What local authorities are best for SEN services?

[Dwjssdss]

We’re moving home to the UK soon and will choose our location to try and get the best school fit for our 4yo who has special needs. I hear awful stories from friends in London of having very long waits for assessments and then for services. So we’re not going to move to London! Are there are cities/LAs that are really on it with SEN children? DS is likely to need support in mainstream rather than a special school and his needs are mild but wide ranging so he could need a lot of different supports along the way - I’d like to be somewhere I feel confident his changing needs will be supported well and in good time. Thanks for your input!

Sadly, I think you'll find SEN/D (both education and Health services) are hugely underfunded in all authorities.
If his needs are 'mild' then it will depend a lot on the individual school more than the LA anyway.

I wouldn’t move to Essex, Hertfordshire, Hampshire, East Sussex, Kent or Surrey; but lots of others are dreadful too!

Hi Dwjssdss - you ask a very good question. One I would like the answer to as am following the thread now too..
We are planning to move out of Enfield (also underwhelmed by the support given to my autistic DS so far). Hoping Herts are better but like BackforGood says it's a difficult time nationwide for SEN budgets.

Good luck with the move.

Sorry 👆 that meant to say Bucks not Herts

@Looking2Move I have a friend who left Enfield for a special school in Essex for her ASD DS and she’s very happy, having not been in Enfield.

West Sussex seems to be a huge amount better than Surrey or Hampshire. My DN has had far more help in W Sussex and waiting lists not so long with initial assessments being much faster than other LA’s

Are you looking exclusively for state funded school/nhs support? If you are prepared to supplement the help (say hire your own private SALT) then London certainly has more to offer.

I've not heard of any area that is good for state/nhs... probably somewhere in fantasy land.

@ForTheRecord I’d love a private school but they’d most likely want a one to one which we definitely couldn’t afford. @Lara53 glad to hear things have improved since you moved. We talked to a SENDco in York who made it sound very hopeful up there.

I was thinking more along the lines of going to state school and accepting you'd be topping up the provision. In which case, there is. lot of great expertise in and around London if you are prepared to pay for it. I think (hope) the situation may change with a new government. But hat is a while away.

Bucks historically has poorly funded schools, common statistic is ‘7 out of 10 of lowest funded primary schools (I assume per head) are in Bucks!! London has much more funding per head for education. I don’t know about special needs funding but the general low funding for education ( and health) doesn’t bode well

@Looking2Move
I think SEN funding is in crisis everywhere. Bucks is no exception to this. They are due an Ofsted inspection so you may want to hold off as the current thinking is that it won’t go well.

It's not just SEN funding that is in crisis in Bucks - the schools are funded less per pupil per head than most areas, so I imagine there is less to go around including special needs.
7 out of the 10 worst funded schols in England are meant to be in Bucks.