Support for children with special educational needs in the South East

The BBC has recently reported that families face a postcode lottery when it comes to securing help for children with special educational needs.

The BBC’s report focused on the varying responses from local authorities when parents sought additional support via a Statement or Education, Health and Care Plan. It concluded that there was no similarity between how local authorities were responding to requests for assessments of children’s SEN.

The BBC found that in some regions, local authorities were refusing all parents’ requests for assessments, whereas in others only 10% of requests were refused.

This report follows a report issued by the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal which looked at the last 20 years of appeals that it has processed.

The Tribunal’s report provided a breakdown of the levels of appeals being faced by different regions throughout England. The results for this area are telling:

• Appeals against decisions taken by West Berkshire have increased by 50% in four years
• Appeals against Oxfordshire County Council have doubled in four years
• Appeals throughout the South East have increased by 30% in four years (which is broadly in line with the national average)
• Hampshire and Surrey County Councils have faced double the national average of appeals
• Kent and Medway have faced nearly triple the national average of appeals
• Appeal success rate is now over 80%

The BBC’s report focused largely on parents’ requests for assessment. A refusal to assess special educational needs is still the largest reason for appeal to the Special Educational Need and Disability Tribunal. The Tribunal’s report does not allow us to assess the separate success rate of appeals against a refusal to assess a child’s special educational needs.

It seems that the BBC’s findings of postcode lottery hold true when looking at appeals being faced by local authorities. In the South East region generally, families are nearly twice as likely to have to appeal a decision as the national average.