The Send system – for children with disabilities and conditions such as autism and ADHD – always faced challenges, but has been in crisis since the coalition government increased the age range of young people entitled to Send support without giving councils the necessary funding.
“We know there are significant issues with the wider system for Send children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities and their families,” said Amerdeep Somal, the local government and social care ombudsman.
The local government and social care ombudsman (LGO), which handles complaints about English councils, upheld 1,043 cases regarding Send provision in 2024 – nearly 40% more than in 2023, and four times more than the 258 upheld in 2021.
Rising needs among children have outpaced increases in government funding, leaving a toxic combination of ballooning council deficits, legally required provision going unfulfilled and children and parents left in crisis, sometimes without any schooling.
Successful complaints about councils’ special educational needs and disability (Send) services in England have quadrupled in four years, in the latest evidence of the crisis facing the system.
