Suffolk County Council apologises for special needs failings

A council has apologised to those it has "let down" after a "hard-hitting" report outlined failings in some of its special educational needs services.

Suffolk County Council commissioned the independent review after some services had been criticised.

Nine recommendations for improvements have been made, including staff training.

The council said its priority was to implement the changes with "pace, efficiency and impact".

The authority commissioned a team from Lincolnshire to undertake the review in June in response to complaints from families frustrated that the system did not always respond to their needs.

It looked at processes, communication protocols and family-facing elements of special educational needs (SEND) provision.

Weaknesses highlighted included "confusion and inconsistency" within the system, a "lack of transparency about processes and decision-making" and a "lack of consistency in the way families are informed of decisions made about their child", which subsequently caused "anger and frustration".

Conservative cabinet member for SEND, Rachel Hood, said: "As we anticipated, the report has shown that SEND services in Suffolk are not good enough, and I want to apologise to those children and young people we have let down.

"I want to be clear that this report does not cover all SEND services and many children or young people who have specialist educational needs in Suffolk are very well served, but significant changes must be made following this hard-hitting report.

"We must learn from this report and implement fundamental change as quickly as we can."

The council said it had already acted on the recommendation to work with a third-party organisation to deliver improvements.

Other recommendations included reviewing the process for allocating specialist placements and working with education leaders and parents and carers to understand the demand for specialist provision.

Lyndsay Terry, whose son, Bradley, 10, has autism, previously told BBC Radio Suffolk that her dealings with the were "a constant battle, every step of the way".

In response to the report, she said: "If the council can train staff and make those changes, I would welcome it."

However, Miss Terry said "it was too late to say sorry; the damage has already been done for many, many children".

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