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For ages, I was eager to produce a documentary focusing on Send.

Perhaps you recognize me from my EastEnders role, but I'm also a mum to an neurodivergent child diagnosed with dyslexic traits and ADHD.

It took months of perseverance and effort from both of us to obtain the appropriate schooling for him. Sometimes, it seemed like a battle.

That is why I wanted to make this documentary, so I could meet other parents experiencing the similar situation, and discuss with teachers, councils, and the government about how Send children are educated in the UK.

Understanding Send in the UK

There are more than 1.7 million young people in the country with special educational needs. It is a wide-ranging group, including autistic children and people who struggle with speech and language, have ADHD, and physical disabilities, among other conditions.

Schools in England already provide some support to these students, but if families believe their son or daughter needs extra help, they can apply to their local council for an Education, Health and Care Plan.

An Education, Health and Care Plan is a crucial document because it is enforceable by law, specifies where a child should attend, and outlines how much additional help they should get.

My husband and I spent hours completing the forms to request an plan, and numerous parents find the procedure very frustrating.

A Mother and Son's Journey

Shortly after I meet teenage the young man, he presents his favourite stuffed animal, his comfort object.

Buddy's autistic, which means his brain experiences and reacts to the world in a unique manner from others. He faces difficulties in socializing his own age, managing his emotions, and anxiety. Buddy likes to keep Reindeer Dog close to him.

After moving to the capital from Scotland in October 2024, Buddy's mum, the parent, started applying for schools. She explains she contacted at least 11 schools, but several failed to respond, and the ones that replied said they were full or could not give her son the necessary help without an Education, Health and Care Plan.

By the beginning of this year, over 638,000 plans had been issued to children and young people in England, a significant increase on the year before and an substantial growth in six years.

The increase is partly because families and educators have got better at identifying children who have special educational needs, especially autism spectrum disorder, as opposed to there being an increase with Send.

This marks the second time the family have applied for an EHCP. Their initial request was turned down before he was assessed. Councils decline about a 25% of requests at the assessment stage, as per government data.

During their time in Scotland, Tunde notes they did not have to request the comparable of an EHCP. Buddy's secondary school provided assistance for his learning, but not for his emotional needs.

The Scottish system has a alternative approach for supporting children with Send; educational institutions aim to deliver more support without the requirement for parents to apply for the equivalent of an EHCP.

"It's a madness," she states. "[Getting extra support] was so easily done, and it should be easily done again."

While Buddy is unable to attend classes, the local authority is providing him with 19 hours of tuition per week in the community library.

The mother explains the procedure of applying for an EHCP has been so demanding she had to stop working as a birth attendant and health visitor for a time.

"I can't do the parenting. I cannot take him to these sessions, and work at the same time… I couldn't get my son seen in the appropriate timeframe and attend to patients' infants in the right amount time. It became a toss up - and he prevailed," she comments.

We catch up with the youth after a long communication assessment.

"Exhausting… that's all I've got for you," he remarks as he leans against a barrier, his toy tucked under his arm.

A School for the Teenager

As autumn begins and while millions children begin classes, he is still be educated in the library. 60 days after I initially encountered him, he's getting an Education, Health and Care Plan but his schooling is yet to be resolved.

The council agreed to the mother's appeal that he go to an independently run institution that specializes in pupils who have difficulties in standard education.

Before he can start there, the institution has assumed responsibility for the lessons he gets in the library setting. But Tunde's now not sure the place will be able to provide what she believes her son requires to improve his social skills and self-assurance with peers his own age.

"We had been fully ready for September… and he's still without a school place, he continues to receive one-to-one lessons," she said.

"In my view … preparing to be with other kids and then still only having solo with adults has set him back and caused him to be reluctant to go to school."

Southwark Council states it views the family's worries very seriously and it will continue to support her household to make certain they obtain the provision they need without additional waiting.

It says it knows how hard it can be for parents to manage the process, and how upsetting holdups in obtaining help can be.

It says it has invested in a dedicated support team, and currently guarantees pupils are assessed by expert educators at the initial phase, and it is willing to reassessing the situation when families are concerned about school placements.

The Current System is Failing

I know there is a different perspective to this issue.

The huge rise in the number of Education, Health and Care Plans is placing local authorities under severe financial pressure. It is estimated that English councils are set to run up a total accumulated Send deficit between £4.3bn and £4.9bn by spring 2026.

Ministers says it has invested a billion pounds to help authorities fund plans and additional funds on new Send school places.

I traveled to a local authority to interview among the few officials in public service prepared to talk to me on the record about Send funding.

Jacquie Russell is a elected representative and cabinet member for education and youth.

"Today's framework is in fact highly confrontational. Our parents are more and more tired and anxious and frustrated of battling… Employee absence rates are extremely elevated at the present time," she explains.

"The current system is ineffective. It is broken. It fails to provide the best outcomes for students."

Demand for EHCPs is currently exceeding funding in the region. In a decade ago, the council had about 3,400 children with an Education, Health and Care Plan. Now there are over 10,000.

As a result the Send deficit has been increasing year-on-year, so that at the conclusion of the fiscal year it stands at more than £123m.

"That [money] is really essentially intended for community resources. {That would have|