With Chris Coghlan MP (Lib Dem)
Measure What Matters is an initiative investigating maladministration in public services. We have been working with Chris Coghlan MP on exposing the systemic maladministration that, along with national underfunding, is the main cause of the emergency in SEND. Chris has again written from Special Needs Jungle about this “defining issue”. Share your testimonies about SEND law abuses via the links at the end of his article.
I commit to defending the law on SEND —and we need to hear the voices of teachers too. Chris Coghlan MP
Injustice in SEND is the issue that has come to define my first eighteen months as a Member of Parliament.
What began with the words of broken parents in my constituency of Dorking and Horley quickly came to dominate my casework, revealing widespread, systemic failures in how we support children with special educational needs—with devastating consequences.
Over the past year, my work on special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) has exposed not a series of isolated failures, but a systemic moral and ethical crisis in how we support some of the most vulnerable young people in our society.
Too often, SEND is still being discussed in technical, procedural or fiscal terms. But this is not abstract policy. It is about children, their futures, and whether we are willing to either invest in their potential or simply normalise and absorb the catastrophic cost of failure.
Over the past year, I have sat with hundreds of parents who are exhausted, desperate and actually frightened for their children within a dysfunctional system that is, in practice, inflicting harm. I have spoken to teachers and school leaders who feel morally compromised by a system that asks them to manage that harm, while denying them the resources needed to meet children’s needs. These professionals are worn down by obstruction rather than supported by public services. They express deep concern for the children they know are being lost to this crisis.
Mischaracterising the clear evidence
Again and again, I have encountered a SEND system that appears functional on paper, but collapses under pressure when children need it most.
My most pressing concern, however, is the growing mischaracterisation of this failure; as a failure of schools to be sufficiently “inclusive”, of parents and children to “build resilience”, or, most concerningly, of the legal framework itself.
The evidence does not support that conclusion. Parliamentary inquiries, oversight bodies, and the third sector are clear: this is a failure of public services to fund, apply, and uphold the rights that children with SEND already have. Yet despite this, there remains a real risk that this government will seek to rewrite the law, shifting the problem on paper rather than confronting the reality that these legal safeguards have never consistently been honoured in practice.
What changed this year
What has changed over the past year is not simply the scale of concern, but the breadth and volume of voices now speaking out.
Earlier this year, I asked parents to share their experiences of maladministration and misconduct by local authorities in their attempts to secure SEND support for their children. Many responded, describing harrowing experiences of delay, unlawful denial and serious harm. I have since raised more than 650 of these testimonies directly with ministers, and they have been extensively referenced in media coverage, parliamentary questions, and submitted directly to parliamentary select committees.
Now, crucially, teachers and school leaders are also beginning to speak collectively.
Earlier this month, following my meetings with schools across the county, Surrey headteachers’ Primary Phase Council, representing more than 300 primary schools, wrote to the Secretary of State for Education to state, plainly, that trust is diminishing in their local authority’s SEND leadership. They described poor-quality EHCPs, chronic delays, communication breakdown, insufficient provision, and the resulting impact on children and schools.
Teachers are not campaigning organisations; they are cautious, balanced and professionally measured. When hundreds of headteachers choose to speak publicly in such clear and direct terms, it reinforces what families have been saying for years and underlines the depth and systemic nature of these failures.
As reported by Special Needs Jungle, Measure What Matters has now opened a further call for evidence to allow teaching assistants, teachers, SENCOs and headteachers to anonymously share where support is breaking down in practice, and the impact this is having.
This additional insight is vital, and I would urge all those working in education to take the time to contribute.
The reality on the ground: maladministration and misconduct
What I have encountered repeatedly is not simply a system under pressure, but one that has too often abandoned its legal, moral and ethical obligations to some of the most vulnerable children in the country. The absence of accountability to absolute statutory duty is overwhelming- and deeply concerning.
Across cases in my inbox, the same patterns recur:
- delay, obstruction and denial rather than support
- EHCPs that are poorly written, riddled with errors, and detached from reality
- professional advice by teachers, SENCOs, qualified and experienced specialists, and medical professionals ignored, denied, or rewritten.
- legally specified provision written into plans, then not delivered
- decisions repeatedly taken without any evidential basis and often against professional advice
At worst, families and professionals describe being ignored, misled, gaslit, and obstructed simply by trying to secure urgent support. The consequences for children are catastrophic. This is not merely administrative failure; it is institutional harm. This reality should give us all profound pause.
This is not because the law is flawed; it is because the law is being abused.
SEND failures leading to a tsunami of societal damage
These concerns are not isolated. They are reflected nationally in sharply rising SEND Tribunal volumes and repeated findings of fault by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman– bodies now also under immense strain attempting to correct unlawful practice. In my ongoing discussions with the Ombudsman, it has been made clear that these issues are widespread and that serious gaps in accountability remain.
Families, teachers and professionals are unequivocal: failure to provide appropriate support does not merely delay progress—it compounds harm. Children disengage from learning and later, from society. Families reach breaking point. Teachers are left managing crises. Across the country, tens of thousands of children with SEND are now missing from education, including more than 1,800 in Surrey alone.
The impact on the mental health of children and young people with SEND is profound. In 650 family testimonies from over 114 local authorities, there are 195 specific references to child suicide. We are failing a generation.
Laws exist precisely because experience shows that values alone are not enough to protect the vulnerable. Yet 11 years on from the introduction of the Children and Families Act 2014, further SEND reform is now proposed. My concern is that, rather than addressing the extensively evidenced, true causes of failure—including through the recent SEND Inquiry—reform may instead weaken legal rights in the name of cost control.
In a context where chronic misconduct and maladministration have already caused serious and lasting harm to a generation of children with SEND, any move that weakens current legal rights would be morally and ethically indefensible.
Funding and the false economy
Funding matters. SEND must be properly funded if it is to operate as Parliament intended. This is a point I have raised repeatedly through my work on the Treasury Select Committee and directly with the Chancellor.
The National Audit Office and the Public Accounts Committee have also warned that delayed and fragmented SEND support represents poor value for money, driving higher costs as expenditure shifts from education into crisis services.
As the work of Nobel Laureate James Heckman has already demonstrated, early intervention is not only more effective but significantly more economical than late, crisis-driven responses. The evidence is clear: the cost of managing a crisis in adulthood quickly dwarfs the cost of investment in properly funded early support.
Why your voice matters
In the New Year, the delayed Schools White Paper is expected to be published. Parliament will then determine whether—and how—the law may change.
Your voice has never mattered more.
Family testimonies have already proved vital in exposing the gaps between official narratives and lived reality. Earlier this year, those voices helped force a pause. But this work is not finished.
Measure What Matters will continue collecting testimony into the New Year, providing a safe route for parents, carers, and those working in education to share their experiences of where support is breaking down in practice, and the impact this is having. It is only through this growing body of evidence that reform can be directed at the real causes of failure—and not misdirected at the law itself.
My commitment to families of children and young people with SEND
- I will continue to raise your testimonies directly with Ministers.
- I will press for a properly funded SEND system.
- I will defend children’s legal rights and insist on real accountability for those charged with delivering them.
- I will continue to advocate for early support as the foundation of a SEND system that is more effective, more economical, and recognises the potential of children and young people when they receive the right help.
- And I will not support reform that weakens children’s legal rights or is not grounded in lived experience and demonstrably focused on improving outcomes.
Measuring our society by how we treat its vulnerable
I entered politics to help build a just country—locally and nationally—that works for people, particularly those who are most vulnerable. In the eighteen months since becoming a Member of Parliament, I have learned that this issue, more than any other, tests what we mean by leadership and responsibility in public life.
How we treat the most vulnerable—in this case, our children with special educational needs—is not an abstract question. It is a measure of our principles, our political leadership and our society, and it demands honesty about who we are, what is important, and who we choose to protect.
Chris Coghlan, MP.
December 2025
From Measure What Matters:
- Parents and carers of children and young people with SEND are invited to share experiences of maladministration or misconduct by local authorities. Responses can be submitted here: https://survey.yourviewsyourvoice.org/
- Educators (TAs, Teachers, SENCOs and Head Teachers) are invited to share how local authority SEND services are being delivered in schools, and the impact this has in practice. Responses can be submitted here: https://educators.yourviewsyourvoice.org/
🔒 All data is analysed collectively; comments may be quoted to illustrate findings, but no identifying or attributable information — including names, contact details or metadata — is collected
Measure What Matters is an independent public-interest initiative examining transparency, accountability and statutory compliance across local government and public services, beginning with SEND. It draws on lived experience, verifiable data and professional insight to understand how systems operate in practice. Evidence gathered has been shared with Ministers, referenced in parliamentary questions, informed media coverage, and submitted to Select Committees to support scrutiny and policy discussion.
- Also read: The missing evidence of systemic maladministration in SEND—Teachers speak out Educators, share your experiences!
- Also read: Chris Coghlan MP: LAs’ “lawbreaking, gaslighting and lying” is wrecking thousands of children’s lives
SEND Engagement events: Tell our #SaveOurChildrensRights campaign about your MP’s LOCAL and the DfE’s NATIONAL SEND engagement events
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Also read:
Also read:
- Beyond EHCPs: Why Inclusion Needs More Than a Document
- The Unacceptable Truth: 20 SEND legal rights at risk from the Government’s SEND reforms
- How health and family support systems are failing children starting school
- WEBINAR RECORDING! The implications for children’s legal rights to EHCPs and EOTAS of the Government’s SEND proposals
- When things go right: Shining a light on SEND Practitioners making a positive impact [Giveaway!]
- From suspicion to support: why the Government’s child protection reforms matter for disabled children
- Have your say on the future of transport for disabled children and young people
- Unison voices major concerns over SEND reform health plans for sick and disabled children out of school in the EOTAS consultation
- Top Tips for the EOTAS & EHCP consultation: Protect your child’s rights to statutory SEND support
- Navigating constraints: Why a former PCF chair thinks the current model is missing the mark for families
- Dear Secretary of State for Education, Lucy Powell: an Open Letter from Special Needs Jungle and SEND legal charity SOS!SEN
- Research: Disabled young people define inclusive education as “learning in the place that’s right for them”
- The toxic culture of obstruction that’s taken root inside England’s council SEND services is not only unchecked, it’s encouraged
- EHCPs 2026: A relentless rise, but who’s surprised? Plus SNJ’s annual LA Hall of Shame
- The relentless march of SEND reform only hears views that fit the narrative
- The Government thinks Ofsted will ensure SEND reform accountability. This evidence suggests ‘significant concern’.
- Not in our name: How manufacturing consent for proposed SEND reforms has broken the social contract.
- Are SEND lawyers REALLY opposing the Government’s reform proposals just to protect their “vested interests”?
- Rights on paper, not in practice: What the legal aid cuts warn us about the Government’s SEND reforms
- Part 2: The Testimonies. Children died; the system looked away. Will government SEND reforms make this scandal even worse?
- Children died. The system looked away. Today, the Government is calling the human cost of cutting rights, “reform” [Part 1]
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- The toxic culture of obstruction that’s taken root inside England’s council SEND services is not only unchecked, it’s encouraged - July 3, 2026
- Not in our name: How manufacturing consent for proposed SEND reforms has broken the social contract. - March 23, 2026
- Part 2: The Testimonies. Children died; the system looked away. Will government SEND reforms make this scandal even worse? - February 23, 2026
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