Calls for an investigation into Worcestershire SEND failings
It's as an Ofsted report found systematic failings.
Council bosses have been asked to issue public apologies to families failed by Worcestershire’s struggling SEND services.
Elena Round, a city councillor and mum to 20-year-old Billy, who has complex learning and physical disabilities, is also calling for an independent investigation.
She said it was “upsetting” to read Ofsted’s damning report and that there have been “too many failings, too many pitiful promises and too many apologies”, adding: “Our children deserve better.”
“There must now be an independent investigation,” said Cllr Round, who has already started a petition calling for one. “We need to know who is responsible for these failings and they need to be held accountable.
“We need the CEOs of both Worcestershire County Council and Worcestershire Children’s First to publicly apologise to all those families that have suffered as a result of the continuing failings.”
The county council and NHS Herefordshire and Worcestershire ICB are jointly responsible for the planning and commissioning of SEND services for children and young people in the county.
Worcestershire Children’s First delivers social care, early help and education services.
“There needs to be a genuine acknowledgement they have failed children and young people,” said Cllr Round.
“We cannot move forward without this investigation – that’s why myself and my husband set up the petition. Only by an investigation can we truly know and understand what has and is still going wrong here in Worcestershire.
“Our children matter, as should every child regardless of their needs.
“When a child has additional needs the key to a child’s long term life chances is through early support and intervention. Receiving key therapies and specialist support early are vital.”
Ofsted found children often wait too long to have their needs assessed, with lengthy waits contributing to breakdowns in school placements.
According to the report: “Instead of having their needs understood and met, they are faced with part-time timetables or exclusions from school.
“For some children and young people, it is only when they hit a crisis that they receive the support they need.”
Cllr Round said: “Families are being forced to go into debt just to take the local authority to court to get what their child is lawfully entitled to – an education and the therapies they need.
“The damage done to both the child and the family are irreparable.”
A spokesperson for Worcestershire Children’s First referred us to a joint statement issued yesterday, which said: “The partnership would like to apologise to those children and young people with SEND who have not received the timely support they need.”