SEND Crisis: Systematic Failure Bordering on Gross Negligence

What’s really going wrong with the SEND system?

Everything from underfunding to unlawful delays. EHCPs (Education Health Care Plan) are routinely delayed or denied. Mainstream schools lack resources or training. Appeals are common but utterly exhausting. The system expects families to fight to the bone, and cruelly punishes those too burned out to keep going.

Why is getting an EHCP so hard, even when a child is clearly struggling?

Because local authorities are drowning in deficit and often gatekeep illegally. Many actually rely on families not knowing their rights so they can continue ignoring them without consequence. Assessments are delayed, evidence is ignored, and SEND officers are undertrained, underpaid, and completely overwhelmed.

What happens when there’s no school place?

Children are left out of education entirely. Sometimes for months or YEARS. Some lucky ones receive a few hours of online tuition a week, if that. Parents are expected to home-school or graciously accept wholly inappropriate placements; often at great detriment to their own careers and potential. Call it what you want... but- please- let's not call it an education.

How exactly are families supposed to cope?

Most can’t. Not without significant sacrifice. Parents are often forced to give up work to become full-time advocates and carers. Mental health crumbles under the pressure, and relationships strain. Siblings are sidelined, entire households destabilised. The system offers little unless you scream loud enough... and even then, you're met with waitlists, tribunals, silence, and even exasperation from those who are meant to help. This isn’t normal parenting. It’s relentless crisis management. A constant battle. And it’s happening every day.

What legal rights exist — and why don’t they work?

Children have a legal right to an appropriate education under the Children & Families Act 2014. But enforcement is poor, oversight is patchy, and councils face no real penalties for failing to comply. Rights only work when people can access justice.

Note from the founder:

This isn’t just policy failure. It’s personal.

My journey into painting began the day I realised we had been patiently waiting for help that was never coming. The system that should have supported my children instead slammed its doors in my face... time and time again. Until something inside me broke and I snapped.

This is why I built NotFine.

That grief, that fury, that helplessness? It has to go somewhere. Here, it becomes paint, poetry, sculpture, truth. This isn’t just an art platform, it’s a protest in colour and canvas. We are telling the stories the system buries. Because if they won’t listen to our voices, maybe they’ll feel our art.