It comes as the council agreed to launch a long-promised investigation
11:46, 29 Aug 2025Updated 13:59, 29 Aug 2025
SEND parents had their social media monitored in Bristol(Image: Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire)
A mum impacted by the scandal around Bristol City Council monitoring SEND parents says it’s still going on.
Jen Smith has long pressed the council to launch the inquiry. In a written statement to the committee, which decided a long-promised investigation would take place, she claimed that social media monitoring is still happening’.
She added that the problems extended beyond social media, and led to a loss of support for her son.
She said: “Whenever the issue is raised in the media, the narrative is around social media and Twitter. But the problematic behaviour was far more insidious than this. Bristol City Council staff did not just read a bit of social media. They also monitored what SEND families were saying in public. They profiled people. They involved outside parties. They bullied.
“Funding was also spitefully withdrawn from the city’s Parent Carer Forum. My son had EHCP [education, health and care plan] provision removed as a direct result of council staff behaviour. I’m sure you are well aware that I can provide evidence of this claim. Council staff continue to behave in shadowy ways rendering SEND entirely untrustworthy.”
Bristol City Council will appoint an independent expert to investigate claims that staff monitored the social media accounts of parents with children with special educational needs and disabilities. SEND parents, including a Labour councillor, have said they were spied on.
Next steps include the terms of reference getting drawn up, which will go back before the committee for approval. Then an independent expert will be appointed to investigate the scandal. It’s unclear when the investigation will begin or how long it will take. After the meeting, Green Cllr Christine Townsend, chair of the children and young people policy committee, said the council was committed to supporting SEND children and families.
Cllr Townsend added: “In 2022, the Labour mayoral administration chose not to follow the motion passed by full council and did not deliver an external investigation during their time in office. In fact, Labour did not vote for the proposal at all. Cllr Bailes, who has recently started calling for this external investigation, has said that her vote wasn’t needed because she ‘knew the facts’.
“I expect that this is another example of a Labour councillor unable to stand up to the Labour machine that clearly did not want an external investigation to take place. I am glad that she feels more free to speak her mind under the committee system.
“I hope that Cllr Bailes and her Labour colleagues will now encourage those in power and their political staff in 2022 to cooperate fully with the investigation, and that despite the several years of delay, they are able to help provide some answers.”