Parents condemn Surrey SEND system over delays

Families say they are being forced to home-school children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) because a council cannot find suitable school places.

Claire, from Epsom in Surrey, said her 11-year-old son Bryn, who has autism and ADHD, has no specialist school despite receiving an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) in April 2025.

She said the system was "unbelievably frustrating and really stressful" and led to "anxiety attacks" as she gathered evidence herself.

Surrey County Council said pressures on SEND services were being felt nationwide and it was "committed to listening and improving", highlighting investment in new places and staff.

Claire said she applied for a tribunal last July after the council failed to carry out a required Key Stage Transfer Review.

A review is required when a child moves between stages of education.

She said she had to gather hundreds of pages of evidence herself and the uncertainty and stress of the situation had a severe impact on her mental health, describing having "anxiety attacks" and "heart palpitations".

She added: "It was unbelievably frustrating and really stressful. There was nobody who read the emails, nobody who answered the phone.

"This is a longstanding systematic failure. They just don't respond to tribunal."

Claire has taken a sabbatical from her job as a physics teacher and is helping Bryn learn from home.

He also works with private tutors and attends school part-time.

The tribunal, earlier this month, ordered SCC to name a specialist school in Bryn's EHCP, but no specialist school places are available for September.

Claire said she feared delays could last another year and added: "I want to go back to work, my child wants to go to school."

In Farnham, Ashlee has also called on SCC to improve its SEND services.

She said delays in the system have had a significant impact on her daughter Lemon, 7, who has autism with a Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA) profile and ADHD.

She said: "They just need to be following the law. I understand they've got a lot of debts. There's not enough staff but that is a problem that they need to sort out."

Ashlee said Lemon waited 35 weeks for an EHCP, and she started school without one and later was withdrawn from mainstream school as they were "unable to meet Lemon's needs".

She described "repeated delays" to responses from the council, and to the tribunal, and "poor communication" from SCC, including in Lemon's latest EHCP annual review.

Ashlee said: "The school she is now starting at in September does not have a current up-to-date EHCP.

"This will be her third school now in a matter of years. She's got a lot of school trauma and its very anxiety inducing."

Councillor Clare Curran, deputy cabinet member for children, families & lifelong learning, at SCC, said: "More than 18,000 children in Surrey have Education, Health and Care Plans, a number that has risen significantly in recent years.

"We have invested over £211m to expand specialist provision and strengthen support in mainstream schools, £4.9m on additional staff, and have recently introduced centralised inbox and phone systems to ensure a more reliable and timely service."

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