In Birmingham, England’s second largest city, families of children with special educational needs and disabilities (Send) are at their wit’s end. Faced with drastic funding cuts from a cash-strapped city council, parents find themselves locked in daunting legal battles to secure basic support and services for their vulnerable kids. Many describe feeling “fobbed off and rejected” by a system on the brink of collapse.
A City on the Edge
Birmingham’s Send crisis comes against a backdrop of acute financial distress. In 2023, the city council effectively declared bankruptcy, unable to balance its budget after years of austerity measures. Send services, often viewed as an easy target, were among the first on the chopping block.
“It’s horrendous,” says Sabiha Aziz, a veteran campaigner for Send rights. “The cost is we’ve children not in education, and there’s no urgency around it. People seem quite happy to have our Send cohort languishing at home.”
Families Pushed to Breaking Point
For parents on the frontlines, the toll is immense. Many find themselves taking on part-time jobs or launching crowdfunding campaigns just to cover basic costs like transportation to special schools. Some drive 90 minutes each way to get their kids the support they need.
“It’s emotionally and physically draining at the moment. I recently started a part-time job to try to give me some extra money to fund taking him to school, but it’s difficult as I’m his carer, I only really have a few hours in the middle of the day. We’ve appealed to the council but we could be waiting months.”
– Paul McAnenny, father of a 3-year-old with complex medical needs
McAnenny’s experience is all too common. In 2022, there were 525 Special Educational Needs and Disability tribunals brought against Birmingham City Council, with a mere 3.7% found in the council’s favor. Fighting these appeals is estimated to have cost the city £10 million since 2014, money desperately needed for frontline support.
The Tribunal Trap
For Ellie and Matt Partridge, whose 4-year-old son Frank is autistic, the appeals process was “ridiculously stressful.” After securing Frank’s spot at a specialist school, they then had to battle for transportation, as neither parent drives.
“Honestly, I feel like I do have post-traumatic stress disorder from it because it was just so, so stressful. We had to pay about £700 for an advocate to help us, to take the stress off, the forms were so overwhelming and there was a lot of jargon. At one point I just said to Matt, I want to quit, just let them have what they want, I can’t fight any more.”
– Ellie Partridge, mother of 4-year-old with autism
Though the Partridges ultimately prevailed, the toll on their family was immense. And for every win, countless other families simply give up, ground down by the byzantine bureaucracy.
A Broken System
Birmingham’s challenges are particularly acute due to its size and demographics. With over 8,500 pupils on Education, Health and Care Plans and one of the youngest populations in Europe, the city’s strained social services are buckling under the pressure.
“The bigger the city, the higher the numbers, the bigger the challenges are going to be. So when we see things falling and crumbling at a national level, it’s always going to impact Birmingham far worse than does anybody else.”
– Sabiha Aziz, Send rights campaigner
However, the city council insists improvements are underway. “The city’s Send services are currently on an improvement journey,” says Sue Harrison, strategic director of children and families. But for families in crisis, progress feels painfully slow.
Hanging in the Balance
As Birmingham’s Send crisis reaches a fever pitch, the stakes couldn’t be higher. Without urgent action, a generation of the city’s most vulnerable children risk being left behind, their potential squandered. For exhausted parents, the fight continues, buoyed by love for their kids and rage at a system failing them. But how much more can they endure?
“This is ‘the village’ that’s supposed to be helping me raise my young person, but it feels like I’m actually in a war with them,” reflects Aziz. “He deserves to have a purposeful life.”
It’s a sentiment echoed by Send families across Birmingham, who remain caught in a battle they never asked to fight. As the council counts pennies, parents count the cost to their children’s lives. With no end in sight, one thing is certain: in this struggle, it’s the kids who have the most to lose.
