More than £5million has been invested in Ipswich to help with the countywide SEND crisis.
Suffolk County Council will be allocated £5,107,716 to provide children with early support and fast access to professionals like speech and language therapists, occupational therapists and educational psychologists.
The Experts at Hand offer will involve partnerships between special schools, alternative provision and mainstream settings to put support in place without needing to go through assessment processes.
Jack Abbott, Ipswich MP, said: "I know about the totally unacceptable waits families face to get their children the right support.
"Too often, by the time help finally arrives, families are already at breaking point and this has been the case in Ipswich and Suffolk for years.
“This investment is a vital step towards changing that. The new ‘Experts at Hand’ service will mean quicker access to specialist support, earlier intervention, and a system that works with families rather than against them. It’s about making sure no child is left waiting while their needs go unmet.
“We need a system that is proactive, joined up and properly resourced, and that is exactly what these reforms begin to deliver.
“Having recently welcomed the Schools Minister to The Willows Primary School in Ipswich, I’ve seen first-hand both the incredible dedication of staff and the real challenges caused by delays to EHCPs and limited specialist provision.
"This funding responds directly to those concerns and will help ensure more children can get the support they need, closer to home.
“This builds on the progress already being made locally driven by our Labour Government - from new specialist places to the writing off of the vast majority of Suffolk’s historic SEND deficit - and I will continue to fight for the long-term reforms and funding needed so that every child with SEND in Ipswich and Suffolk receives the right support, when they need it.”
SEND provision has regularly been criticised by parents in Suffolk, with the county council previously needing to pay out compensation to families, being rated poorly by Ofsted and the CQC and protestors gathering on the steps outside Endeavour House.
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