Campaign group threatens legal action over county council SEND failings

The group, represented by law firm Irwin Mitchell, warns that a child’s education should “never depend on whether a council has completed its internal paperwork” – noting that evidence it has gathered suggests internal approvals, commissioning arrangements and administrative processes are determining when, and sometimes whether, children receive the education and support the law says they are entitled to.

The group said: “At the heart of this proposed challenge is one question: when the law says a council must secure a child’s provision, can its internal processes be allowed to determine whether and when that provision is actually delivered?”

For children who cannot access suitable education in school, council-arranged provision can be their entire education, it added.

This includes children receiving Alternative Provision and those with Education Otherwise Than At School (EOTAS) arrangements.

Measure what Matters observed: “Among the six largest county councils, a search of recent published Local Government Ombudsman decisions returned 107 serious upheld complaints about Alternative Provision.

“Of those, one local authority alone, Surrey County Council, accounted for 44 - more than twice the number in any other council in the comparator group.”

Earlier this year, it emerged that Surrey County Council had been formally sanctioned by the Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) tribunal in 38 cases between February and June 2025, stemming from missed administrative deadlines.

The figures were revealed in a Freedom of Information (FoI) request by Chris Coghlan, the Liberal Democrat MP for Dorking and Horley, who accused the authority of "wrecking children's lives", according to the BBC.

The council said the notices were issued during a period of “exceptionally high demand”, when around 725 tribunal cases were open.

Measure what Matters said: “We start in Surrey because we now have the evidence to build the proposed case. However, the potential for meaningful change reaches right across England.

“A successful challenge could require changes to the practices which repeatedly leave children without provision and establish legal principles with significance across England - giving families a stronger basis for holding councils to their duties, without having to fight the same battles child by child, term by term, year by year.”

The group has raised £7,669 of its £7,500 stretch target on Crowd Justice. It has instructed Irwin Mitchell to “move swiftly towards a formal pre-action challenge”.

Surrey County Council confirmed it was “aware of the proposed legal action”, but declined to comment further.

A council spokesperson said: “Surrey County Council remains committed to improving outcomes for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), working closely with families, schools, health partners, and the Department for Education. We recognise the challenges facing the SEND system both locally and nationally and continue to focus on delivering the improvements set out in our SEND Improvement Plan.”

Lottie Winson