Nottinghamshire families left ‘broken’ and let down by SEND service

Parents of children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) gathered outside County Hall in West Bridgford on November 3 to protest that children were being let down by Nottinghamshire Council’s SEND service.

The Every Pair Tells a Story campaign movement took place across 88 local authorities in England and Scotland on the same day, involving parents or guardians leaving a pair of shoes outside a council house to represent individual children who have been ‘failed’ by their SEND service.

One mum, named Jess, told the local democracy reporting service (LDRS) she has ‘had to fight’ for her nine-year-old son’s autism diagnosis and for him to be placed into a school better suited for his needs.

She started the process for an education, health and care plan (EHCP) for him in October 2024.

EHCPs are legal documents detailing a young person’s needs, the support they require and progress they want to make – the target issuing time for one is 20 weeks after assessment.

Her son initially got through the first stage of the process and an assessment, but was told there was ‘not enough evidence’ for his needs due to good school attendance and academic performance.

She said there has been a ‘massive delay’ in his EHCP process after putting in for mediation but it being overturned before this.

The family is now on week 56 of the EHCP process.

Her son has been granted an extended half-term from his mainstream school and says he is struggling with burnout.

She said: “He’s now unable to leave the house, he’s an absolute anxious mess, his anxiety is manic and chaotic to the point where we’ve had to ring the crisis team.

“The crisis team couldn’t find his support plan and couldn’t offer any advice because he’s nine and he refused to speak to them – that’s CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services).”

“The situation is completely taking it out of my family, we’re broken by it and it’s heartbreaking to see him distressed – I want my boy back”.

Jess added that wants the council to be ‘held accountable’ for the support delays and says families need to feel they are listened to when engaging with SEND services.

Lyndsey Roome’s 16-year-old daughter has two chromosomal disorders, health conditions and global developmental delay.

Her daughter did not have an EHCP until she was 15 and Lyndsey claims she was told her daughter ‘wasn’t bad enough' to qualify for one during primary school and early secondary school.

She says the first three years of secondary school were ‘hell’ for her daughter, who she claims had her face spat at and had her medical conditions taunted.

She said she was asked ‘why she had not applied before’ for her daughter.

Her daughter has since started at a specialist college and for the first time ever ‘looks forward to going’.

Ms Roome said: “I watched my little girl cry every single day while she was at mainstream school and I still put her through that door – the guilt parents feel for doing that is immense.

She said her daughter was given an ‘incredible’ key worker for the EHCP, but feels her daughter was let down by the council not responding to her needs quickly enough.

Like Jess, she said parents’ voices need to be acknowledged more, adding: “There is some family input, but whether it’s used or not is very, very different – it’s not always implicated into the EHCPs.”

Responding to the campaign, Coun Hana John (Ref), cabinet member for education and SEND, told the LDRS it was ‘empowering'.

She said “I’m glad they felt bold enough to come out here and voice how they feel,” adding the council has different ways parents can submit feedback, including a forum, family hubs and social media and contacting councillors.

She said: “We do have a lot of ways we can hear the voice of the parent-carers and we just need to improve on that joined-up working, better connectivity, so that’s one thing we’ll be looking for.

“Especially for this day and age with technology – ensuring that reach is there.”

Coun John said: “It’s important to continue to hear those voices, to be well informed on how parent carers are feeling and also their lived experience – because at the end of the day, who do we serve?”

She added since July, the amount of EHCPs issued in timescale increased to 53 per cent, along with increasing the educational psychology service by 55 per cent but ‘more work needs to be done’ when assessing suitability of mainstream or special placements.

Coun Rory Green (Ref), cabinet member for children and families, told the LDRS: “We know nationwide this is probably one of the least effective sectors in the country right now where parents are fighting and fighting time, stress, money, to get the best for their child.

“I think the privatisation of academies is a big issue that we need to look at nationally as well.”

Coun Green said he and Coun John will feed back the parents’ experiences from the campaign to the authority.

Back in early 2023, Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) carried out an inspection of Nottinghamshire’s SEND partnership and concluded ‘widespread’ and/or systemic failings and ‘significant concerns’ for the experiences and outcomes of young people with SEND.

From this, two priority action areas were found focusing on the needs of young people with SEND, such as assessments, quick issuing of EHCPs and addressing delays and gaps in young people’s access to some health services.

An improvement plan was also launched.

A September 2025 monitoring inspection report found ‘effective action’ has been taken on these two areas.

At the time of the visit, 47.3 per cent of EHCPs were completed within the 20-week statutory timescale, compared to 28 per cent in 2023.