Bristol parents share stresses of poor special educational needs support
A protest was held on College Green earlier
Parents have been telling us of the stresses caused by a lack of specials educational needs support in Bristol.
A protest has been held on College Green in the city calling for more provision, as some say their children are currently without school places for the new academic year starting in September.
This woman asked not to give her name, but said attempts to get adequate schooling for her son had ruined her life.
She said: "I have a son who has autism and learning disabilities and we had a lot of difficulty getting him into special education, this is back in 2015.
"His needs were very obvious to anyone who actually met him, but my initial attempts to request an EHCP (Educational Health Care Plan) were simply bounced by the local authority, just rejected without any reason."
An EHCP is a necessary requirement for any family wanting special educational support for their child, but we have heard several reports of families struggling to get them.
She said she provided "50 pages" of evidence that her son needed special support, which was allegedly rejected.
We're told it took six months to get special support with the help of a charity, during which time the boy was not going to school.
Now, in 2023 we're told the boy once again has no special support.
"It's just gone on and on for years," his mum told us.
Zoe is a parent who's daughter is in a similar situation; she organised the protest.
She said: "I think the underlying cause is there is simply not enough of it (special educational support).
"I think special schools are very over subscribed and there doesn't seem to be enough funding for provision in main stream (schools).
"It just seems very difficult to get what the children are actually legally entitled to."
Last month it emerged nine complaints against Bristol City Council had been upheld in the previous seven months, costing the authority £15,000 in compensation.
The Local Government Ombudsman found several of the children and young people with special needs and disabilities were left without adequate teaching and support for months while their EHCPs, which the authority is responsible for sorting, suffered long delays.
The authority was found to have caused “distress and frustration” and “significant injustice”, while poor communication and delays in its responses to parents was a recurring theme.
It was told to apologise and pay out a total of £15,300 for the service failures, with the three biggest costing council taxpayers between £3,330 and £4,000 each.
In response to today's protest a spokesperson for Bristol City Council said: “While we cannot comment on individual cases, we are working with education settings across the city to find suitable and sustainable school places for children with multiple, complex, and often very specific needs.
“Bristol is currently commissioning 1,618 specialist places across our special academies, schools, and resource bases.
"In 2021, the Mayor pledged to deliver 450 new specialist places.
"Since that September, we have delivered an additional 270 specialist provision places in Bristol and plan to deliver at least a further 225 specialist places by September 2025, bringing the total to 495 additional specialist places.
“Our SEND Accelerated Progress Plan was approved by Cabinet this month.
"The Plan has been informed by working with parents and carers and using their feedback.
"With a formal Parent Carer Forum, as well as our Community of Groups representing over 20 different community and parent organisations, we are already on track alongside the Bristol North Somerset South Gloucestershire (BNSSG) Integrated Care Board (ICB) and our local area partners to jointly deliver this plan.”