To ask you to sum up your council’s SEN provision in a sentence?

[Starwomanwaiting]

Hello all,
Some very brief background: I have an autistic child, referred at 18 months, saw consultant before age 2, diagnosed age 3, extra funding at nursery for at least a year now. Nursery is applying for EHCP which will take 12 weeks. Have seen educational psychologist and looking to defer reception for a year.

My question: it seems like we have been very lucky with our experience so far (except for speech therapy provision, which has had to be private). However we can’t stay in the city forever and need to buy a house/want a garden. So we need to find somewhere that isn’t going to be total shite for SEND.

If you are outside London and have had a good experience please tell me! I know each case is unique but it would help me do more research. Equally if your experience has been awful and you’d like to warn me off please do so.

I want to do right by my kid, but in a SEND crisis it’s hard to know where to start.

Thanks x

West Sussex - avoid!

Some schools are great and really go the extra mile (or twenty) but their hands are tied by inadequate LA who appear to spend more time making things harder than being useful...

https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/education-health-and-care-plans/2025

Is a useful website which allows you to look at LA level data. While it is primarily about EHCP production, my experience is that if they are terrible about the process of getting an ehcp, they are generally also terrible at ensuring provision and maintaining the EHCP...

We are in London so I know you didn’t ask for our views but I’d already clicked the link!

Ours is fine, nothing to write home about but not awful either.

I agree it’s not just about funding, it’s about how the funding is ringfenced and used. I think having a socialist council helps sometimes (though not always) because it creates an ethos within a local authority. Many London councils seem proactively engaged in helping parents and signposting as opposed to dodging them. The people you meet are often politically committed to equality in a way that saturates the work they do. I think these cultures build up over generations really. They’ll have been dealing with far more autistic kids than for example, the rural council we were trying to get help from for my siblings in the 90s. The social workers etc were lovely but the fact was in those days they simply weren’t dealing with a lot of this stuff back then and didn’t really understand it. You have in London a combination of the most at need communities and generations of experience helping them, but also a large number of pushy educated parents to answer to. That’s my theory anyway

Thank you! This is really helpful

We moved from East Sussex which was very much like you described - early diagnosis, lots of SaLT support, extra nursery funding etc. To Wiltshire - it’s the complete opposite with nothing available and everything takes an exceptionally long time to get through EHCP process and SaLT and funding seem non existent and schools/people in general seem much less understanding of autism. We also moved to have a bigger property/ garden but honestly I really regret it.

Devon - LA seems understaffed. The people I know whose children have lots of provision are the ones who have gone through tribunal, which doesn’t always correlate with having the greatest needs.

London isn’t always better across the board. For example, based on the last set of data, 3 out of the 10 LAs with the highest refusal to assess percentages are London boroughs.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned how spectacularly shit Hertfordshire is. 0/10 avoid like the plague.

Lincolnshire County Council has been absolutely appalling with my profoundly autistic child. Delaying tactics, refusing to read reports provided by professionals, and turning down all requests while claiming to be working for the best interests of the child.

West Sussex is absolutely dreadful. It defies belief that parents are forced to stay at home and unable to work with their children being failed by school and local authority as well as the ridiculously long wait for any therapists or inputs. Absolutely appalling

But income from Council Tax makes up less than 1/2 the LA's income. Only 1/4 in some instances.

London boroughs are funded very, very generously by Central Gvmnt which authorities outside of London aren't.

The 'amount of funding available per head' doesn't come from Council Tax.

@kpopmum04would you be happy to tell me which LA you’re in either in the group or via DM? We are Wandsworth but considering moving to Kingston/richmond. Thank you!

Buckinghamshire is awful. Repeatedly break promises. Forcing people into appeal proceedings. Will lie to you and your child’s face.

Both Richmond and Kingston use Achieving for Children for children's services so you can move to either borough and it's the same.

I just had a Echp finalised for ds it took my La 16 weeks to complete it.
4 years ago when I did my other sons it took them 28 weeks.
Same council.

A little update from me: EHCP is on track to be completed within 12 weeks which has included the Christmas holidays. They have been in regular phone contact with updates. I am very impressed but also saddened that all SEN parents don’t get this. I think if more people knew the service that parents get in certain boroughs as opposed to others they would want to riot!

I am so sorry that you have to deal with this. It is so spectacularly unfair

Don't move to South Gloucestershire or Bristol. Bristol is actually even worse than South Gloucestershire. Both are totally useless and couldn't care less about people/children with SEN.

My grandson is 4 and still not had a diagnosis, we’re waiting for an appointment to see a specialist.

We’re in Halton, and the twin towns have a huge amount of children with SEN

Yep, I absolutely agree Buckinghamshire is terrible. I'm a governor for a primary with an ASD ARP and the whole school is struggling - the council won't give the school the resources to support the children it has placed in the ARP, so the school has to take resources from mainstream, and it's still not enough. It's so unfair on children with SEN and those without. My daughter (mild SEN needs) is kicked and spat on on an almost daily basis by children who have been incorrectly placed in mainstream because there arent enough specialist places. 2 TA's suferred broken bones, they just arent equiped to support this level of need.

The borough I work in in London, whilst not perfect, is so much better in terms of speed and quality of provision, it's so unfair that it varies so widely by area, and that all children are loosing out.

Hi - are you in one of those boroughs and if so have you had a good experience? Thanks!

Yes, but a long time ago. I had excellent provision, cannot fault it, for two children. Schools I wanted, taxis, then great post 16. But I don't know if that still applies. I guess a lot depends on what you want in terms of support. I used to work in sen support in the other borough so I know round here well. Send me a pm if you like.