Here are the results of our winter 2024-25 temperature check, which we are publishing alongside the figures from our 2023-24 parent carer survey to look at any changes over time. A big thank you to everyone who responded.
It is clear from looking at the data that sadly we are not seeing the positive change we would hope for across the three service areas – education, health, and social care – for SEND needs being correctly identified and appropriately supported.
For all three areas, the category of ‘not at all’ – the lowest rating – has seen a percentage increase in every instance when compared with the 2023-24 survey data.
For the higher ratings of ‘somewhat well’ and ‘very well’, in all but one case (where it remains the same) there is a percentage decrease.
The temperature check also asked parent carers to share anything else, good or bad, that might be happening at the moment, and the themes and issues coming through remain familiar:
- The constant fight and never-ending battle for support
- Long waiting times for support and/or for assessments/diagnosis
- Long drawn-out EHCP assessment appeals, often resulting in delayed support
- Lack of respite and SEND clubs
- Impact on parent carers, for example having to give up work
- The need for more training so that school staff can develop better understanding of SEND
It’s so disheartening to see this, especially because we know that there are many dedicated people working hard to try and improve things. But it’s clear that more unpicking is needed to understand why families are not yet feeling the positive impacts of those efforts. We need to understand and challenge what isn’t working and why, and to adjust accordingly, do more of what is working, and let go of approaches that may not be helping.
Several responses also highlighted positive examples, but as has been the case previously, these relate to dedicated individuals or support from charities:
“CAMHS practitioner is very supportive despite the lack of services and waiting lists.”
“My GP is wonderful and really wants to help. The services are just not there.”
“Amaze has given me the most info so far and been the most supportive.”
Background
The idea for the temperature check polls is to find out how families in East Sussex are feeling about SEND support and services for children and young people (SEND stands for special educational needs and/or disabilities).
For this latest temperature check poll, we have changed from one general question to two more specific questions about how well needs are being correctly identified (question one) and appropriately supported (question two) on a scale from not at all to very well. Our previous question simply asked about how families felt about SEND support, with a scale from very dissatisfied to very satisfied. We decided to make this change to try to pinpoint more clearly where there are issues and also to mirror the wording in our parent carer survey, helping us identify changes or patterns across the last couple of years.
Further reading and reports
ESPCF report on parent carer experiences (published April 2025, submitted during Ofsted & CQC inspection)
Ofsted & CQC local area SEND inspection report (published February 2025)
Parent carer survey 2023-24: report of findings (published July 2024)