Very Disappointing. Not the SEN service we paid specialist rates for
I originally left a positive review after the first month & a positive relationship‑building phase. Soon after it became clear that SENManny’s is not PDA‑informed, child‑centred, or specialist, despite being advertised and charging as such. I am a trained teacher with SEN & PDA experience, the service was not appropriate for PDA or SEN.
In a month and a half, this company received over £4,000 of public funding from us for EOTAS. What we got was no proper planning, no specialist input, and what amounted to glorified babysitting.
Across June, sessions were disrupted by rain, heat, train delays, a tutor appointment, & poor planning. Of 24 scheduled hours, around 15 hours were delivered. The contract states that unless the tutor cancels the lesson, the full session is chargeable. His last session ended 1 hour 40 minutes early citing tired, refusal to drink water in heat & he wanted to be collected. My son later said “There was no reason to be there. We couldn’t think of anything to do & I was bored.” This reframing could go unnoticed if a child cannot express why they wanted to leave or identify PDA practice were not being applied. Through their behavioural lens, the child blamed for early ending and session charged in full, the reality was no sufficient plan or support given when my son was less engaged and unable to lead the session.
This was after I requested a meeting about planning & tutors willingness to walk in rain. It ended up being a disproportionate focus on risk aimed at soothing the tutors own risk anxiety followed by a 6 page safeguard & permission agreement on top of the regular signed ones while the underlying issue persisted. My son did not require this level of safeguarding.
The £90/hr rate was sold as a “fully inclusive package” covering planning, oversight, risk assessment, multidisciplinary work, travel, & reporting. Despite this, meetings were charged at £90 for the tutor and £90 for the manager, £180/hr, these are suppose to be included in the hour rate (according to their own quote). A 1h meeting shouldn't cost the same as a 1h specialist session. I requested a meeting with the manager, he said tutor should be present then mentioned considering tutors time in the video meeting. He then added 6 of these at £180ph for the next academic year quote costing £1080 to discuss my sons provision.
My first invoice was also overcharged by £90.
I reduced hours due to poor planning and my son’s burnout, sessions were paused immediately, a decision that protected their billing, not my son’s wellbeing.
Despite promising a personalised risk assessment, they applied a toddler‑level risk lens to a intelligent able 15‑year‑old where he had to walk single file on the pavement if he wouldn't position himself on the inside.
Rain was described as a “slip risk” and “vision issue,” despite my son enjoying rain and wearing snow boots and part of his sensory enjoyment. During one session I was called when it was raining, they stood in Co-op with no plan, tutor in t-shirt asking me what he should do, this session ended an hour early.
Session reports described the activities they done with no EHCP linkage, no outcome tracking, and no structured planning.
Despite charging £90/hr, no written plans were provided. Plans were texted, mostly an hour before the session, asking me to approve or “tell me what you think.”
Train routes were not checked in advance, known delays caused repeated lateness 3 days later, instead of adjusting travel.
The next 4 hour session plan for a heat wave was an hour at a centre for basketball followed by at least a 30 minute walk in extreme heat (I don't know exactly how long because his plan didn't state) to sit in a McDonalds for the remaining time playing chess with no other back up plan. I would have been called not long into the walk as it was too hot, tutor would have been paid costing £360.
When I raised concerns, the company avoided written responses & paused my son’s next session until I was free for another meeting. After I ended the provision, the manager reframed the pause as a wellbeing measure, which did not match the reality. The manager’s email asking for the meeting implied that I needed to “align” with their view of PDA practice, the mentor role, and what success looks like. As someone trained in these areas, this felt dismissive and manipulative. Instead of acknowledging the issues I raised, they reframed the pause & positioned the problem as my expectations rather than their lack of specialist practice or responsibility that the tutor was not aligned to deliver PDA SEN aware sessions.
Based on my experience, the provision delivered was equivalent to basic tutoring/mentoring & should be priced accordingly, not at a specialist rate. I would not recommend them to SEN families, especially PDA ones.
8. Mai 2026
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