,144 with SEND.
Out of these, there are 1,232 currently in the EHC needs assessment process meaning there are “approximately 3.2 per cent of SEND pupils in this process” which is “0.0005 per cent” of Essex’s school population.
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