Why We’ve Written This Letter – And Why YOUR Voice Matters Now More Than Ever
A call to families in Surrey – and beyond – to support urgent ministerial intervention in Surrey County Council’s SEND services.
Since beginning our deep-dive into the inner workings of Surrey County Council over nine months ago, one thing has become uncomfortably clear: the scale and impact of maladministration in this county’s approach to supporting children, young people, and their families trying to access Special Educational Needs support is both unprecedented… and seemingly unmatched.
As many of you know, Measure What Matters was founded on a simple premise: that residents must be equipped with the tools, information, and collective power to hold local government to account — and that good governance, data, transparency, and the lived experience of services must sit at the heart of that accountability.
To get to the truth of what is happening in relation to SEND, we identified a set of impact-focused indicators — not process or efficiency targets (and certainly not PR spin), but real-world outcomes:
Are children receiving the support they need, when they need it?
Are families being treated lawfully, fairly, and with respect?
To assess this, we have interrogated hundreds of council documents, sat through hours of committee meetings, debated every narrative with our team, and compared Surrey’s internal data with independent, verifiable sources – and, most importantly, with the voices of those living through it.
All with a few central questions in mind:
When you Measure what Matters – not just efficiency and processes, but outcomes, impact, and lived experience – does Surrey’s so-called transformed SEND service stand up to scrutiny… or collapse under the weight of its own re-design?
When families, councillors, and MPs are equipped with the tools to Measure what Matters – does Surrey’s SEND performance withstand that scrutiny… or expose the scale of failure it’s working so hard to hide?
What’s Changing — and Why It Matters
Since this work began, we’ve seen evidence of real change — not within the institution, but among those holding it to account.
- We’ve seen invigorated, persistent, and increasingly well-informed challenge.
- We’ve seen growing cross-party political pressure.
- We’ve seen councillors step forward and step up.
- We’ve seen Public Questions, Member Questions, Freedom of Information requests – and, most importantly, powerful dialogue developing between families, councillors, and MPs who are now all pushing for transparency and accountability.
And perhaps most significantly?
We’ve seen this momentum infiltrate deep into County Hall debates, local media, national media… and even the Houses of Parliament.
It has been an outstanding demonstration of how the right information, in the right hands, at the right time can — and must — demand change.
But One Voice Still Remains Too Often Unheard
The voice of those actually living this.
Since we began, we have been inundated with feedback, testimonies- and in many cases, heart-breaking pleas for help.
It is our firm view that the real heroes of this story are the fearless, persistent voices of parents and carers in Surrey: those who continue to challenge immense walls of misinformation, obstruction, and maladministration – and who advocate for their children in the face of local processes that, in far too many cases, appear to be operating unlawfully.
Their stories are harrowing. They are heartbreaking.
And they should serve as a warning to us all about what happens when systems built in good faith to protect children are instead repurposed to protect institutions – when accountability is evaded, and trust is betrayed.
Unbelievably, Surrey has already suppressed – then abjectly dismissed – the harrowing, detailed experiences of over 1,300 vulnerable children and young people with SEND, calling them “not representative.”
We are here to say: ENOUGH
Surrey County Council – You will not be allowed to silence those you are appointed to serve.
Families’ detailed stories are not tales of an over‑stretched authority; they are testifying of a ruthless, weaponised system that has chosen to protect itself at the catastrophic cost of the vulnerable children, young people and their families that it exists to serve. These families – in their hundreds – report strategic obstruction, appalling maladministration, misrepresentation, highly questionable practices and local policies, and most concerning of all; a Council that behaves with ruthless confidence, as though it believes it is entirely above the law.
So it appears that truth must now be put in front of the only person with the power to intervene:
The Rt. Hon. Bridget Phillipson, MP
Secretary of State for Education
See: Parents and Carers of Surrey: Open Letter to Rt. Hon. Bridget Phillipson MP, Minister for Education, June 2025 https://measurewhatmatters.blog/2025/06/21/open-letter-to-rt-hon-bridget-phillipson-mp-secretary-of-state-for-education/
However- this letter does not purport to speak for you.
It offers you a platform to speak together – if you wish to take it.
Many families have already provided detailed testimonies describing unethical, dishonest, and harmful conduct by Surrey County Council. These were shared in direct response to the MP letter issued earlier this year, with the explicit intention of being passed to the media, Parliament, and the people with the power — and responsibility — to act.
But the mandate to send this letter to the Minister comes from one place only: from you.
✍️ Haven’t Shared Your Testimony Yet?
If you haven’t yet added your voice, there are three simple ways you can take part:
- Reply directly on the social thread with a short comment like:
“This letter reflects our experience of Surrey’s SEND services.”
Or:
“This does not reflect our experience.” - Share your story publicly by posting a longer comment in your own words on the thread.
- Submit your testimony anonymously via this secure, no-login form:
🔒 Your Privacy:
This Form Is Fully Anonymous
We do not ask for your name, contact details, or any personal identifiers.
We do not collect or store IP addresses, cookies, or metadata.
This form cannot be used to identify you. We will not know who you are — and we don’t want to. Please ensure you do not include your name, your child’s name, or any identifying details
The truth lies in what families are actually experiencing. Whether you share one sentence or several pages – your voice matters.
An Open Letter — Built With Families, Delivered By Families
This letter gives families a single, undeniable message backed by data and lived experience.
It cannot speak for you; it empowers you to speak together.
✅ If it reflects your experience — stand behind it.
🟡 If it doesn’t — say so. Both truths matter.
And. If it transpires that this letter reflects your shared, collective experience, as ‘Parents and Carers of children and young people with Special Educational Needs in Surrey‘? Then we believe the next steps are clear:
Send the letter — with copies of every supporting testimony — straight to the Secretary of State.
Copied to every MP in Surrey.
Copied to the Education Select Committee.
Copied to the Minister of State for Local Government and English Devolution.
Copied to the Committee on Standards in Public Life.
Published publicly.
And – if possible – hand-delivered to her door.
We will also support you by providing a full summary of all anonymous testimonies submitted, as well as those collected publicly across social media.
One goal: Reinforce those MPs and councillors already demanding urgent intervention by submitting your views, and your testimonies to public record — where they can no longer be denied, re-written, suppressed, or dismissed.
This is how families become impossible to ignore.
This is how pressure turns into action.
This is how the truth becomes undeniable — and gives the Department for Education no room to stay silent.
We firmly believe:
👉 You now have an opportunity to compel real change — with your voice as the catalyst.
It is your voices — and your collective, public endorsement — that give this letter its legitimacy.
YOUR voice must be heard.
Measure what Matters.
Measure what matters. 
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