Surrey County Council has issued an instruction described as “shocking” by MPs and parents.
To make it clear, we will not stop standing up for children who need support.
As Surrey MPS, we spend much of our time helping constituents whose children face unacceptable waits for appropriate SEND provision.
This is one of the biggest issues in my Guildford mailbag, yet, all too often, contacting surrey county council gets us nowhere. We are incredibly disappointed that SCC appear to have closed down avenues for Surrey MPSs to raise our constituents’ cases with the council.
This latest correspondence is further proof of the council’s contempt for children with SEND requirements across our county.
Children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in Surrey are being confronted with a system that is difficult to understand, a report has found.
An inspection by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) at Surrey Additional Needs and Disabilities Partnership also found people were experiencing long wait times for health assessments.
A report from the watchdogs made numerous recommendations for improvement saying its system was “hard to understand and navigate.” It gave the partnership a middle rating of “inconsistent experiences and outcomes ”.
One parent, Ali Forder, said:
If Surrey CC weren’t failing so many children and young people MPs wouldn’t need to raise these issues. How dare they try to shut down the voice of parents through their elected representatives?
Amy Ellis said: Terrible, but in no way surprising. Every single part of the SEN process is a battle and a struggle for parents. It shouldn’t be this way.
Alice Lees said: Surrey CC are so far 14 days late in responding to the second appeal through the tribunal we have against them (having been 7 weeks late with the first appeal). The entire system is a joke and Surrey’s “no” first approach…
