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For a long time, I was desperate to create a film about Send.

You might know me as my EastEnders role, but I'm also a mum to an autistic son who also has dyslexia and ADHD.

Required many months of determination and effort from both of us to obtain the right education for him. At times, it felt like a struggle.

That is why I wanted to make this film, so I could meet other parents going through the same thing, and discuss with teachers, councils, and the ministry about how children with special needs are educated in the UK.

Understanding Send in England

Currently, there are over 1.7 million young people in the country with Send. This represents a wide-ranging group, encompassing those on the autism spectrum and people who struggle with speech and language, have attention disorders, and physical disabilities, along with other needs.

Educational institutions in England already provide some support to these students, but if families think their child needs extra help, they can apply to their council for an EHCP.

An EHCP is a crucial legal document because it is legally binding, states where a child should go to school, and details how much additional help they should get.

We devoted countless hours filling in the forms to apply for an EHCP, and numerous parents describe the process very frustrating.

Buddy and Tunde

Not long after I meet 15-year-old the young man, he shows me his beloved stuffed animal, his comfort object.

Buddy's autistic, meaning his mind processes and reacts to the world in a different way from others. He faces difficulties in meeting people his own age, understanding his feelings, and anxiety. He prefers to keep Reindeer Dog nearby.

After moving to the capital from north of the border in October 2024, his mother, Tunde, began searching for schools. She says she contacted at least 11 institutions, but many of them failed to respond, and the ones that replied said they were full or were unable to give her son the necessary help without an Education, Health and Care Plan.

By the beginning of the current year, more than 638,000 plans had been issued to children and young people in England, a significant increase on the previous year and an 80% increase in half a decade.

This rise is in part because families and educators have become more skilled at identifying children who have Send, particularly autism, as opposed to there being an increase with special needs.

This marks the repeat Buddy and Tunde have applied for an plan. Their initial request was turned down before he was evaluated. Councils decline about a 25% of EHCP applications at the evaluation phase, as per government data.

During their time in Scotland, Tunde notes they were not required to request the comparable of an EHCP. Buddy's comprehensive school arranged support for his academic needs, but not for his emotional needs.

Scotland has a different system for supporting children with special needs; schools there aim to deliver more support without the requirement for families to seek the equivalent of an plan.

"It's a madness," Tunde states. "[Securing help] was so easily done, and it should be simple to repeat."

Although the teenager is not able to go to school, the council is offering him with nearly 20 hours of tuition per week in the community library.

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

"I am unable to do the parenting. I can't get him to these sessions, and be employed at the identical time… I couldn't get my son seen in the appropriate timeframe and attend to other people's babies in the necessary period. And it was a difficult choice - and my son won," she says.

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

"Exhausting… that is the only word I have for you," he remarks as he leans against a fence, Reindeer Dog tucked under his arm.

A School for Buddy

As autumn begins and while millions children start term, he is continuing to be educated in the public library. Two months after I initially encountered him, he's getting an Education, Health and Care Plan but his education is yet to be resolved.

The local council agreed to Tunde's request that he go to an private school that specializes in children who struggle in standard education.

Prior to Buddy can start there, the institution has assumed responsibility for the sessions he receives in the library setting. But Tunde's now not sure the school will be able to provide what she thinks her child needs to enhance his social skills and self-assurance with children his own age.

"We had been fully ready for the start of term… and he remains without a school place, he's still having individual instruction," she said.

"I think … preparing to be around fellow students and then still just being solo with adults has set him back and made him be reluctant to go to school."

Southwark Council says it takes Tunde's concerns very seriously and it will continue to assist her family to make certain they receive the provision they need without additional waiting.

It says it knows how difficult it can be for parents to manage the process, and how distressing delays in securing support can be.

It says it has allocated funds in a specialist support service, and currently guarantees children are assessed by expert educators at the initial phase, and it is open to reassessing the situation when parents are worried about school placements.

The Current System is Failing

I am aware there is a different perspective to this story.

The huge rise in the number of EHCPs is putting councils under intense budgetary strain. It is estimated that English councils are set to accumulate a combined special needs shortfall of £4.3bn and £4.9bn by spring 2026.

Ministers says it has committed a billion pounds to assist authorities fund EHCPs and additional funds on special educational needs placements.

I went to a local authority to speak with among the few people in local government willing to talk to me on the record about special needs financing.

Jacquie Russell is a Conservative councillor and official for children, young people and learning.

"The current system is actually highly confrontational. Our parents are increasingly exhausted and worried and frustrated of battling… Employee absence rates are extremely elevated at the present time," she explains.

"The current system is ineffective. It has failed. It's not delivering the optimal results for students."

The need for EHCPs is now exceeding resources in the region. In 2015, the council had about 3,400 children with an EHCP. Now there are over 10,000.

Consequently the Send deficit has been increasing annually, so that at the end of 2025 it reaches more than £123m.

"These funds is primarily meant to be for community resources. {That would have|