The number of children in the capital requiring special educational needs and disabilities (Send) support has reached record levels, analysis by BBC London has found.

Over the past decade, the number has jumped by nearly a third – from 205,309 in 2015-16 to 267,368 in 2024-25, Department for Education (DfE) figures show – as parents say are forced to fight for support and councils warn of mounting financial pressure.

Nichola – whose son Alistair is autistic, has ADHD and struggles in mainstream education – said she had “learnt from strangers” than schools and councils on how to access support.

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The DfE said it “inherited a Send system on its knees” and was working on reforms to fix it.

Nichola, who lives in south London, said Year 6 pupil Alistair was bright and capable, especially in maths, but struggled with inflexible thinking, hyper focus and sensory overwhelm.

“They call it a meltdown but for me, it feels like an eruption,” she said.

“He just reaches a point where the emotions are too big. He can’t manage them.

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“It affects everything. If I have a day off, I have to stay local because I need to know there’s somebody around to pick him up.”

The number of with children autistic spectrum disorder receiving support in London has increased by 158% from 17,832 in 2015-16 to 46,095 in 2024-2025, according to DfE data.

After repeated school refusals and episodes where Alastair ran away, he was placed in a newly commissioned social, emotional and mental health resource base at his primary school – a specialist unit for children who need extra help.

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“When we used to force Alistair to go to school, he would escape. He would climb over a six-foot fence and jump over it,” Nichola said.

She said Alistair’s attendance had improved since he started at the unit.

His placement came after he was issued with an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP).

An EHCP is a legal document issued by a local authority, setting out the support a child must receive. Nichola said getting it was difficult to navigate.

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“Nobody gives you a manual and says, ‘Right, your child’s autistic, here’s what you can do.’ You have to find out yourself what works, what doesn’t,” Nichola said.

“I’ve learnt from strangers in a WhatsApp group than from the council.”

Another mother, who asked not to be named and is referred to here as Anna, said she also depended on support from other parents when seeking help for her six-year-old son, who is autistic and has a language disorder.

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“His first year in primary (school) was miserable. The reasonable adjustments just weren’t there,” Anna said.

“And even thinking about how he was treated in reception just makes me angry. It was pretty horrific.”

She said that complaints to her local council went unanswered and there was no-one to “go to defend your child”.

Anna said her son was only offered speech and language therapy twice a term and that he was making progress at summer play schemes outside school, where staff often “understand his needs”. When he returns to school, she said this progress unravelled.

“You’ve got to send your kid to this space,” she said. “And it’s basically stunting his development.”

For the past three years she has been fighting for an appropriate school place and took her council to a Send tribunal.

Anna said: “Many parents are going through this type of fight with the tribunals and fight with schools, and many of us are not using legal representation in order to defend our children’s rights.”

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It took a year to get a tribunal date but last month she was successful. Her son provisionally has a new school, and the transition should start this month but she still remains cautious as his EHCP has not been finalised.

“Needless to say, the fight continues and I double-check all conversations and emails with the local authorities with a legal representative,” she added.

London Councils – a cross-party body representing the capital’s local authorities – said in June that almost half of all boroughs were at risk of bankruptcy over the financial pressure from increased Send funding demand.

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The capital’s 33 local authorities face a projected cumulative deficit due to Send spending from £487m in 2024-25 to than £1.4bn in 2028-29.

Caroline Woodley, London Councils’ lead for children and young people, stresses that councils are trying to respond through investment, early intervention and integrated support, but admits the system is inconsistent and under pressure.

“It’s a real struggle for schools to meet that demand and for councils to step in when we also have our financial constraints,” she said.

She added that they were trying to “undo decades of underinvestment and a lack of understanding” around Send provision.

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While she welcomed a £3bn investment from government to increase specialist places, Woodley said it would take time to roll out and ensure support was “happening in the right place at the right time”.

A long-awaited government overhaul of Send provision in the Schools White Paper has been delayed multiple times but is due to be published imminently.

Catriona Moore, the policy manager at the Independent Provider of Special Education Advice, said there was a “crisis in the system” but any government reforms should not involve “watering down rights and making it harder for children to get the support they need”.

“At the moment we have a system where children’s rights are clear but not always upheld. The solution is to make the system work as it should – not dismantle it,” she said.

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A DfE spokesperson said there would “always be a legal right to additional support,” with funding increases planned and an emphasis on early intervention and mainstream inclusion.

“We are in the middle of extensive and important engagement with parents, schools and experts on how to fix it so it stands the test of time and delivers positive outcomes for all children,” they said.