Spotlight on SEND: Police visited Hull family home after autistic teen kept off school

The mother of an autistic teenager says she was "embarrassed" after police came to her house when she took him out of school amid a row over classroom support.

Becky Irvin's 15-year-old son Jacob was given an autism diagnosis last year - six years after teachers first suggested he may have the developmental disability.

Despite his diagnosis, he is still awaiting an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP), which would outline his needs and could unlock funding for extra support in school.

Jacob attends Archbishop Sentamu Academy, a mainstream school in east Hull, but his mother keeps him at home if he is struggling with anxiety.

In the last 12 months, she has been fined multiple times over school absences. In April police knocked on their door while they were away.

“They knocked on the neighbours' door as well and I was so embarrassed," Becky said.

"The next door neighbour said they’d asked if they’d seen Jacob because he hadn’t been in school.

“The kids didn’t want to come home. Jacob was nonverbal all the way home and shut himself in his bedroom and didn’t come out for three days.

"I rang the solicitors after that because I [had more] contact from the school in that one week than I’ve been asking for for a year."

She said the police visit came after she took Jacob out of school following a meeting with school leaders in which her repeated requests for better in-class support were denied.

“I feel awful," she continued. "I know the school has a lack of staff and training but going through this on a daily basis, they need to understand how awful this is."It's detrimental to everybody in the family’s health - not just Jacob's. It’s soul destroying to see him like that. It hurts so much."

More than one in 100 people are on the autism spectrum and there are around 700,000 autistic adults and children in the UK. It can affect how they communicate and interact with the world around them.

Depending on their individual diagnosis and EHCP, some autistic children are given one-to-one support in class or are helped in different ways with issues like communication or anxiety.

Becky's frustrations over assessment delays and support are shared by many families in Hull and further afield.

Figures obtained by ITV News under the Freedom of Information Act show that, as of June this year, there were 202 children in Hull waiting to find out if they had be given EHCP.

They were among almost 2,900 due to be assessed for extra support across Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, while 376 were waiting for a place in a special school.

Nicola Robinson, the co-founder of the Aim Higher parent support charity, helps around 600 families of children with special educational needs in Hull and East Yorkshire including Jacob's.

She says her charity had calls from seven families, who were taking their children out of school altogether, in the space of two weeks this summer because of their frustrations over a lack of additional help or specialist school places.

Nicola said: “Parents don’t want to keep their children out of school. It can be a safe place for children and respite for parents - it’s really important that we’re getting that in there as well.

"We need to not be fining (families over absences) but understanding and working with families to find out why they can't get into school. What can we do to make that better?"

Hull City Council would not comment on individual cases but said the Hope Sentamu Learning Trust, which runs Jacob's school, was committed to working in partnership with the council to "improve the educational outcomes for all the children, including those with special educational needs" despite challenges in "the national landscape for SEND".

A spokesperson added that the council is taking "effective action" and has reduced EHCP assessment waiting times from nine months to 15 weeks, while delivering free-to-all SEND training to schools.

They said: "Special educational needs are being identified and supported earlier, so that they do not escalate to the point where an EHCP is required.

“The demand for EHCP has begun to fall in Hull, which is a positive sign that inclusive schools are meeting diverse needs as part of their business as usual activity.”