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For ages, I was desperate to produce a film about special educational needs and disabilities.

You might know me as my EastEnders role, but I am equally a mother to an autistic child diagnosed with dyslexic traits and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

It took months of determination and effort from my husband and I to secure the appropriate schooling for him. Sometimes, it seemed like a struggle.

This is the reason I wanted to create this documentary, so I could meet other parents experiencing the similar situation, and speak to educators, local authorities, and the government about how Send children are educated in the UK.

Understanding Send in England

There are over 1.7 million children in the country with Send. This represents a broad category, including those on the autism spectrum and people who face challenges in communication, have ADHD, and mobility issues, along with other needs.

Schools in England already provide some support to these pupils, but if parents believe their child needs additional support, they can apply to their council for an EHCP.

An Education, Health and Care Plan is a crucial legal document because it is enforceable by law, states where a child should go to school, and details how much extra support they should get.

We devoted countless hours completing the application forms to apply for an plan, and numerous parents find the procedure very frustrating.

Buddy and Tunde

Not long after I encounter 15-year-old Buddy, he presents his favourite stuffed animal, Reindeer Dog.

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

After moving to the capital from north of the border in October 2024, his mother, the parent, began searching for educational placements. She explains she tried at least 11 schools, but many of them failed to respond, and the ones that replied indicated they were at capacity or could not give her son the necessary help without an EHCP.

By the beginning of this year, more than 638,000 EHCPs had been issued to students in England, a 10.8% rise on the year before and an substantial growth in half a decade.

The increase is in part because families and educators have got better at identifying children who have special educational needs, particularly autism, as opposed to there being more children with Send.

This marks the second time Buddy and Tunde have sought an plan. Their first application was rejected before Buddy was assessed. Local authorities reject about a quarter of EHCP applications at the evaluation phase, as per government data.

When they lived in the Scottish system, Tunde says they did not have to apply for the comparable of an Education, Health and Care Plan. His secondary school arranged assistance for his academic needs, although not for his emotional needs.

The Scottish system has a alternative approach for helping children with special needs; schools there strive to offer greater assistance without the need for parents to seek the similar of an plan.

"It's chaotic," Tunde says. "[Getting extra support] was so easily done, and it should be simple to repeat."

While Buddy is unable to go to school, the local authority is offering him with nearly 20 hours of lessons per week in the community library.

Tunde tells me the process of applying for an plan has been so time consuming she had to stop working as a birth attendant and health visitor for a time.

"I am unable to do the parenting. I can't get him to these appointments, and be employed at the identical time… I was unable to get my son seen in the right amount of time and attend to patients' infants in the right amount time. And it was a toss up - and he won," she comments.

I reconnect with the youth after a long communication assessment.

"Draining… that is the only word I have for you," he remarks as he leans against a barrier, his toy held close.

A School for Buddy

As autumn begins and as countless children start term, Buddy is still be educated in the public library. Two months after I first met him, he's receiving an Education, Health and Care Plan but his education is still not settled.

The local council approved Tunde's request that he go to an private school that specializes in pupils who have difficulties in standard education.

Before he can begin there, the school 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 child needs to improve his interpersonal abilities and confidence with children his own age.

"We were fully ready for September… and he remains not at school, he continues to receive one-to-one instruction," she said.

"In my view … preparing to be with other kids and then still just being one-to-one with adults has set him back and made him not want to go to school."

Southwark Council says it views the family's worries very seriously and it will continue to assist her family to make certain they receive the support they need without additional waiting.

It says it knows how hard it can be for families to manage the process, and how upsetting delays in securing support can be.

The council adds it has allocated funds in a dedicated support service, and currently guarantees pupils are evaluated by specialist teachers at the earliest stage, and it is willing to reviewing the circumstances when parents are concerned about school placements.

Existing Framework is Failing

I know there is a different perspective to this story.

The huge rise in the number of EHCPs is putting councils under intense budgetary strain. According to projections that UK local governments are set to accumulate a combined Send deficit of £4.3bn and £4.9bn by March 2026.

Ministers says it has committed a billion pounds to assist authorities pay for plans and further investment on special educational needs placements.

I traveled to West Sussex County Council to interview among the few people in local government willing to talk to me publicly about special needs financing.

Jacquie Russell is a Conservative councillor and cabinet member for education and youth.

"The current system is in fact highly confrontational. Families are increasingly tired and worried and frustrated of battling… Employee absence rates are really, really high at the moment," she says.

"This system is ineffective. It has failed. It fails to provide the best outcomes for children."

The need for EHCPs is currently exceeding funding in West Sussex. In 2015, the council had about 3,400 pupils with an Education, Health and Care Plan. Now there are over 10,000.

As a result the special needs budget gap has been growing year-on-year, so that at the end of 2025 it reaches more than £123m.

"These funds is really essentially intended for local services. {That would have|