Mum Ruth Williams is taking Tameside Council's children's services to a tribunal to secure the special educational support she says her son desperately needs. 

Ruth states she has been battling to secure an Education and Health Care Plan (EHCP) for her autistic son for more than a year.   

But at a latest mediation meeting, the family’s request for an EHCP was again rejected by the local authority. 

“I am truly devastated and emotionally drained,” said Ruth. “My son has been well and truly failed.” 

But despite the heartbreak and immense strain she says it is having on her entire family, she says she is determined to fight on and will now go to a tribunal – her only option. 

The cost will be a minimum £1,000 - money she says her own family can ill afford. 

“I am doing this for my son and for so many other disabled children being let down in Tameside,” she says. 

Ruth’s constituency MP Jonathan Reynolds has taken up her case, and believes the matter has to go to a tribunal now himself. 

Complex

Her son, whom we are not naming, is now 11 years old and has complex needs, having autism, Raynauds syndrome, Hypermobility syndrome (suspected EDS), Pectus Excavatum, Sensory Processing Disorder and suspected ADHD. 

That said, he attends a mainstream secondary school in the borough, with the local education authority providing additional support for him at the school. 

The authority considers his needs are addressed within the school’s own resources and the Special Educational Needs support it provides and therefore does not necessitate the need for an EHC plan. 

Ruth and his current school however, fundamentally disagree. 

“Essentially it all comes down to money and the local authority are saying they can support his needs themselves without the additional funding that would be needed for an EHCP,” she says. 

“But I have numerous medical reports, a report from a private psychologist and even his own school supporting the call for the EHCP because he has so many needs.” 

Ruth said she almost laughed at the irony of being told by one teacher at her son’s school that they don’t have a teaching assistant to provide the extra support her son requires in the classroom due to his autistic behaviour – yet an EHCP would provide just that support. 

An EHCP (Education, Health and Care Plan) identifies a child’s Special Educational Needs (SEN) entitling them to the right provision to support them, in school, socially and in their health needs, providing an holistic approach and wide net of support in and out of the educational setting. 

Ruth hopes such a plan would help support her own son all the way through to adulthood.  

Local authorities have a responsibility to carry out an Education, Health and Care Needs Assessment if parents/carers or schools request them. 

But Ruth says her son’s needs have been consistently failed throughout his primary schooling since the age of four and that is now continuing. 

She praises his present school for the support it is now providing for her son, but says she even had to complain just to get that put in place. 

Ofsted

Ruth points to her own experience as an example of why Tameside SEND services were heavily criticised in their most recent Ofsted and Care Quality Commission inspection. 

We reported earlier this year that the watchdogs carried out a joint inspection to examine how the council and Tameside and Glossop clinical commissioning group were implementing reforms for youngsters with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). 

The result was inspectors ordering the strategic authority to complete a written statement of action to state how it will tackle ‘significant areas of weakness’ in its practice. 

Foremost amongst the criticism were the ‘high levels of parental dissatisfaction’ which the watchdogs labelled ‘unacceptable’ adding that ‘parents feel worn down by the system and feel that they have to fight to get the support that their children need’. 

Stalybridge and Hyde MP Jonathan Reynolds, who himself has an autistic son, says the problem with securing EHCPs for parents is not simply unique to Tameside, but indicative of a wider national problem. 

He states some three quarters of local authorities are not providing the right special educational support for families that they should - something his own family have experienced - and he is himself calling for more support for parents. 

“There are problems in Tameside and the authority acknowledge what they are and what they have to do to improve and essentially parents must be listened to,” he said. 

Stalybridge and Hyde MP Jonathan Reynolds

For Ruth, although grateful for the support of her MP, the battle continues. 

“The stress that we have been under during the EHCP process has been immense,” she says. 

“It is hard enough having a son with special needs, but this has all caused added pressure on our entire family,” says Ruth, who suffers with a heart condition herself which she says has ‘deteriorated further and led to hospital visits and extra medication due to stress because of the EHCP process’. 

Her son suffers from daily pain and fatigue that his own physical condition causes. His chest pain has deteriorated and he now needs daily medication. 

Ruth says he lost his weekly physiotherapy support at primary school, which was supposed to help him build up strength in his core muscles and he has since developed further problems and has been referred back to the community physiotherapy team. 

Without medication he also suffers from severe chilblains on his toes and he has required hospital treatment on a number of occasions. 

His autism means he sadly struggles to communicate his thoughts and feelings and to socialise with friends. Many are ignorant of his autism too, and fail to understand his condition. 

He suffers with echolalia, a repetitive syndrome associated with autism, but his behaviour has sadly resulted in bullying, affecting his confidence and leaving him confused about why others isolate him, explains Ruth. 

She says: “It’s difficult for others to understand because he is so intelligent - he is an A-star student but requires structure and routine in his life to help do the work. It has been difficult for him transitioning from primary to a high school where he has dealt with a lot of ongoing issues and changes.” 

No one who has to care for a child with special needs can understand truly what it is like, explains Ruth and she adds that the constant care required means she and her husband feel limited in the time they can dedicate to their other son. 

But she says she is determined to stay strong as she faces the longer road of preparing to go to a tribunal. 

Ruth says she has struggled to secure the support she requires from the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Information Advice and Support Services (SENDIASS) and is appealing for help from any local solicitors willing to support her case, stating that the primary school and SENDIASS (who now class themselves as an ‘information only’ service) refused to support her with the EHCP process.   

Anyone who can offer legal advice can contact our newsdesk and we will be happy to put you in direct contact with Ruth. 

Response

We asked Tameside Council for a response and a Tameside Council spokesperson said: “While we can’t comment on individuals cases, we always in circumstances such as this follow a full process involving parents, teachers and a panel and we will continue to work with the family.

“Following a joint visit from Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission to judge the effectiveness of our special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) service in Tameside, we absolutely recognise the challenges ahead of us and accept the areas of development that have been outlined. 

“We are unwaveringly committing to improving at pace so that our children and young people are fulfilling their potential and families are guided and supported through a clear process that best meets the needs of their children in a timely and efficient way.”

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