“No Social Care Services” for Autistic Children in Bristol

No team in Bristol undertakes Section 17 assessments for Autistic children

There are no social care services for autistic children and young people in Bristol, despite contradicting information being given by Bristol City Council staff and officers.

Section 17 assessments for Disabled children in Bristol, have long caused upset amongst the city’s parent carers. Some have been told on several occasions by the Disabled Children’s team that in Bristol, autistic children must also have a learning disability to be entitled to access the assessment.

But under section 17 of the Children Act 1989, Disabled children are considered to be children in need. Because of this, they are entitled to have their social care needs assessed and to receive support which they are eligible for. Autism is a disability,

This week, a manager for Bristol City Council’s Social Care Hub told parent carers at a Special Education Needs and Disabilities (SEND) event that the “offer for autism” is only through education.

A point about Section 17 assessments through the Disabled Children’s Team in the manager’s on-screen presentation was quickly glazed over. The manager jumped straight to the point that autistic children must go through education instead.

She said: “Just a note on autism, In Bristol, there aren’t any social care services for children with autism. That is, the offer for autism in Bristol is through education. So you may have seen downstairs Bristol Autism Team and Face and those are the commissioned services for children and young people with autism.”

The manager had previously pointed out that Bristol’s EHCP Hub does the social care contribution for all children and young people going through the Education Health Care Needs Assessment (EHCNA).

She also said: “Not all Disabled children or children with additional needs will be known to the social work team, you will probably be known to the social care hub for that early support and to match you with inclusion services. So our vision is for all children with additional needs to be included in their local communities. To have support. And for the parents to get support as well within that community network.”

Continuing: “You don’t need a social work assessment to access Flora and inclusion services and our tailored support.”

Following the meeting, we took the Disabled Children’s Team advice and went to speak to the Bristol Autism Team (BAT) downstairs about Section 17 Assessments.

The Bristol Autism Team were baffled.

The chaotic approach to Section 17 assessments in Bristol is something we have been looking into this year.

We submitted a question to Full Council in January 2025, asking for further information around the process.

We asked: ‘How is Bristol City Council going to ensure that Section 17 Assessments are carried out for all Disabled children and young people in the city? Vulnerable Disabled young people have been missed when they urgently needed assessment and support. Also please consider those facing disadvantage, missing education, care experienced and with Send whose attendance in education has been sporadic.’

The question was picked up by the Chair of the Children and Young People Committee, Councillor Christine Townsend, who replied: Bristol City Council has a specialist team within Children and Families Services called the Disabled Children’s Service that undertake section 17 assessments. The pathway for referral is clear and the team accepts referrals from families direct and from other professionals in Bristol. The team is well staffed, and the timelines of assessments is good. Information about the team is on the Bristol SEND Local Offer website. This is a resource for young people, for parents and carers and for professionals to access.’

We looked further into the issue at Children and Young People Policy Committee in the same month.

We asked: On the Children and Young People Policy Committee Update Report paper, paragraph 15 says: ‘The number of contacts about children to First Response decreased to 2,120 in November 2024 (-241from previous month). We have received 16,905 contacts about children this financial year, which is a 2% increase on the same period in 2023/24.’

i How many of these contacts referred to Disabled children/young people?
ii How many of the Disabled children/young people were referred to the Disabled Children’s Team for a Section 17 assessment?
iii How many of the children/young people then had a Section 17 assessment?

The officer’s response for the first one didn’t state exactly how many contacts referred to Disabled children and young people, just the number of contacts referred to the Disabled children’s team – which was 625 contacts.

Of the 625 contacts, there were 183 children or young people referred to the team for a Section 17 assessment. Of these, 152 went on to have the assessment. A further 20 children or young people went on to have a strategy meeting which may have gone onto an assessment.

In the meeting, Kate Markley, Service Manager for the Disabled Children’s Team and Specialist Services added: “Just to clarify, not all Disabled children that are referred to the front door will come to a specialist service at the Disabled Children’s Team. That service is for significant and severe learning disabilities.

“All our services across Bristol Children’s Services will be involved in assessing children with a range of disabilities. So it’s a broad question how disability is defined. So that’s why the numbers look like the numbers look.”

We followed up with a supplementary question: “Does Bristol City Council still operate a policy that for Section 17 assessment, Disabled children must have a learning disability as well as autism. That autism as a disability is not enough for a Section 17?”

Markley said: “No that’s never been our policy. Any child with a disability requiring an assessment from a social worker for a Section 17 will have that assessment. But it may not necessarily have been from the specialist learning disability social workers in the Disabled children’s team.”

The Bristol Autism Team information page has no information about how to access Section 17 assessments.

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