Author Archives: Robert Jones

Local authorities across England have a duty to assess children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and produce ‘Education, Health and Care Plans’. EHCPs are vital for identifying the needs of children and ensuring that those needs are communicated to and met by the local authority, schools, nurseries or other services and settings. Key parts of an EHCP are legally enforceable and provide a guarantee for children and their families.

EHCPs were introduced with the Children and Families Act 2014 by the coalition government. Much of the initial work on EHCPs was carried out under Lib Dem minister Sarah Teather, with the draft legislation published in her name in 2012. Today EHCPs have a mixed reputation. They have played a significant role in the rise of local government expenditure on social care. Across England spending on SEND provision by councils is predicted by some to reach £12 billion by 2026. It is unsurprising then that there is ever more pressure to reduce those costs and we can see numerous examples of councils formulating strategies to push down the ‘demand’ for EHC assessments.

My local authority, Shropshire Council, is no exception. In response to a question to cabinet on July 17 on the worsening rate of assessments being completed within the statutory 20-week window, it was explained how the council is working to “address the increase in demand” with a proposed framework for ‘Ordinarily Available Provision’. The view apparently taken is that too many children who could have their needs met without an EHC Plan are requesting them anyway. Now, there is little doubt that a much more inclusive approach to education across mainstream schools which could offer provision that meets a broad range of needs as a matter of course needs to be a central priority for education policy nationally. This will involve reform of our approach to education, schooling and the curriculum at all levels of the system. Councils like Shropshire and others which claim to pursue such goals at only a local level are at best optimistic and, it would appear, are more concerned about their own financial sustainability than meeting the educational, health and social needs of children.

A report produced by researchers at ISOS Partnership for the County Councils Network and the LGA was published on July 25. It has drawn a lot of comment from across the SEND community, including charities and independent campaigners, much of it critical. The report focuses its attention on the rising pressures the current system for SEND provision in England creates on local authorities’ budgets, suggesting that up to one in four councils could face an existential threat. The report calls for a number of measures, not least the need for reform that looks at the education and schooling system as a whole, promoting inclusivity and addressing children’s needs as early as possible within existing settings, reducing the need for children and young people to require additional SEND provision, particularly in special schools, except in the cases of the highest need.