(UK) MP on "dysfunctional [SPED] system that is, in practice, inflicting harm"

Dec 22, 2025, Special Needs Jungle: MP says the abuse of SEND law is a “systemic, moral and ethical crisis” and schools must speak up 

https://www.specialneedsjungle.com/mp-abuse-send-law-systemic-moral-ethical-crisis-schools-speak-up/ 

I commit to defending the law on SEND —and we need to hear the voices of teachers too. Chris Coghlan MP

Injustice in SEND is the issue that has come to define my first eighteen months as a Member of Parliament.

What began with the words of broken parents in my constituency of Dorking and Horley quickly came to dominate my casework, revealing widespread, systemic failures in how we support children with special educational needs—with devastating consequences.

Over the past year, my work on special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) has exposed not a series of isolated failures, but a systemic moral and ethical crisis in how we support some of the most vulnerable young people in our society.

Too often, SEND is still being discussed in technical, procedural or fiscal terms. But this is not abstract policy. It is about children, their futures, and whether we are willing to either invest in their potential or simply normalise and absorb the catastrophic cost of failure.

Over the past year, I have sat with hundreds of parents who are exhausted, desperate and actually frightened for their children within a dysfunctional system that is, in practice, inflicting harm. I have spoken to teachers and school leaders who feel morally compromised by a system that asks them to manage that harm, while denying them the resources needed to meet children’s needs. These professionals are worn down by obstruction rather than supported by public services. They express deep concern for the children they know are being lost to this crisis. . . .

The evidence does not support that conclusion. Parliamentary inquiries, oversight bodies, and the third sector are clear: this is a failure of public services to fund, apply, and uphold the rights that children with SEND already have. Yet despite this, there remains a real risk that this government will seek to rewrite the law, shifting the problem on paper rather than confronting the reality that these legal safeguards have never consistently been honoured in practice.

What changed this year

What has changed over the past year is not simply the scale of concern, but the breadth and volume of voices now speaking out.

Earlier this year, I asked parents to share their experiences of maladministration and misconduct by local authorities in their attempts to secure SEND support for their children. Many responded, describing harrowing experiences of delay, unlawful denial and serious harm. I have since raised more than 650 of these testimonies directly with ministers, and they have been extensively referenced in media coverage, parliamentary questions, and submitted directly to parliamentary select committees. . . .

Funding matters.

SEND must be properly funded if it is to operate as Parliament intended. This is a point I have raised repeatedly through my work on the Treasury Select Committee and directly with the Chancellor.

The National Audit Office and the Public Accounts Committee have also warned that delayed and fragmented SEND support represents poor value for money, driving higher costs as expenditure shifts from education into crisis services. . . .

Chris Coghlan, MP.December 2025