Council agrees £2m to tackle EHCP assessment delays

A council is planning to spend £2m on tackling its growing assessment backlog for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

Cambridgeshire County Council said hundreds of children had been waiting almost two years for Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) assessments.

Between January and July this year, the authority received 1,459 requests for EHCP assessments but issued 675, according to a council report.

Edna Murphy, chair of the council's Children and Young People Committee, said: "We know that the council's performance on EHCP assessments has not been good enough."

She added: ""I want to apologise to the families who have been kept waiting, in some cases far beyond the statutory deadline, and reassure them that improving the timeliness and quality of the EHCP processes is an absolute priority for us."

A total of 321 children in Cambridgeshire have been waiting more than 100 weeks (about a year and 11 months) for an EHCP assessment, despite a statutory target of 20 weeks.

These are the legal documents that outline the extra support a child or young person in education needs, and release top-up funding to schools.

Cambridgeshire County Council said more than £4.8m had been paid to mainstream schools experiencing the greatest pressure from delayed EHCP assessments.

The report said the number of children with EHCPs in Cambridgeshire had nearly doubled since 2020, while spending on independent specialist placements had gone up by nearly £10.7m in two years.

About a third of EHCPs listed autism as the primary need, and about one quarter listed social, emotional and mental health.

Other common primary needs included moderate learning difficulties, as well as speech, language and communication needs.

The papers showed that every special school in the area was operating at - or above - capacity.

"Some children and young people remain in mainstream settings after specialist provision has been agreed because there is no suitable specialist place available," the report said.

The £2m has been proposed over 12 months as a one-off "recovery programme" to tackle delayed assessments, including using extra educational psychologists, caseworkers and business support.

Final approval for that funding will be decided on Thursday.

The council was clear that there needed to be bigger changes, including providing early support and improving communication with families and schools.

The pressure on places comes as the Department for Education has asked the county council to revise parts of its SEND reform plan before it can be formally approved. The department asked for more details, including how it would increase inclusion in mainstream schools and the predicted demand for support in the future.

Council officials must submit revised information by 30 November.

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