Families outside the Royal Courts of Justice for Surrey County Council SEND Judicial Review

By Rebecca Curley

local democracy reporter

Parents of children with special needs have lost trust in Surrey County Council, feedback to a survey claims.

A “level of disappointment” with current services and experiences with the council was also recorded by parents.

This was in response to the council’s consultation on the future of SEND (Special Education Needs and Disabilities) services.

More than 1,100 people took part in the online survey providing feedback on the future of SEND in Surrey.

Papers to go before cabinet members next week outline plans to identify children with needs earlier and support families in a “timely and effective way” to “improve outcomes and wellbeing”.

If adopted by councillors work will start in February to draw up a joint SEND strategy and long-term action plans in consultation with families and partners.

The report states: “There is some level of disappointment with current services and previous experiences in the qualitative responses.”

“Lack of trust” was in the top two most prevalent tags across all seven qualitative questions with “personal experience negative” used by 113 people for one question about feedback from families.

Many respondents said they were unsure of what was being asked with the report adding: “Any future consultation on detailed proposals will be designed to ensure that the matters being consulted on are clear and unambiguous.”

Speaking at SCC’s corporate overview select committee on Friday, January 25 chief executive Joanna Killian said they were aware that parents had no confidence in the services they delivered and that more needed to be done to address that.

She said: “I think there is something we have to do to convince families that we are improving because people’s experience in the past hasn’t been brilliant.”

The proposal to start work on the SEND strategy will be discussed by cabinet members on Tuesday, January 29.