Stop Spin Around Bristol SEND Complaints Campaign Group Says
Send group says it’s “crucial” Councillors provide factually correct information to Full Council
Bristol campaigners standing up for children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (Send), has called out Bristol City Council for its spin around delays to Send plans.
Bristol Send Justice released a statement saying that “Bristol must do better.”
Complaints made by Bristol residents to the Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) for 2024/25, were sent to Full Council this week for noting.
There were 36 Upheld cases, with Education and Adult Social Care topping the list with 9 each.
All of the education complaints related to Send provision or a failure to issue an Education Health Care Plan (EHCP) on time.
Green Councillor for Bedminster Ward, Ellie Freeman said with a smirk that it was “the most scintillating topic for my maiden speech”
Freeman told the council chamber: “Upheld complaints in relation to Education Health and Care Plans are high. And more staff have been recruited, which is already making a difference.
“While more plans are being issued, the average waiting time has reduced from 52 weeks in May last year to 42 this year.
“I welcome this, especially as someone who had to wait a whole year for my son’s EHCP to be finalised a few years ago.
“The impact on children not having the proper provision in place is huge. And the Every Pair Tells A Story demo, that I took part yesterday, showed that deeply.
“We need to keep pushing for more support in this area and more certainty for the SEND sector, particularly from central government.”
But it’s not just lengthy waits for EHCPs hitting Bristol’s children and young people.
There were 34 complaints in total sent to the LGO regarding Education and Children’s services in 2024/25. There is a strict process that complainants must follow, which means that often, people would have to return back their own council complaints system before the LGO can consider their complaint.
Of those Send complaints that made it through the process, nine of them were upheld by the LGO.
Four related to delays to the EHCP process. But five related to other areas of Send. This included a failure to implement EHCP provision, not making alternative provision for a child and a late annual review.
Labour Party Councillor for Brislington East said: “Once again SEND is the main area of concern.”
Council education bosses have repeatedly said that one of the biggest issues they have had to face in the last year was the impact of Bristol Labour cutting top up funding for Send pupils.
Conservative Councillor for Henbury and Brentry, Councillor Mark Weston, pulled apart the numbers in Monitoring Officer Tim O’Gara’s report saying “we’ve written the report in a way to make us look better than we actually are.
“It also ignores the role of things like when we go to tribunals, when we’re taken to court. It doesn’t cover the whole wealth of complaints and everything else we see and we get. It’s just a snapshot of one specific part of the complaints process.”
Discussing the rise of housing complaints, Weston said: “The driver for that uptake is a failure of communication by officers because they’re overloaded. I’m not blaming the officers for it, they cover large areas and have an awful lot of tenants and everything else to deal with.They’re big patches if you compare them to some affordable housing providers.
“But I know from where my mailbag – people lodge a complaint if they’re not getting a response because it’s the only way to get a response. Now our solution isn’t to get more housing officers, it’s to get more complaints officers. If we want to get ahead of the problem, get more housing officers.”
Ellie Freeman did not discuss Send complaints where failure was found in other areas of the service, concluding: “Overall, the message of this report is that we need to keep learning, keep improving and keep the welfare of our residents at the heart of all that we do.”
Bristol Send Justice responded swiftly saying: “Bristol City Council – EHCP delays can’t be hidden behind spin.
“Listening to tonight’s Full Council meeting, the section on LGCSO complaints says it all.
“Once again, SEND tops the complaint list. Unsurprisingly, most relate to delays in EHCPs (Education, Health and Care Plans).
“In May this year 2025, the EHCP backlog reached an eye-watering average of 52 weeks — the longest it has ever been.
“Recent September figures claim an “improvement” to 47 weeks, but that data was collected over the summer holidays, when schools were closed and new requests were low.
“It is crucial that Councillors provide factually correct information to Full Council, especially when errors create a false impression of progress.
“The statutory deadline is just 20 weeks, yet families are still waiting more than twice that long for the support their children are legally entitled to.
“Our children and young people deserve better.
“Bristol must do better.”
The upheld cases regarding Send and education by the LGO were not just about delays to EHCPs.
Upheld Bristol SEND LGO Cases
Late EHCP: ‘The 20-week timescale was missed by seven months.’
https://www.lgo.org.uk/decisions/education/special-educational-needs/23-017-332
No EHCP Provision: ‘The Council did not properly deal with educational and special educational needs provision for her daughter Y. The Council did not provide suitable full-time education for Y. Y suffered a loss of educational provision.’
https://www.lgo.org.uk/decisions/education/alternative-provision/23-019-585
No EHCP Provision: ‘The Council failed to make the provision set out in a child’s Education Health and Care Plan when his school placement broke down.’
https://www.lgo.org.uk/decisions/education/special-educational-needs/23-017-134
No EHCP Provision: ‘The Council failed to secure the special educational needs provision in her child D’s Education, Health, and Care plan.‘
https://www.lgo.org.uk/decisions/education/special-educational-needs/24-004-556
Late Annual Review: ‘It failed to ensure that a child’s Education Health and Care Plan was reviewed within the legal timeframe.‘
https://www.lgo.org.uk/decisions/education/special-educational-needs/23-018-744
Late EHCP: ‘The Council took too long to issue an Education Health and Care (EHC) Plan for Ms B’s child.‘
https://www.lgo.org.uk/decisions/education/special-educational-needs/24-003-802
Late EHCP: ‘Ms X complains the Council failed to finalise her child’s education, health and care plan within statutory timeframes.’
https://www.lgo.org.uk/decisions/education/special-educational-needs/24-004-120
‘There was fault by the Council. It took more than double the legal time frame to issue a final Education Health and Care Plan for Miss B’s son.‘
https://www.lgo.org.uk/decisions/education/special-educational-needs/24-001-428
No Alternative Provision: ‘Mrs X complains the Council has not made alternative education provision for her son.‘
https://www.lgo.org.uk/decisions/education/alternative-provision/24-002-809
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