SOS! SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS
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Mission Statement
Our vision is for all children and young people (aged 2-25) who have Special Educational Needs and Disabilities in England to get the right education, health and care support they are entitled to in order to enable them to achieve their full potential as learners and skilled, independent individuals. Our mission is to empower parents, young people and carers by sharing information about their rights and entitlements. We provide quality legally-based advice and strategy guidance so that they can successfully navigate the educational system to ensure their rights are respected. We help facilitate the creation of a community of parents and carers to enable the sharing of experiences, emotional support and tactical empowerment to each other. We spread awareness of the challenges within the SEND system through sharing information, training, campaigning and lobbying activities. We seek to provide information and training for teachers and local authorities to enable them to fulfil all their legal duties to children and young people with Special Education Needs and Disabilities.
About This Cause
Over 1.5 million children in the England have SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities), with 13.6% having no EHCP (Educational, Health and Care Plan). A UK Parliament report, published 15th January 2025, stated, “Whether children receive support depends too much on their postcode, or how well their parents can navigate an often chaotic and adversarial system…Without urgent action, the Department risks a lost generation of children leaving school without receiving the help they need”. Founded in 2002 and registered as a charity since 2013, SOS! Special Educational Needs (SOS!SEN for short) is a national charity supporting parents and carers navigating the complex landscape of SEND in an educational setting. The charity has 10 members of staff and 70+ volunteers (with personal or professional experience of SEND). Our mission is to provide a comprehensive range of information, advice, signposting and support to empower parents to navigate the intricate legal and bureaucratic processes inherent in securing SEN support in schools and colleges. In 2024 SOS!SEN supported 3400+ families looking for guidance on educational inclusion and equity for a child or young person (aged 2-25) with SEND. The journey for many families can be long and isolating. When a school, college or nursery can’t meet the additional SEND support required on their own budget, an EHCP is required. This is a legally binding document outlining a child or teenager’s special educational, health, and social care needs. The document has to list all of the child’s SEN and specific provision. In 2023, only 50.3% EHCP’s were issued within the statutory 20-week time limit and there were 15,615 appeals registered. With a 90% success rate on our PAP (Pre-Action Protocol) Letters Project, SOS!SEN is at the forefront of supporting these EHCP processes and appeals, ensuring parents and carers can navigate the process with advocacy and confidence in the rights of their child. With the charity’s widely-regarded Legal Advisor having over 25 years of SEND law experience, SOS!SEN has created a strong reputation of offering industry leading, legally based advice and guidance, and are recognised by Local Authorities (LA) and Tribunals for our high standards. As well as being asked to comment frequently for media outlets, we are well regarded amongst the SEND community in England, often being recommended by the resource centre, Special Needs Jungle, and fellow SEND charities/organisations. The Local Government Ombudsman (LGO) states that the SEN system in England is in "utter disarray". For the thousands of children and young people out of school or NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training) due to their learning difficulties, access to this basic human right is not equitable. SOS!SEN supports families to work through the judicial system for their child’s rights. This is done through 1:1’s, EHCP checks, working documents, PAP letters, free advice webinars, grounds of appeal (GOA), 11 free, walk-in pop-up Advice Centres around the country and a free, national Helpline. Currently, the Advice Centres are situated in Hampshire, Birmingham, Bristol, Chelmsford, Kent, Hampton, Hertfordshire, Peckham, Thornton Heath, Waterloo and Worcester Park. There are also 2 virtual Advice Centres in Coventry and Kent. Each of these take place once a month for 2 hours in an easily accessible community space, managed by an Advisor and 2 Meeter/Greeters. With an ethos of ‘giving back’, the charity favours community centres or fellow charity spaces for this. Although clients have to pre-register, support for any of our services is not restricted, and they can come back for advice on multiple occasions to the Centres or Helpline as they navigate the SEND journey in an educational setting. Often a family will have more than one child with SEND, so need support from SOS!SEN across several years. In the first half of 2025, 3 more Advice Centres will open in Colchester, Westminster and Canterbury. As well as this, the team is committed to our services being as accessible as possible by reviewing our digital presence in terms of accessibility for end users on our website and Helpline. This may include an accessibility toolbar for the website and a translation service on the Helpline, and even at Advice Centres. The charity also reaches out to disadvantaged communities through the PAP Project, such as charities supporting immigrants and asylum seekers, who are disadvantaged in securing SEN help due to their status and language barriers. The team is also liaising with Southwark Law Centre about supporting the traveller community, as children and young people often have decisions on provision delayed with the hope they may move onto a different LA. Lastly, the charity is in discussions with Adoption UK, due to the high instance of SEND amongst children in care, who face challenges such as their custodian being the LA itself that is failing in its SEND provision.