Spotlight on SEND: Council at 'breaking point' as specialist schools expand to meet demand

• Lois Swinnerton visited a specialist school in Wolverhampton

For many parents, waiting for their child to be assessed for a specialist school can be a lengthy process.

Councils across the Midlands are working to shorten and one authority making significant improvements is the council in Wolverhampton.

In 2021, a report found youngsters were being let down by the Council because support was not being put in place quickly enough.

The inspection by the Care Quality Commission and Ofsted found "significant areas of weakness" in provision for older children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in the city.

However, a recent inspection has found significant improvements in the way the authority managed SEND provisions.

The latest report found SEND is 'very much embedded in a vision for Wolverhampton as an inclusive city where all children and young people can thrive and are respected'.

Brenda Wile, Deputy Director for Education, has put this turnaround down to a number of things. She explains: "We weren't performing as we should have done, Ofsted recognised that and we were given a written statement of action."

"We did a lot of restructuring within the services and we attracted new staff to the city working in our support services and our SEND start services to be able to work better with parents and to be able to achieve a better timeliness of issuing Education, Health and Care plans (EHCP)."

But parents do still face long waits for their children be assessed, and that is largely due to a rise in demand. Wolverhampton's new EHCP plans has risen to 426 in 2023, with an increase of 63.8% compared to pre-covid figures.

Between January to June 2024, there have been a total of 290 new requests to the Council for an EHCP.

It's a similar story nationally, with the number of children and young people with EHC plans continuing to increase year on year to 576,000 in January 2024, up by 11.4% from 2023.

Wolverhampton's demand has increased by 6.4% compared to 2023.

Figures sourced by ITV News Central have found that as of the 8th of May, Wolverhampton Council had 84 children waiting for a specialist school place, with 89 children currently waiting for an EHCP assessment.

The Council has put some money aside to increase the number of SEND school places it has available in a bid to reduce waiting times. In total from September 2025, 1,117 places will be available in 8 specialist schools.

One of the specialist schools, Westcroft School, is increasing its capacity from 192 pupils to 210. To accommodate more pupils and staff members, the school is expanding it's canteen and car park.

Brenda Wile explains the process the Council has to go through when they receive an EHCP application, and why it can result in delays: "A panel meets to look at the needs of those children. Then there's a 20 week process of gathering information from a range of professionals education, psychologists, a paediatrician and health care professionals, schools.

"It only takes a delayed medical appointment, for instance, to hold up that process. But obviously with the demand increasing exponentially, it's very, very difficult to keep on top of."

Despite making improvements to provision, the Council says they are working with a "dwindling" funding pot. Brenda Wile explains: "We're just at breaking point. We are stretched to our absolute capacity.

"It isn't enough for the increasing numbers of children, young people coming through the system with more and more complex needs, which has been exacerbated by the COVID pandemic.

"More and more children coming into our early years settings with a speech language communication difficult with emotional mental health challenges."

In response, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said: "This diagnosis is damning: educational outcomes for children with SEND are flatlining after years when councils and parents have been pitted against each other.

"This government will take a different approach, whether it’s transforming the early years to intervene earlier and deliver better outcomes for children, or launching our curriculum and assessment review to put high and rising standards and inclusion together at the heart of every school.

"We will restore parents’ trust that their child will get the support they need in mainstream school, if that is the right place for them. And that there will always be a place in special schools for children with the most complex needs.

"We have a broken system in desperate need of long-term renewal. I won’t make false promises, change won’t feel as quick as parents – or I – would like. I will make sure our approach is fully planned and delivered in concert with parents, schools, councils, and everyone who works with children."

According to the Government Wolverhampton has been allocated a total of £10.6m through High Needs Provision Capital Allocations for the financial years 2022 to 2025.

The local authority can use this funding to create new places and improve existing provision for children and young people with SEND or who require alternative provision.

Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Education, Councillor Jacqui Coogan uses her experience to reassure parents. Her 37-year-old daughter Jess is autistic, but growing up, Jacqui says there wasn't much support available.

Speaking to ITV Central, she said: "I know that it's far better than it used to be. I can reassure them that, don't worry, this is going to be far better than you think it's going to be. We're going to be able to help.

She adds: "They're plunged into this process that they have to go through and it's not happening immediately, and I think it is very frustrating with all the emotional turmoil.

"But they don't want to hear, 'well, we've got to get this. We've got to get that. We've got to get the other thing.' They want it all to be done. That's perfectly understandable. But there is a process to follow and we have to go through that."

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