Thousands of children in England with special educational needs are waiting too long for an education, health and care plan (EHC).
The EHC plans set out a child’s needs and the support to which they are entitled. Once the plan is requested the law says councils should normally finalise them within 20 weeks. However, four in ten plans have taken longer than what is stated.
In between 2014-15 sixty-five councils had 26,505 applications took longer than 20 weeks to finalise.
Longest individual waits for a finalised EHC plan:
- Suffolk: 1,023 days
- Tower Hamlets: 1,014 days
- Isle of Wight: 1,005 days
- West Sussex: 973 days
- Liverpool: 945 days
- Dorset: 924 days
- Haringey: 915 days
- Havering: 898 days
- Southend-on-Sea: 871 days
- Worcestershire: 870 days
Councillor Gordon Jones, the council’s cabinet member for education and skills, said: “Our priority is to ensure every child gets the correct help and support they need to prosper and develop.
“The increase in demand for education, health and care needs assessments for children and young people in Suffolk is a matter that I am taking very seriously.
“The development of our SEND strategy is driving improvement across SEND and all agencies involved in Suffolk.”
The number of requests for EHC plans has increased in recent years. Data from sixty-one councils showed in total 16,696 requests were sent in 2014-15 but in 2017-18 28,507 were sent this is a 70% increase.
Huw Merriman, MP for Bexhill and Battle, co-chaired a parliamentary group on autism said: “I don’t think local education authorities understand how plans work, I don’t think they understand their duties, and I think it needs more resourcing.”
Nadhim Zahawi, Minister for Children and Families, said: “Our ambition for children with special educational needs and disabilities is exactly the same for every other child.
“We are pleased to see that local authorities are improving the speed at which they are assessing SEND children.
“Where a local authority is performing significantly below the national average, we have been working with them through our specialist team of SEN advisers to improve performance.”
