Hemel Hempstead family endure six-year battle for special education support

For one Hemel Hempstead family, it has meant a battle lasting six years – and counting – to get a child the support he needs.

Alfie, 11, was diagnosed with autism when he was five years old.

Ever since, his mum, Natasha, has been fighting his corner with the health service and with Hertfordshire County Council, who provide the area’s SEND services.

But, at a time when Alfie should be finishing his first term at secondary school, he has been left without a suitable school place.

Constant delays and a lack of communication are regular features of a system that Natasha says seems to be “built against parents”.

The impact on Alfie has been serious as he has become “socially isolated” and now also struggles academically. Alfie also suffered a mental health crisis earlier this year, which Natasha believes was caused by failings from the authorities that should be helping to meet his needs.

Natasha has had to become an expert on a failing system to fight Alfie’s corner – but the hurdles they have come up against at every turn have been so severe they were even mentioned by Hemel Hempstead’s new MP, David Taylor, in his maiden speech in parliament.

And the problems reach back all the way to Alfie’s initial diagnosis, while he was a pupil in his early years at Jupiter Primary School.

Natasha began trying to get him an education, health and care plan, but says she met with resistance from the school who refused to support an application for one until Mike Penning, the then MP for Hemel Hempstead, intervened.

Even then, the county council initially refused to assess.

Natasha appealed the decision, and it went to mediation – the date of which was changed multiple times, including on one occasion because it had been carelessly booked on a bank holiday.

The day before mediation was eventually set to go ahead, the county council conceded and said they would assess Alfie – a familiar story to many parents, with around 90 per cent of appeals being lost or conceded before they are heard.

“They made us wait six months just to agree to assess anyway … it’s crazy,” Natasha said.

It then took over a year from the initial application to Alfie receiving his EHCP – far longer than the legal deadline of 20 weeks – and the process itself was poor, Natasha said.

In the year to September 2024, just 56 per cent of EHCPs were completed by the deadline, and earlier this year, Hertfordshire Police opened an investigation into county council officials over possible ‘misconduct in public office ‘regarding the way EHCP requests were being dealt with.

Natasha says Alfie’s cognitive ability was not assessed during the EHCP application process and continues. “We saw an educational psychologist, but they did not assess Alfie during the visit,” she said, “No standardised testing, nothing.

“They pretty much just read reports and then made their own report based on them. Alfie was in the room, but they didn’t even talk to him … he was just there.”

When the EHCP was finally completed, Natasha says, it was “not worth the paper it was written on” and was unsuitable for his needs.

Throughout this time, Alfie was at Jupiter, where he suffered “a lot of bullying”, both physical and verbal, and fell behind academically.

He was temporarily suspended from the school three times in the space of two months, including an hour into SATS week, at a time when Natasha believed the school was understaffed and not offering Alfie one-to-one support.

Alfie’s primary school years ended with a mental health crisis, and Natasha believes a lack of support from Jupiter contributed to his deteriorating mental health.

In one incident, Natasha says, a teacher at the school deliberately broke Alfie’s comfort item – a stick – in front of other pupils.

Alfie’s distress led to him “trashing the classroom,” an incident Natasha only learned about when a pupil told her about it in the playground after school. She believes the teacher “ridiculed” Alfie, and that staff saw her son as a “disruption”.

Despite Alfie’s experience, Jupiter was recently awarded for its “outstanding” mental health and wellbeing provision.

When it came time to apply for a secondary school place, Natasha believed Alfie needed a place in a specialist school. Her view was supported by others.

A PALMS (positive behaviour, autism, learning disability and mental health service) psychiatrist said they were “concerned” Alfie would “struggle even more” in a mainstream secondary school.

One such mainstream secondary school refused to take Alfie, saying in its consultation response that he “clearly needs a much more nurturing and bespoke curriculum and setting than any mainstream school could offer”.

In fact, every school consulted, both mainstream and specialist, said they could not take Alfie – except one.

Adeyfield Academy, Alfie’s closest mainstream secondary school, raised “concerns” about their suitability for his needs – they said he “may not manage the rigours of a mainstream secondary curriculum” – but did not outright object to taking him.

It meant Alfie was allocated a place at the school, starting in September this year.

But he has not been able to go.

Natasha says that when she met Adeyfield’s SEND leaders she was “told that he would not get one-to-one [support], he would be expected to wear full school uniform – which he isn’t able to because of his sensory needs – and he will be expected to go into each class independently and do the same work as everyone else”.

“Alfie’s working at a Year One level academically and he requires a lot of support just to access that, and this school is saying he will be doing Year Seven work, with no support.

“They’re not able to meet his needs,” Natasha said.

An alternative provision for a few hours a week is provided for Alfie, but even this was not in place at the start of the term.

Natasha appealed the decision to send him to Adeyfield, with an initial tribunal held in September and then adjourned until December.

She and Alfie are now awaiting the results of that tribunal after a process that Natasha says is in “disarray”.

There has been some progress – Hertfordshire County Council have agreed that a specialist school would be most suited for Alfie’s needs.

But, Natasha says, more than 20 schools in Hertfordshire and further afield have now been consulted on whether they can take him, and all have refused.

She had been told that the council was looking at special resource provision (SRP) units within mainstream schools, and prepared for the tribunal on that basis – only to find they were now looking at social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) schools.

Natasha says the experience – which she has had to handle alongside bringing up both Alfie and his younger brother – is “incredibly stressful”.

“You’re going into a hearing with all your evidence … and they’re not interested in that anymore, so you’re not prepared.

“I’m just a parent, I don’t have any legal background, I’m muddling my way through this really confusing system, and to be in these tribunals is stressful enough without being put on the back foot like that.”

Natasha has looked at moderate learning difficulties (MLD) schools too, but they have also said they can’t take Alfie: “The MLD schools felt that Alfie’s main need was SEMH, and the SEMH schools felt his main need was MLD.”

The result of the initial tribunal, which should have been sent to Natasha within two weeks, was only received a month later after she chased it up: “It’s yet another SEND system that doesn’t stick to its own deadlines.”

The tribunal also involved changes to Alfie’s EHCP, with Natasha’s appeal resulting in 26 points being added to the plan that the county council had previously declined to include.

There have been further issues with the tribunals, too. At one, the county council turned up with an undeclared witness who, Natasha says, the judge had to ask to leave because they had not submitted the required paperwork.

Deadlines for consulting schools have been missed. Schools have been slow in coming back. The information they have provided in their responses when challenged at the tribunal, has been shown to be incorrect.

Delays are common.

When Natasha submitted a subject access request to see the consultation reports from schools – which are not given to parents automatically – she had to wait “seven months for them to give me three sheets of paper”.

Natasha says the process “takes over every aspect of your life”.

“My daily life is fighting this system to get Alfie what he should be getting. And every single person … is working against us.

“You are left helpless, and it feels like a system in which you can’t win.

“It almost feels like we’re living in a third-world country, where you can’t get a school place for your child.

“It feels like we are looked at as if we’re overreacting.

“We’re not taken seriously.

“Our views are not heard or understood, and the children’s needs are not heard or understood.”

And, throughout all this time, Alfie goes without schooling.

Natasha warns that the issue, which also affects many other children in Hertfordshire, could have long-term consequences: “We’re going to end up with a whole generation of adults who are not able to fit into society because they’ve been at home when they should have been at school.

“They’re not going to have the qualifications and knowledge to get jobs; they’re not going to be able to socialise properly.

“Where are these children going to go when they become adults?

Alfie and Natasha have faced issues with health services, too.

Alfie was referred for an assessment for possible ADHD, and a PALMS psychiatrist earlier this year said the assessment “will be crucial to his progress”, with treatment available after a formal diagnosis.

But – after a month-long back and forth between PALMS and CAMHS (children and adolescent mental health services) as to who should deal with Alfie going forward – no assessment has yet been done.

When Natasha chased CAMHS up, she says she was told they had no record of Alfie and he was not on the waiting list for an assessment.

It was only after Natasha asked MP David Taylor to step in that they got in touch to confirm an appointment for spring 2025, more than a year after Alfie was initially referred.

Appointments with CAMHS, when they’ve happened, have not been a positive experience.

Natasha believes she was “not listened to” by them when she raised concerns about Alfie’s mental health, 18 months before he suffered his crisis earlier this year.

She adds that she felt like she was “failing as a parent” after one “really awful” assessment where the medical professional did not speak once to Alfie.

David Taylor said he had been “deeply moved” to hear about Natasha and Alfie’s “inexcusable and hellish nightmare”.

He said he will do “everything in my power to ensure no other families in Hertfordshire are put through the pain they experienced”, and welcomed the £1bn for SEND services nationally that was announced in the government’s recent Budget.

Natasha says she is “so grateful” for Mr Taylor’s support, and suggests other SEND parents should take their cases up with their MPs too.

Natasha’s aims are simple: to get Alfie a place at a school suited to his needs; an EHCP that’s fit for purpose; and an assessment for whether he has ADHD.

But six years on, their battle continues – and with no end in sight.

Spokespeople for Jupiter Primary School, Adeyfield Academy and Hertfordshire County Council said they could not comment on individual cases.

The spokesperson for Jupiter said the school is “committed to the wellbeing and education of all our pupils”.

“Any concerns or complaints brought to our attention are handled in accordance with the [Danes Educational] Trust’s policies or procedures.

“These processes are designed to ensure that all matters raised are listened to, carefully considered, and addressed appropriately.”

The Adeyfield Academy spokesperson said the school “prides itself on providing an inclusive and caring learning environment for all” and works “tirelessly to offer the right support to each child so that they can meet their potential”.

It is understood that a county council officer is also examining how Adeyfield responds to consultations on whether it is a suitable school for children with SEND.

The county council spokesperson said they “are committed to ensuring that the right provision and support is in place to meet the individual needs of every child”.

“Amid increasing need for our SEND services and increasing numbers of complex cases, we are committed to working in partnership with young people, parents, carers, the NHS and schools to ensure that all children and young people with SEND and EHCPs in Hertfordshire receive the support they need and deserve.”

They said “that many families have not experienced the service and support they need and deserve in the past” but that they now “have comprehensive improvement plans in place, which are being independently monitored”.

The spokesperson added that the council has “expanded local special school capacity in Hertfordshire by creating 764 additional special school places since 2018” – though Alfie has not been given one of those places.