Desperate SEND families report councils to police in disputes over EHCPs

Desperate parents and carers of children with special educational needs are reporting council officials to the police over what they claim is a failure to give children the support they are entitled to. At least ten families have made reports to police, The i Paper understands, accusing them of misconduct in public office on the grounds they are deliberately withholding the support their children are legally entitled to receive. While the response from the police is mixed, it shows how some families are being driven to extreme measures, because they are so frustrated at not getting the help they are entitled to, according to MP Chris Coghlan, who is campaigning on SEND. Under law parents or schools can ask for a local authority to carry out an assessment for special educational needs. Once a child has been assessed as having SEND then the council must create an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP), a legally binding document. But councils are under mounting financial pressures as demand for specialist support rises. The Office for Budget Responsibility has warned that debts linked to SEND spending could reach £14bn by 2029, leaving local authorities under growing pressure to ration provision. The response from police is mixed. Some families have been issued with crime reference numbers, while other complaints are understood to be under active investigation. Others have been told their complaints are a civil matter and directed to Citizens Advice, while some have received no response. Families allege serious failings Coughlan points to the fact that parents won 99 per cent of SEND tribunal appeals decided in 2024-25 as evidence of the scale of disputes between families and local authorities.The Liberal Democrat MP says he has received more than 1,200 testimonies from families alleging serious failings by councils. Around 200 of those accounts relate to suicide, he claims. The i Paper has independently identified nine cases in which children and young people with SEND died by suicide and coroners subsequently issued formal warnings about failures in the support they received. These Prevention of Future Deaths (PFD) reports highlighted concerns involving schools, local authorities and NHS mental health services, which coroners believed could put other vulnerable young people at risk. SEND rules facing overhaul It comes as the Government prepares to overhaul the SEND rules so that more children are taught in mainstream schools, with EHCPs reserved for children with the most complex needs. However, opponents say this is the wrong approach and on Wednesday Coghlan will speak at the launch of the SEND Matters Coalition in Parliament, a cross-party campaign calling on ministers to rethink their proposed reforms. Campaigners fear the changes could weaken families’ legal protections and leave children without enforceable rights to the support they need. “There is an epidemic of avoidable child suicide and zero accountability,” Coughlan, the MP for Dorking and Horley told The i Paper. Campaign for change Last week, Coghlan used a question to the Prime Minister to highlight the case of 13-year-old Eivie White, from Maidstone, Kent, who took her own life in March 2023 after years of alleged failures by Kent County Council to provide appropriate support for her autism. Despite having an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) her family say she was denied the specialist provision she needed, bullied at school and placed in isolation. The council also opposed a move to a specialist school. In response to the case, Kent County Council has previously said it “deeply regrets” any occasion where services and support have not met the standards expected. It said a 2022 inspection process identified a number of areas where improvements were needed, and that it had worked to address those issues. What is misconduct in public office? According to the Crown Prosecution Service, misconduct in public office, which carries a life sentence, “concerns serious wilful abuse or neglect of the power or responsibilities of the public office held. There must be a direct link between the misconduct and an abuse of those powers or responsibilities.” “ Coghlan believes misconduct in public office could be an appropriate offence where officials knowingly and deliberately withhold support that children are legally entitled to. The offence requires willful wrongdoing, rather than simply poor decision-making or negligence. Lucy Powell: Reforms are ‘once in a generation’ Speaking to LBC on Tuesday, Lucy Powell, the education secretary, acknowledged that the SEND system is failing children and families. She said the Government’s reforms are designed to provide support much earlier, without children needing a formal diagnosis to access help. She said new specialists, including educational psychologists and speech and language therapists, are already being deployed in schools. Powell described the reforms as a “once in a generation” opportunity to overhaul the system, with a focus on early intervention and ensuring children get the support they need. Speaking in support of the new campaign, the impressionist Rory Bremner, who has ADHD, told The i Paper: “Not all minds fit our education system. We mustn’t fail these children because they are different. What makes them different can also make them great.” A Department for Education spokesperson said: “We are taking a zero-tolerance approach to local authorities failing families and will not hesitate to intervene if they do not meet the clear expectations we have set out for them.” The Government’s response to its consultation on its proposed changes is awaited, with legislation expected in 2027.