Overview

• Four-year-old Eloise, diagnosed with autism and pica in early 2023, needs constant one-to-one support to prevent ingestion of hazardous non-food items.
• Hull City Council missed multiple legal deadlines on the family’s EHCP request and initially limited her to five hours a week in a mainstream nursery without dedicated care.
• In February 2025 the issued plan named mainstream schooling, prompting Emma King and Ritch Spence to lodge a tribunal appeal challenging the placement.
• By May the council reversed its decision, and by July it confirmed a specialist school place with tailored one-to-one support beginning this September.
• The couple have shared their ordeal publicly, inspiring Emma King’s August album "Pocket Full of Sun" to raise awareness and support other parents navigating special education.