Families of autistic children are refusing to send them to school over safety concerns.
Two families in West Sussex have told the local authority that the school environment is unsafe for their children.
Charlotte Gover with daughter Emily. Gover says families across the country face a battle to get the right support for their children
Charlotte Gover says her autistic daughter Emily, 10, suffers from Crohn’s disease. School-related stress has made the condition worse, she says.
Struggle with anxiety
Gover says Emily’s Crohn’s is in a state of “constant flare”, and she also struggles with anxiety.
She said Emily went through a successful trial at a special school, but the local authority refused to consider it.
Gover said her education, health and care plan (EHCP) entitles her to occupational therapy, small class sizes and sensory regulation.
But she said provision at Emily’s current school has been “missed, inconsistent or absent”.
School versus safety and fines
In a message, Gover wrote that she is forced to choose between sending Emily to school, or keeping her “at home for her safety” and thereby risking “fines or prosecution”.
She says families across the country face a similar fight for the right support.
Another West Sussex mum, Rachel Hardy, told the BBC that her eight-year-old son Ellis, who has autism and ADHD, has not been to school since November 2024.
She said she was seeing an increase in incidents where he was “hurting himself or hurting other children”.
Hardy said her son’s EHCP stipulates that he should get one-to-one support, but he has not been receiving it.
Dramatic increase in need for support
A spokesperson for West Sussex County Council said, as is the case elsewhere across the country, it has seen a “dramatic increase” in children who need support for special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
The spokesperson said that in 2015, there were just over 3,400 children with EHCPs in West Sussex, but now the figure is more than 10,000.
The council said it continues to lobby the government for funding for councils “to be distributed on a fairer basis than it is currently done to reflect need and demand,” added the statement.
Autism Eye contacted the Department for Education, but it has yet to respond.
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Published: 29 August 2025:
