A report by MPs reveals just 1.9 per cent of education, health and care (EHC) plans – which set out the provision of SEND support a child or young person needs – were issued within 20 weeks in 2023, the sixth lowest in England.
The percentage of children aged five to 15 with EHC plans in County Durham as of January 2024 was 4.7 per cent, but MPs warned a lost generation of children could leave school without receiving the help they need if action is not taken to address England’s “inequitable” special educational needs system.
Durham County Council recognised the insufficient response rate but insisted children are not being left behind.
The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said too many families are struggling to access the help their children with SEND “desperately need”.
It highlighted a postcode lottery with massive variation across the country in families’ wait times for EHC plans, with families in neighbouring local authorities having markedly different experiences. Neighbouring Stockton-on-Tees recorded a near 100 per cent response rate within the 20-week timeframe.
There are also “long waiting times” for assessments and support and an increase in parents who are appealing EHC plans via tribunals. Figures show 4.4 per cent of County Durham EHC plan decisions were taken to tribunal in 2023.
Martyn Stenton, Durham County Council’s head of early help, inclusion and vulnerable children, said: “We do recognise that the percentage of Education, Health and Care (EHC) needs assessments being completed within the 20-week target is lower than where we would like it to be. However, this does not mean that children in County Durham are being left without support during the assessment process.
“There is a very clear expectation that every child who requires special educational needs (SEN) support across the county should have an individual SEN support plan, under what is known as our ‘graduated approach’. This extra support can be accessed by children who do not have an EHC plan, as well as by children who are currently waiting for an EHC needs assessment to be completed.
“It is also important to note that the data presented in this report is historical and has been impacted by a number of factors. This includes a large rise in requests for EHC needs assessments since the pandemic, a national shortage of education psychologists, and challenges in finding suitable provisions for children who need a specialist offer.
A recent review of SEND services in County Durham ruled there are “inconsistent experiences and outcomes for children and young people”.
Yet, they found the local area partnership’s arrangements typically lead to positive experiences and outcomes for children and young people with SEND. Inspectors also said children and young people feel “valued, visible, included in their communities and listened to.”
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Following the review, the local area partnership was urged to continue strengthening work to further reduce delays in accessing Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) and neurodevelopmental pathways across the age range of children and young people. Ensuring that children and young people and their families can access easily identifiable needs-led services was also highlighted.
Mr Stenton added: “Our new EHC needs assessments are seeing a reduction in waiting times and we have recovery plans in place to tackle the existing backlog of EHC assessments, which have been recognised by Ofsted during a recent inspection. This includes an investment in additional education psychology capacity to further reduce assessment waiting times.”
The PAC has called on the Government to urgently take action to improve the system which it warned is putting nearly half of councils in England at risk of “effectively going bankrupt”.