Nearly 2,000 Lancashire children waiting to hear on SEN support
The figures were criticised by Ofsted in a report released earlier this year
More than 1,800 Lancashire children are waiting to be assessed by the professionals who will help decide whether they need extra support because of special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) – while hundreds of others are yet to be given the additional assistance promised.
The figures – obtained by the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) – lay bare the scale of the backlog in the county’s SEND system, which was criticised in an Ofsted inspection report earlier this year.
A total of 1,850 young people who may have special needs are currently due to be the subject of an assessment by educational psychologists in the Lancashire County Council area, which excludes Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwen.
The advice they provide will be key to determining whether the youngster receives an education, health and care plan (EHCP). The personalised document sets out what support a child – or young adult up to the age of 25 – is legally entitled to in order to ensure they can access a suitable place in education.
Meanwhile, there are a further 300 children for whom advice has already been received from an educational psychologist – but who are still waiting for their EHCP to be finalised.
A nationwide shortage of the specialist professionals – coupled with a surge in demand for the plans they help to draw up – has combined to contribute to what Ofsted described as “unacceptable” delays.
Lancashire County Council announced earlier this month that it had engaged three agencies to bring in the educational psychologists the authority needs.
The LDRS can reveal that 101 individual agency staff have been recruited – with nine more due to start work. The aim is for them to generate 2,400 individual pieces of EHCP advice over the next year.
Cabinet member for education and skills Matthew Salter said at a recent meeting of the full council that the extra capacity was intended to help “manage the EHCP waiting list and the demand for new EHCPs that is coming through”.
According to the SEND Network organisation, educational psychologists provide “comprehensive” assessments of a child or young person who is the subject of an EHCP request.
“They assess the child’s needs using evidence-based theories and expert knowledge to help define and clarify the SEND needs,” it says.
Initial EHCPs should be produced within 20 weeks of an application being submitted – and a review of the plan should then take place each year.
There were 12,200 live EHCPs in the county council area as of January this year – more than double the 5,200 a decade ago.