A spokesperson for Hertfordshire County Council said: “We fully recognise the challenges that some families have faced in accessing the support their children need, and we are truly sorry for the distress this has caused. Every child and young person in Hertfordshire deserves the right support to thrive, and we are committed to making that a reality.

“Since the Ofsted inspection in 2023, we have made significant investments to improve our Special Educational Needs and Disabilities services. This includes recruiting over 100 additional staff, many of whom bring valuable lived experience of SEND as well as investing millions of pounds to strengthen our support for children and young people with EHCPs. We have also committed over £130 million in capital funding since 2018 to expand our local special school capacity, creating more than 750 new places, with further expansion planned to meet growing need.

“While we are confident that the service today is stronger than it has been, we know that not all families are yet feeling the full benefit of these changes. We are listening, learning, and working closely with schools and partners to ensure that improvements are consistent and sustainable.

“It is important to acknowledge that Hertfordshire continues to receive one of the lowest levels of Government funding for High Needs SEND provision. Despite our ongoing efforts to secure fairer funding, the current allocation does not meet the full cost of delivering the support our children deserve.

“This is not just a local issue, it is a national one. We join other councils in calling on the Government to urgently review and increase funding for SEND services, so that every child, in every part of the country, can access the support they need”.

What makes SEND students different to neurotypical students?

Helena, Creator of Shared Strength Network, said: “So I would say that the main difference is probably how they're treated. SEND children have sensory needs, they have processing needs, they function slightly differently, and they process differently, and they see the world in a very different way than normal children.

“But I would say the difference is that a non-SEND child is allowed to be a child and an SEND child is sort of asked to explain themselves or expected to mask their behaviour or make themselves small to fit into environments they don't fit."

In 2023, Herts Parent Carer Involvement ran its second annual survey for all families with a child or young person aged 0-25 with SEND in Hertfordshire.

Families were asked about their experiences during the 22/23 academic year to gauge how well local services identify need, help meet that need, and support improving outcomes for children with SEND.

931 responses were received from across Hertfordshire, covering all age groups, a range of needs, and a variety of education settings.

There is clear dissatisfaction with many services and concerns about the outcomes that are delivered for children and young people. In most cases, parent carers’ views and experiences of SEND services in Hertfordshire have not improved in the last year.

According to a 2024 satisfaction survey, parents of children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) rated services in Hertfordshire, on average, 3 out of 10.

EHC Coordinators and/or EHCP administration continue to be the area of most concern for families, followed by Children and Young People’s Mental Health services and the Educational Psychology service.

Overall, the themes and feedback were consistent with those shared in the 2022 survey:

• Concern about waiting times – for both assessment/diagnosis and support/treatment.

• Poor communications from services and between services.

• Inconsistency in meeting needs.

• Many families continue to struggle to find information and support.

Collins said: "When I was a candidate before I was elected, the one thing that came up on the doorstep across Hertfordshire was parents and families who were struggling to get the right support for their children with special educational needs and disabilities, there was a crisis happening."

She added that many parents and young children contacted her office after waiting for years to get support, education, or a diagnosis.

In 2025, the UK government announced its clear focus on special needs education. It started by asking to hear from those affected by this issue and members of the public to speak about their stories and advice on what the government could do to improve the system.

The government said it plans to improve mainstream education and ensure special schools cater to all needs. There is also the potential for standardising and digitising EHCPs.

Potential areas of reforms:

• The government aims to enhance the expertise and knowledge in mainstream education to support SEND students in a standardised educational environment.
• The government have pledged a 3.5% real terms increase in education spending of £11.2 billion
• The Children’s Wellbeing Bill will give local authorities great powers to manage school admissions, ensuring students are placed in schools that meet their needs.
• A focus will be on preparing students with SEND for mainstream education or adulthood through alternative provisions, with extended specialist task forces offering intensive support.
• Transparency and sharing of data to ensure that they pick up SEND needs earlier and allow more timely support and intervention at a younger age for students.
• A modernised system in the Department for Education, including the Universal Design for Learning guidelines.

Helena reiterated Victoria Collins's statement about the need for reforms. These reforms need to be focused on not just the SEND students but also their family.

Helena said: “It can't just be down to what financially makes sense for the government, and it can't be something that is sort of just putting a bow on the top and trying to make it look pretty."

Her recommendations for reform would be a deep structuring of the system, that is, proactive, not reactive, and a focus on wait times for diagnosis and EHCP.

Helena spoke about the need to evaluate the funding for staff training in mainstream schools and to conduct mandatory training for students with SEND to prevent them from being lost in the system and not fulfilling their potential.

She spoke about parents of SEND students paying for their children's school so that teachers can get training and be equipped to help with their children's and other SEND students' needs.

She described it as: "A wild concept that parents have to take on the education of their children and the support of their children at such a level that they feel that they need to pay the school to get the training to support their child. That is just outrageous."