SEND families across North Northamptonshire frustrated with lack of specialist provision to meet their children's needs

Earlier this month, the Local Democracy Reporting Service ( LDRS) spoke to a Northamptonshire mother who said she was forced to quit her job to take care of her daughter, who had gone without a school place for almost a whole year.

Multiple families have since reached out to share their own experiences with the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) provision in the region and the ongoing battle they find themselves in to get their children a school place.

Mum Sofia Gaspar is a full-time carer for her five-year-old son, who is not currently in education.

She has said the limited provision offered by North Northamptonshire Council (NNC) has had a serious impact on his mental health, as well as straining her own.

She said: “He is incredibly bright, creative, funny, imaginative, and much more sensitive and loving than he is given credit for. He builds, he plays, he feels, he loves, he shouts.

“He is also autistic. And he wants desperately to be heard and to belong.”

She told the LDRS that since first moving to Rushden in December 2023 her son has not had a consistent school placement, as there was no nursery provision available in the area.

From June of last year, she said he was then offered a highly restricted timetable due to the school’s ability to cope with his additional needs, where he was only able to attend for one hour a day, three days a week.

Ms Gaspar said this was originally supposed to be on a temporary basis until they could increase his contact time or NNC could find an appropriate alternative provision. The placement eventually broke down due to interruptions and repeated changes and reduction of his hours.

The five-year-old has now been without any form of provision for the past month.

‘The saddest thing of it all is that my son is not the only one’

The 31-year-old mum has said the lack of support from the council has left her feeling ‘completely helpless’ with what she can do to get him a proper education and advocate for his needs.

Ms Gaspar said: “He’s literally regressed in certain aspects.

“There’s clear regression in his language and he will get dysregulated so easily. The worst thing is he keeps jumping to the conclusion that it’s because he’s not wanted.

“Why does my child come to me and ask me if autism is a bad thing, why isn’t he normal, why can’t he go to school? That’s how he feels about it.”

Since raising numerous concerns with the council at an EHCP annual review meeting last week, she has been told that NNC will be consulting alternative provisions on whether they can give him a school place. The outcome of the consultations still remains uncertain.

She has said that while there are people within the council’s SEND team who are compassionate and genuinely want to do the right thing for children, they are operating within a broken system which is rife with delays, contradictions and breakdowns.

Ms Gaspar added: “I can’t describe the pain and the frustration and the anger of feeling like the things you’re trying to do to help your child are pointless.

“Everything that they are doing is a travesty and the saddest thing of it all is that my son is not the only one. There are so many other children and we are teaching them that because they are disabled they don’t matter.

“I have seen it and other parents are seeing it. They need to get their stuff together and start protecting the children they claim they advocate for.”

‘I do feel like we’ve been failed’

Another mother from Wellingborough, who has asked to remain anonymous, has also shared her struggles with finding a suitable school place for her son since moving to the area last year.

She said that her son, 10, who is supposed to be in his final year of primary school, has missed out on a whole academic year as NNC were not able to find a placement for him.

She said: “His mental health has gone down the drain. He doesn’t see anybody, he hasn’t made any friends since we’ve lived here.”

The 32-year-old mum said all mainstream schools that were consulted said they could not meet his needs with ADHD and learning difficulties, and that the specialist school in the area was full. He was instead offered home tutoring, which she says is just six hours a week.

The mum told the LDRS: “When you’re 10 and 11 that’s the age where you really are starting to learn who you’re becoming. He already really feels like he’s stupid and has no confidence in his ability to learn or himself, really.

“He wants to go back to school and make friends. He is working vastly behind the age group he should be at and him being out of school is only widening that gap between him and his peers.”

She added that the issues had been made even more difficult from moving to a new area and not having a strong local support system.

She said: “Mentally it’s been pretty draining.

“I don’t know where to turn to, who I should be talking to for advice.

“I do feel like we’ve been failed and communication has not been where it should’ve been. He should be starting secondary school in September and again, I do not know if he’s even going to be getting a school.

“I would just like him to go somewhere where he would feel comfortable knowing he’s not the only child that’s different and that it’s okay to be different.”

North Northamptonshire Council’s response

A spokesman for North Northamptonshire Council said: “North Northamptonshire faces an unprecedented surge in demand for SEND support.

“In the past year, North Northamptonshire has witnessed an alarming increase in the demand for support services for children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND).

“The number of Education, Health, and Care Plans (EHCPs) has surged from 3,700 to an astonishing 5,000—an increase of 1,300 cases in last 12 months.

“This rapid growth, driven by heightened migration to the area and a rise in complex needs, has outstripped the current provision available for our young people.

“In response to this pressing challenge, North Northamptonshire Council is implementing a comprehensive, multifaceted plan to build the necessary provision and support systems to match this escalating demand.”

Key initiatives include:

1. Expansion of Alternative Provision: We have delivered Early Help, our new Alternative Education and Belonging strategy to ensure a shared vision on need and types of provision needed for children and young people in NNC.

The Alternative and Belonging Strategy was consulted and co produced with parents and young people through our SEND parent Carer forum.

The council is rolling out a significant increase in SEN, Alternative Provision (AP), with the aim of developing eight provision sites with the first new SEN/AP unit set to open its doors in September 2025. This development will ensure that our children are placed in educational settings tailored to their unique needs, helping to alleviate pressure on existing resources. These new provisions will be available across primary and secondary age children.

2. Enhanced Staffing and Resources: Recognising the urgency of the situation, we have invested in additional EHCP caseworkers and educational psychologists to manage the rising demand of applications effectively. This will enhance our capacity to deliver timely and effective support for families.

3. Streamlined EHCP Process: To eliminate delays and enhance efficiency, we have established new panels that will review all EHCPs within 10 weeks. This proactive approach ensures that children receive the support they need without unnecessary waiting times. The timeliness for EHCP’s has increased by over 75 percent. As well as gateway panels to ensure triage and pathways into the right provision for children and young people in a timely way.

4. Locality-Based Early Help Services: We are introducing an Early Help offer in schools to identify and address needs at the earliest opportunity. By working closely with educational settings, we aim to provide interventions that prevent issues from escalating, ultimately reducing the need for more intensive support.

5. Community Collaboration: The council is actively engaging with families, schools, and other stakeholders to foster a community-centered approach. Regular consultations will allow us to understand the needs and experiences of families, ensuring our services are responsive and effective. We launched our first ever SEND survey in NNC with parents/carers and young people in order to be able to understand on a large scale parents, carers and young peoples views on how we can improve the SEND system what is going well and what we need to improve.

“The message is clear: North Northamptonshire Council is committed to addressing the urgent needs of our children and young people with SEND.

"Through strategic investment, innovative programmes, and a focus on collaboration, we will not only tackle the immediate challenges but also build a sustainable future where every child receives the support they deserve in an inclusive and nurturing environment.”