Sheffield mum questions council over 'hiding' reports on why SEND children are turned down from schools
A Sheffield mum has slammed a city council policy which denies parents the right to find out why their children have been turned down for places at special schools.
Emma Bower fought for years to get her non-verbal son into a school that could support his needs, including taking her case all the way to a tribunal.
But now she wants answers over why the journey to get a special school placement is so hard - to help other parents in Sheffield who may be struggling like she did.
She is starting with a council policy she calls “illegal.”
“Whoever I message, whenever I try to get answers, whether it’s the council or the NHS, I’m cut off or get no reply,” Emma told The Star.
“When you ask why this and that decision was made about your child or who made them, you get stonewalled.
“Delays like this are why SEND children go years without getting the help they need.”
Emma explained how, when applying to special schools, parents meet with the council for consultations which are then sent to the school.
But if the school says they cannot meet a child’s needs or turn them down, they produce a report explaining why - which the parent then never sees.
Instead, Sheffield City Council writes a significantly shorter summary of the reasons for the parent to read.
Emma said: “A 1,100 word report on why my child could not go to a school was boiled down to 100 words.
“I asked for a copy of the consultation, both so I could read how the council described my child’s case to the school and to see exactly why the school said no, so I could see what went wrong.
“They refused.
“How can I make informed decisions when I have less than 10 per cent of the information the council sees?”
Emma has slammed this policy as what she claims is breach of the Children and Families Act, which mandates that local authorities in England explain procedures, support, and legal rights to parents of SEND children.
The council reportedly cited GDPR for why Emma could not see the report about her own child - but the reports were submitted in full and unredacted at her tribunal.
“There was nothing sensitive in them worth hiding from me,” said Emma. “Stopping me from reading it in the first place did nothing but waste everyone’s time, including theirs for having to summarise it.”
After eventually securing her child’s place at a special school, Emma contacted council policy monitoring officers to question the ‘legality’ of the policy. She received no reply.
Emma said: “I went to the monitoring officer because I have very real concerns this policy is illegal.
“I want this policy thrown out so other parents can get the help they need sooner.
“It’s obtrusive. SEND children in Sheffield already face five year or even eight year waits to get the help they need and anything that delays that is time they could have spent in a proper school.”
The Star contacted Sheffield City Council to ask why school responses on why they are unable to give a child placement cannot be seen in full by parents.
Councillor Dawn Dale, Chair of the Education, Children’s and Families Policy Committee, said in a statement: “The number of children nationwide who are finding out that they require additional support with their education is increasing. This is reflected in Sheffield, too.
“We now deal with thousands of new cases each year where children rightfully need the correct support in place so that they feel like they belong and can thrive in their education setting.
“We of course want the best outcomes for them all. Sometimes, tough decisions have to be made which families don’t always agree with. We try to structure all of our messages about these decisions to ensure they are clear and easy to understand.
“We thank all parents who provide feedback on our processes and decision making and try and work as best we can to accommodate that feedback in the decision making process.
“Where there is learning for us to take, we work at implementing that into future decision making processes to improve the interactions, processes, experiences and outcomes for families and their child. Lessons learned are crucial in allowing us to implement change.”
Sheffield’s SEND services were criticised by watchdogs for its weak capabilities repeatedly in 2025, including a report in June slamming wait times as “unacceptable.”
Ofsted found “widespread failings” over weak Education Health Childcare Plans, long delays and children spending too long in schools that couldn’t support them.
The report came after an inspection of the city’s Local Area SEND Partnership (LAP), made up of the council, the South Yorkshire Integrated Care Board, Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, Sheffield Parent Carer Forum and Learn Sheffield.
Editor’s note: A previous version of this story said Ofsted had specifically criticised the Sheffield City Council in the June 2025 inspection report. It is more accurate to say it criticised the LAP as a whole, of which the council is a member. The article has been updated to reflect this.