Immediate action to tackle problems in the provision of special needs education in Bradford was today pledged by the company running the service.

After a damning report blasted the provision in Bradford, the private company responsible for running the education service said it would accept responsibility and would act straight away.

The report, which was commissioned by Education Bradford and conducted by external consultant Dave Tweddle, revealed that teachers in the city's schools had lost faith in the company.

It highlighted problems including a lack of educational psychologists and issues with the funding process.

A spokesman for Education Bradford said work had already begun on responding to the criticisms. He said: "We accept the responsibility to take the necessary action to develop an approach which takes into account the views expressed in the consultant's report.

"Dave Tweddle will be working with a group of head teachers, special educational needs co-ordinators (SENCOs), parents and Education Bradford staff, however all head teachers and SENCOs will be actively involved." Stuart Herdson, Association of Teachers and Lecturers executive member for Bradford, said: "Education Bradford was given the task of improving services in schools but looking at the report, things have gone backwards. They have failed miserably to come up to scratch.

"Education Bradford must be culpable for allowing this situation to evolve. There is a severe shortage of educational psychologists. There needs to be a review of the funding process, they need to get more people in to fill the vacancies and free up time. The pressure and bureaucracy is unbelievable."

And Ian Murch of the Bradford branch of the National Union of Teachers said: "This report is devastating. It shows that there are still some major issues that Education Bradford has yet to address."

The report follows the announcement by Education Bradford that it is re-structuring. Under managing director Mark Pattison the leadership team is set to expand in a move which has been described as "top heavy".

The previous structure saw five directors but three new posts have been created - Secondary School Improve-ment Director, Primary School Improvement Director and Access and Inclusion Director. The new posts follow decisions taken recently on a new structure for the organisation which followed a long consultation period with our staff, schools and our stakeholders."

Stuart Herdson added: "Most LEAs manage fine with four or five directors but for Education Bradford to have eight seems very top heavy. There are too many bosses and not enough foot soldiers to actually do the work on the ground."