Quarter of Hull's SEND children and not getting help quick enough
We launch our documentary looking at the special educational needs system across Yorkshire.
A quarter of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities are not the help they need within the legal deadline.
According to government data, in 2022 just 27% of SEND children were provided with an educational healthcare (EHC) plan within the required 20 weeks from when an assessment was requested. This was the case in 23% of cases in 2021, down from 89% in 2020.
EHC plans identify educational, health and social needs and set out the additional support to meet those needs, leaving children and families in limbo in the meantime.
This comes as part of our wider investigation into the crisis in special educational needs across Yorkshire, with families telling us they’re at breaking point.
In our documentary we hear from parents across the region, some who’ve lost their jobs due to their children being out of school, and one whose son spent 14 months with no access to education at all - the full documentary can be found here.
Hull City Council issued the following response:
Like many local authorities, we are working hard to improve our performance in relation to completing EHCPs within 20 weeks. One of the difficulties local authorities face is recruiting educational psychologists (EPs) to complete the assessments, as there is a national shortage of EPs. The demand for assessments has also sharply increased across the country making the demand on the limited EP time, even more acute. The global pandemic also had a profound impact on children’s development in Hull and nationally, and this has further increased the demand for EHCP assessments.
We as a council have, however, invested in an innovative ‘Grow our Own’ strategy which involves training Assistant Educational Psychologists to provide high quality assessments so that educational psychologists have the information they need to produce reports within timescales. Although this initiative is in its infancy, we hope that it will dramatically reduce the waiting times that families are currently experiencing. The council also draws on a pool of agency EPs, with further investment recently agreed by the city’s ‘Learning Partnership’ of school leaders. In addition, all schools have access to a link EP for advice. We would also like to reassure families that waiting for a formal assessment does not mean waiting for the right support in Hull.