Right now on the Wirral — and across the UK - children with complex special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) are being left without a secondary school place. These are children who want to learn, who have Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCP), yet are without a classroom to go to. Their parents are exhausted, frightened and fighting a system that keeps failing them.

Every child deserves an education. Yet for too many families of children with complex SEND, this basic right is being denied.

 

📣 Our Call for Action
We call on Elizabeth Hartley, Director of Children, Families & Education at Wirral Council, and Josh MacAlister MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Children, Families and Wellbeing (Minister for Children and Families) at the Department for Education, to take urgent action to ensure that no child with complex SEND in Wirral is left without a suitable secondary school place.

Wirral Council has a legal duty under the Children and Families Act 2014 to secure appropriate education for every child with an EHCP. That duty is currently being breached. We ask Wirral Council to act immediately to identify and fund appropriate placements for all affected children — and for the Department for Education to support and monitor that process so this crisis cannot continue.

 

💛 Daniel’s Story:
Daniel is 11 years old. He has a rare chromosomal condition, idic15, and lives with severe and complex additional needs. He’s had an EHCP since he was two — his right to the specialist support and education he depends on has been recognised for almost his entire life.

Daniel was due to start secondary school in September 2025. But his parents were told, only shortly before term began, that the school which had been named in his EHCP could not take him at this time. Essential building work to accommodate new pupils had not been completed (in fact, not even begun) and there was no capacity for him and other new students to start.

No other school on the Wirral currently has a place available that can meet Daniel’s needs. He is now temporarily attending a leisure facility as a short-term measure (which his parents are having to make work without transport support), but he is without proper access to education, peers, or the therapies that help him thrive. Plus, beyond this temporary measure in place until December 2025, there is no actual solution to the lack of secondary school place for Daniel and his peers.

Daniel’s story is not an isolated one — it is part of a growing crisis across the Wirral and the wider country. Children like Daniel are being failed by a system that is meant to protect and support them. Every week that passes without a suitable place is another week of lost learning, lost progress, and lost confidence.

 

On the Wirral, Ofsted and the Department for Education have identified systemic failings. Despite promises of improvement, children with complex disabilities are still waiting in uncertainty for a suitable secondary school to be named. This isn’t just a local issue. It’s happening across England. The latest Government figures show that:

• Over 576,000 children now have an EHCP (Education, Health and Care Plan).
• Fewer than half of new EHCPs are issued within the legal 20-week limit.
• Thousands of children start the school year with no named placement.

Behind each statistic is a child missing friends, therapy, progress — and parents having to deal with the day to day stress of supporting their child in the right way while also coping with other responsibilities like work and family.

These children deserve better, as do their families. The parents of children with additional needs already face barriers to employment due the lack of wrap around care, but inadequate provision can also force working parents to give up work altogether (as shown in a recent BBC Panorama programme). This also denies parents the opportunities for fulfilment, financial independence and socialisation that employment can bring.

 

We are calling on both Wirral Council and the Department for Education to act urgently to fix Wirral’s SEND secondary school crisis by:

1. Guaranteeing that every child with an EHCP has a suitable secondary school place named by the start of term that is then properly adhered to and fulfilled
2. Publishing transparent data on children still without secondary school placements.
3. Providing emergency funding to increase specialist and resource provision.
4. Ensuring accountability — when the law says “every child has a right to education,” it must mean something.

 

Who we are:
We are parents, carers, teachers, and allies from Wirral SEND Parents United for Education, standing together for children who need our advocacy. Our movement began because we refuse to accept that any child can be overlooked simply because their needs are complex.

 

What you can do
💛 Sign this petition.
💛 Share it widely
💛 Tag your MP, councillors, and media.
💛 Use our hashtags: #EveryChildMatters #InclusionForAll #OneVoiceWirral

Together, we can send a message that no child should be left without a secondary school place.

This isn’t just about statistics. It’s about children — bright, funny, determined children — who deserve to learn, play and thrive.

Let’s stand together so they’re seen, heard and educated. 💛

 

🚌 Join us in person - Family Protest – Friday 14 November, 10:00–12:00
📍 Mallory Building, 2 Alice Ker Square, Birkenhead, CH41 2AB
Just a 3-minute walk from Birkenhead Bus Station (Claughton Rd).

Follow us on Facebook & Instagram @wirralsendutded