"Father, battling illness, laments the loss of compassion as he learns that support for his autistic son in school will no longer be provided"

In a heart-wrenching turn of events, a father of an autistic child, who is severely ill and facing hospice care, has expressed his frustration with the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) system, stating that it has lost its humanity.

The man, whose identity is being protected for privacy reasons, has been referred to hospice care, and the stress this puts on his family is immense. Despite reaching out to the SEND team and his consultant writing to them, it seems that their pleas have fallen on deaf ears.

The Department for Education (DfE) has pledged to invest an additional £3.7 billion into schools' budgets to ensure all children receive the additional support they need to achieve and thrive. However, this seems to have made little difference in the case of this family.

School leaders are making every effort to ensure that support is in place as quickly as possible to avoid tribunals. Unfortunately, this family finds themselves in a similar situation, seeking to have the local council's decision overturned in a tribunal.

The local council has stopped almost all the boy's SEND assistance, just as he starts secondary school, despite receiving doctors' letters explaining the man's life-limiting condition. This decision, which the family believes is budget-driven, has forced them to spend £10,000 on solicitors to take the local council to tribunal.

The family has been trying to communicate with the local council about the decision, but it feels like they are communicating with a brick wall. This has led to a growing sense of despair, with the father lamenting that the system has lost its humanity.

Notably, the head of the regional council of the United Communities in Great Britain has spoken out about inadequate SEND support, but their identity remains unclear in the available search results.

Louise Gittins, Chairwoman of the Local Government Association, echoes this sentiment, suggesting that the SEND system needs a massive overhaul to ensure every child can get the support they need in a local school. The DfE is also committed to overhauling the SEND system through the upcoming Schools White Paper.

In a bid to make a difference, the DfE is delivering more early intervention to better support pupils with SEND and has invested £740 million to create more specialist places in mainstream schools. These measures are aimed at ensuring that every child, regardless of their circumstances, gets the best possible start in life.

Despite these efforts, the reality for this family is that, although term has started this week, the boy has not been to his new school. The long and arduous process of tribunals, which can take years according to Margaret Mulholland from the Association of School and College Leaders, looms ahead.

The father, who entered politics with the goal of giving every child the best start in life, can only hope that his story will serve as a catalyst for change in the SEND system, restoring its humanity and ensuring every child receives the support they need and deserve.

"Father, battling illness, laments the loss of compassion as he learns that support for his autistic son in school will no longer be provided"