YOUR VIEW: Bad Ofsted report for Lancashire special needs services

After an inspection of the county council’s special educational needs and disability (SEND) service, Ofsted delivered a damming report.

Aspects of the service were labelled “alarmingly poor” and “unacceptable”.

Parents who used the service told us the rating came as no surprise as they had frequently been frustrated by the level of care on offer.

And once our article was published, dozens more parents took to social media to share their experiences.

Many told us they found it simply not fit for purpose. Here is a selection of the comments.

I’m no fan of our local authorities, however my son was disabled and had care at home , the social worker was the best I have ever met and never confused, there are good ones out there even in management but with the whole system in fault how can one part be achieving? A clock can’t work without all its cogs, from hospital to home care it’s disappointing and his social worker was the best thing about it. It’s not local authorities post coding care it’s care commissioner that does that – fact ! They can only work within guidelines which is not how our kids work.Natalie Riley

Unfortunately the system is appalling, there are many children out there not getting EHCPs therefore school are not getting the funding they need for the children and the children lose out.Shaz Shazzy

You have not taken it seriously enough Susie Charles anyone else who performed this badly in the work place would be sacked. Shame on you LCC for failing our vulnerable young peopleSue Moss

Good. Now everyone knows how useless they are. The treatment and service my wife and I have received has been worse than a dog would get.Paul Edgar

It takes over a year to get a EHC plan that’s not worth the paper it’s written on. In the meantime the child suffers, the school is under strain, the parents suffer due to stress... What an appalling state of affairs.Jennifer Swarbrick

This annoys me that they are going to use austerity cuts to hide the truth. The truth is that they have been failing children and young people far longer, banking on other services and parents picking up their responsibility because it’s is a brick wall task to get them to do something/ anything. Austerity just made a bad service worse.Laura Howarth

No big surprise, I contributed to the webinar and could see that others felt the same as me: no consistency of support, support being denied when it is clearly required etc.... Need I go on!? I pulled my child out of their system due to the stress it caused, it was easier just to accept there is no support than be constantly chasing the impossible.Sarah Naylor

Seven years of unnecessary austerity certainly haven’t helped.Lee Holding