SEND (special educational needs and disability) students from other parts of the country are being provided education in Bracknell Forest, despite watchdog Ofsted highlighting “significant areas of weakness,” in the system locally.

An investigation by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (BIJ) has revealed data that shows that Bracknell Forest Council accepted SEND pupils from 14 other local authorities, totaling over 150. 

Whilst the majority are from the neighbouring boroughs of Reading and Windsor, the largest distance a student must travel is from roughly 100 miles away in Leicester, with another notable example coming from 50 miles away in Wiltshire. 

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Due to increased demand for places, families are being forced to look for suitable placements further from home. However, a recent Ofsted report required a Written Statement of Action (WSoA) from Bracknell Forest to address its weakness in implementing the SEND reforms set out in the Children and Families Act 2014. 

Its findings concluded that the current complaint procedures are not effective, there was a lack of appropriate educational provision, excessive waiting lists to access occupational therapy services and too many children reaching a mental health crisis because of a "lack of timely support." 

As of 2021, there are a total of 46 schools in the area, with one special school and one SEN school with adequate provisions. 

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Many parents and carers were said to have an overwhelmingly negative view about the education provided, with the report citing they were 'exhausted at having to continually fight to be heard'.

Of the 21,545 students in the borough, 653 (three per cent) are on EHC plans - a legal document that describes a child or young person's special educational, health and social care needs. 

However, 17.6 per cent of the requests for assessment of an EHC plan were refused, the BIJ figures show. 

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The investigation found that the special needs funding black hole in England has risen to £1.3bn - an increase of £465m (52%) in one year. 

It also found that three in every four local authorities have SEN funding deficits, some of which have tripled in the past 12 months. 

There is no way to determine the deficits in Bracknell Forest as, due to the council not responding to a freedom of information (FOI) request from the BIJ, there is no data on its dedicated school grants funding (DSG). 

DSG is a ring-fenced specific grant that supports a local authority's schooling budget.  

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A spokesman for the Disabled Children's Partnership, a coalition of 100 children's and disability charities, Stephen Kingdom, said the BIJ’s investigation had exposed 'worrying data about the distances disabled children are travelling just to go to school'.

Executive director of people at the council, Grainne Siggins, said: “Nationally, regionally and locally, there are constraints on the available capacity to meet the special educational needs of children and young people with SEND.  The newly released government green paper relating to SEND reform, ‘right support, right place, right time’, highlights the constraints in the system and the need to embrace system reform in order to address this.

“Whilst a number of children from other boroughs attend schools in Bracknell Forest, Bracknell Forest children also attend provision out of the borough.  The approach taken by the council has been to work with local education leaders to establish specialist resource provision within our local schools, to support children with special educational needs to be educated within mainstream schools where possible.

“The council’s executive has recently agreed The School Places Plan and Capacity Strategy for 2022 to 2026  and the approach moving forward.”