Special educational needs activists have called for a commissioner to take charge of a “chaotic” council service.
Campaign for Change (SEND Suffolk) claims hundreds of children are waiting for a proper full-time education.
The group met with the Department of Education (DfE), which said it would audit Suffolk County Council.
The council, which has had to compensate SEND families for neglect, said it is revamping the service.
Activist Alex’s five-year-old son, son Seb, has autism and needs individual support.
He is now in admission at a technical school in Essex but the process took two years, a court and a complaint to the Ombudsman.
“What we’re seeing with my family and the hundreds of other families we speak to is that to avoid this expensive provision, the council is using all sorts of delaying tactics,” he told the BBC.
“An Ombudsman fine of a few thousand or a few hundred pounds is nothing compared to the cost of the special rules required.”
- MPs are calling for equal funding for SEND students
- The Council apologizes for the special needs
- Examination of the special needs after the “frustration” of the families
Following a Freedom of Information (FOI) inquiry in July, the campaign group found that at least 254 children in Suffolk were only in part-time schooling, 126 were expelled and 104 were not in school.
Alex said Local Democracy Reporting Service officials were “shocked” by the evidence they presented, particularly in relation to children being out of school, data quality and scrutiny of finances.
“It was clear that Suffolk County Council was hiding from them the true extent of the chaos and failure in their SEND system,” he said.
“They promised to raise these issues directly with the top leadership of the council.
“We hope that any proper investigation will show that a leadership change is required and we will write again to the Secretary of State to request his intervention.”
The DfE said: “We are working closely with Suffolk to ensure their plans to improve their SEND services result in positive change so that all children, whatever their needs, receive a quality education.
“We are confident that Suffolk leaders take these concerns seriously and have plans to address them, including significant new investment – but we will not hesitate to take further action to drive improvements where needed.”
Campaign for Change (SEND Suffolk) is due to meet again with the DfE in the autumn.
Council last year drew up an action plan to address concerns about SEND services after a report by colleagues in Lincolnshire revealed a number of shortcomings.
“We are absolutely committed to improving SEND delivery to children and young people in Suffolk and will not be derailed,” it told the BBC.
There were no updated figures for the FOI from last summer.
Find BBC News: East of England Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have an email with a story suggestion eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk
Add Comment