The Warrington Dad Who Built the Support System He Couldn’t Find

Every so often someone walks into the studio and you know, within about thirty seconds, that you’re going to be thinking about them long after the microphones are off.

This week that someone was Colin Jones — a dad from Warrington who turned one of the hardest chapters of his life into something that’s now helping thousands of families across the UK.

Colin came in with our resident GP, Dr Rosie, and I’ll be honest, I wasn’t quite prepared for how much his story would land.

Two leaflets and a lot of questions

Colin’s eldest son, Coby, was born at 28 weeks with Down’s Syndrome and autism. After a long stay in neonatal care, Coby finally came home — on oxygen — and the total support handed to Colin and his wife amounted to, in his words, two leaflets. That was it.

I said it on air and I’ll say it again: that’s crazy. Not because nobody cares, but because — as Colin explained — the help absolutely exists. There are hundreds, thousands of resources out there.

Brilliant charities, real government support, tiny grassroots groups doing extraordinary work on people’s doorsteps. The problem? Nobody knows about them.

As Colin put it, the whole sector is a fragmented jigsaw, and a small local charity with no marketing budget can go bust simply because families never find out it’s there.

So he built the thing himself

Now here’s the part I love. Colin is, in his own words, “not tech-savvy at all” — a full-time regional trainer for a tyre firm who fancied himself no more technical than yours truly. And yet, over about eight months, using AI tools and sheer bloody-mindedness, he built UK SEND Compass.

It started as a simple directory, just something to help him and his wife find what they needed. It’s grown into something far bigger — a UK-wide hub pulling together SEND services, charities, professionals and government support all in one place.

That includes businesses who actually tailor what they do for SEND children and adults: sensory barbers, tutors, personal trainers, even tradespeople.

But it’s the extra tools that made my jaw drop.

A passport, a voice, and no adverts

There’s a SEND Passport — an encrypted profile of your child’s needs that creates a QR code. When a school, clinician or new PA needs the information, you approve it, they scan it, done. No more repeating your child’s entire history from scratch every single time. Dr Rosie, who sees this from the other side of the desk, said that’s exactly the sort of thing that gets lost in a referral letter.

Then there’s COBIA, named after Coby himself — a communication tool for non-verbal children. You can add your own photos (your child’s actual favourite cup, not some generic emoji), build sentences, and it’ll even speak in another language if you’re abroad. Genuinely brilliant.

On top of that: a sensory toolkit, Makaton and British Sign Language resources, a database covering more than 124 disabilities, daily diaries, an appointment note-taker, and step-by-step guides for the tricky stuff. It’s web-based on purpose — works on any device, no downloads, and crucially no adverts bombarding you every ten seconds.

Core access for the SEND community is free, and Colin’s been clear that a slice of any profit goes back into the small grassroots charities that need it most.

You may feel scared. Don’t feel guilty

I asked Colin what he’d say to a parent having their darkest day. His answer stayed with me: you may feel scared, and that’s okay — never feel guilty about that. But you’re about to go on an exciting, different journey, and those little milestones you might take for granted with any other child? A first clap, a first roll-over? They become the most heartfelt moments of your life.

More than 8,000 people found UK SEND Compass in its first month. Colin’s already got a meeting with Warrington Council in September, and he’s not stopping there.

Find it all at uk-send-compass.com — and thank you, Colin. Inspiring doesn’t quite cover it.