Banbury mother describes her struggle to access education support for her 10-year-old autistic son

Hollie Cadman says she has been requesting an EHCP (Education, Health and Care Plan) for her son Rio for the past five years.

She says her life has been turned upside down due to her son’s difficulties at school, and she is now at breaking point.

Hollie used to manage a beauty salon but has had to leave her job so she can stay at home with Rio, who struggles with school attendance because he cannot cope.

Hollie said: “I’ve had a nervous breakdown and had to leave my job because my son doesn’t go to school.

“I’m having to live with carers allowance, which is eighty pounds a week.

“Things could’ve been so different if he’d had this (EHCP), which he deserves, years ago.”

According to Hollie, Rio struggles with his anxiety and his ability to focus during class.

This has caused him to lose confidence and become completely withdrawn from people.

Hollie says that Rio is only able to attend his primary school one day per week at the moment and that he would benefit from a one-to-one support person to make the experience more comfortable for him.

Rio is currently in his last year of primary school, and Hollie is extremely concerned with how he will cope at secondary school next year.

Hollie says that Rio’s psychologist has also said Rio should have one-to-one support person at school.

Despite Hollie requesting an EHCP assessment for Rio on two occasions, she says both times they have been denied by Oxfordshire County Council.

An EHCP is a document that outlines a child or young person’s special education needs as well as the support they need and the outcome they or their parent would like.

Local authorities carry out EHCP assessments on children or young adults, and if they think it would be suitable for them, they can provide a plan for the child or young adult.

Hollie said: “We have been refused assessments twice; then we went to mediation with the council and finally got an assessment, but the plan was still denied.

“It’s not just Rio, loads of families are having the same problem in Oxfordshire. It’s a massive problem here.

“It took us six years to get Rio diagnosed, another two years to get access to medication; the whole system is completely broken.”

When asked how the system works for approving EHCP in Oxfordshire, a spokesperson for Oxfordshire County Council said: “We have been working hard to build and deliver real and lasting impacts for all families of children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

"Our budget for the 2025/26 financial year, approved on Tuesday 11 February, includes £1.141m of extra funding for SEND services and EHCPs.

"A total of £641,000 of this will be additional money to complete EHCPs quicker, and £500,000 to facilitate the provision of expertise from special schools focused on children with EHCPs who are in mainstream schools.

"We recently reported that for pupils moving into statutory school age or year 6/7 transfer, every one of them had their final EHCPs issued by the deadline of 15 February 2024. SEND students moving into a post-16 setting, 94 per cent had final EHCPs finalised by the deadline of 31 March 2024.”

"At key stage 5 in 2024, the average points score per A Level entry for pupils with an EHCP has seen a notable increase from 25.18 in 2023 to 34.57 in 2024. This is above the national average and places Oxfordshire in the second quartile nationally."

The Banbury Guardian has contacted the Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust for a statement but has yet to hear back.