A lack of support for children with special educational needs and disabilities (Send) is a “timebomb” for public services, MPs have been told.
In a debate on Send provision for children with autism and ADHD, Liberal Democrat MP Pippa Heylings read the words of a teacher in her constituency of South Cambridgeshire who said students with special needs were being educated in corridors due to a lack of space and resources.
Ms Heylings referred to Lord Darzi’s review of the NHS which found demand for ADHD and autism assessments have grown exponentially in recent years.
She also said 200,000 children in the UK are waiting for a diagnosis: “That is 200,000 families left in uncertainty, desperate for help, struggling without the support they need.”
In an adjournment debate she told MPs: “What we’ve seen is, over this last decade or more, chronic underinvestment from the Conservative government, despite the fact that statutory needs were recognised.
“We’ve seen the identification of that, and that has left us in this situation, which is a pressure point, and we are now seeing the results of that and what I’ve been told as well: this is a timebomb.
“We will see the impacts of this on future quality of life, opportunities, NHS and social services – all services, really, if we don’t deal with this situation.”
The House heard stories of what neurodivergent children had to cope with being educated in mainstream schools that did not have the resources to accommodate their needs.
Ms Heylings said: “Let me share the words of one dedicated professional from my constituency so that this House can hear what the current crisis is lending to.
“She says: ‘On a daily basis I’m setting-up, helping other teaching assistants to deliver bespoke curriculums as they are mostly educated outside the classes of their peers.
“We don’t have a special unit for them. We’re just accommodating them as best we can in quieter areas of the school, including corridors, because they’re not able to work in the noise and busyness of a primary classroom.’”
Ms Heylings added: “She saw one of those children that she’d been working with, who, a few days after starting secondary school, was excluded because their behaviour was not manageable.
“In her words: ‘It broke my heart to hear from her mum what she’d gone through in such a short time in mainstream secondary and I knew at once she must have been so frightened to have behaved as she did.’
The MP continued: “What I now understand is that the broken system means that a child has to fail in a very distressing way before they’re given the provision they need.”
Education minister Catherine McKinnell said the Government was aware the Send system is not working for children or parents.
She said: “It is a priority for the Government. We want all children, regardless of where they are in the country, to receive the right support to succeed in their education and to lead happy, healthy and productive lives.
“And we know that in far too many cases we have simply lost the confidence of families that children with special educational needs and disabilities will be supported because they are being failed on every measure.
“And despite high needs funding for children and young people with very complex special educational needs and disabilities rising to higher and higher levels, the system is simply not delivering.
“It is not giving the outcomes that those children deserve. So we desperately need to reform the system.
“So, our message to families is that we are committed to improving the Send system and we are committed to regaining their confidence.”
