SEND parents say emails and calls going unanswered

A council's special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) provision is currently running a reduced service due to staff shortages.

Suffolk County Council said its statutory SEND service was operating under "business continuity arrangements" while it continued to "strengthen staffing capacity".

Some parents and carers have told the BBC they have not had responses to emails and that phone calls have gone unanswered.

The council said: "While some families and partners may have experienced delays in communication or aspects of service delivery, work is ongoing to address these issues and performance is improving."

Nikki Graham is the mother to two autistic children. She said trying to contact the council was a "nightmare at the moment."

"I get the odd email, I reply almost instantly, then I hear nothing," she said.

Graham had been expecting to finalise an education, health and care plan (EHCP) for one of her children soon, but said she did not know what was happening.

"It's the uncertainty. It's the constant admin as a SEND parent, where you're constantly reminding, escalating, flagging it up to staff," she said.

"You're just constantly trying to get someone to respond and it can take hours, hours and hours a week just trying to get the council to fulfil their statutory duty."

Steve Wright from East Bergholt has two children with SEND and EHCPs. He is part of the group Campaign for Change.

"Parents have been reporting what appears to almost be a complete communications blackout," he said.

"Almost all emails are being ignored, telephones aren't being answered."

Wright said the council had recently missed deadlines from tribunal orders for his daughter's EHCP.

An Ofsted and Care Quality Commission report published in May, after a monitoring inspection, said improvements to the SEND service had been made but changes were not happening fast enough.

"Everyone's wondering what's going on. The monitoring inspection seemed to suggest that there were some very early signs of improvement but of course, if we've now plunged straight into a staffing emergency, that could kill off any chance of improvement," Wright said.

The Suffolk group Parents and Carers Together aims to support families of children with mental health issues.

"We've heard lots of discussions from parents and carers concerned about lack of communication. Emails and calls are going unanswered," said Bec Jasper, from the group.

"Some parents have been told that due to a lack of staff, they will not have a named officer and will be communicated with more generally."

A council spokesperson said that this decision for more general communication had been taken "as a proactive measure to support the service".

"This position is under constant review and prioritisation and we are seeing steady improvements in service delivery," she said.

"During this period, we have remained focused on meeting our statutory responsibilities and supporting children and young people with the most urgent needs.

"We are actively recruiting, reviewing resources and implementing measures to strengthen the service.

"Supporting children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities remains a priority and we are committed to working closely with families, schools and partner organisations as these improvements continue."

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