Agenda item

This report provides the Panel with an overview of Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) in B&NES.

The Head of SEND introduced the report to the Panel, she was accompanied by Rachel Hale, Chair and a Director of B&NES Parent Carer Forum.

Councillor Joanna Wright asked what the Council is doing to ensure children and young people are assessed properly when they apply for an EHCP to reduce the number of appeals due to a refusal to assess.

The Head of SEND replied that this is an area that they have been focussing on and that by increasing the quality of needs assessments received, alongside the robust scheme of delegation, has seen a significant decrease in the number of appeals lodged due to refusal to assess across the year.

She added that the assessment process is a difficult thing to get right and that it was a balance of resources and ensuring that you are not disadvantaging young people who need an assessment.

She explained that work was ongoing to promote mediation between the Council and families prior to an appeal being made.

Councillor Wright noted that 11 complaints have already been received across Q1 & Q2 of 2025/26 relating to provision not being delivered. She asked what the reasons for this are and what is the Council doing to resolve this.

The Head of SEND replied that this often due to school avoidance / non-attendance by the young person, normally due to mental health reasons. She added that if this situation should occur it can then take time to transfer the provision from a school setting to home or another location.

Councillor Wright asked what the average delay was in delivering paperwork for an EHCP Annual Review.

The Head of SEND replied that this was slightly tricky to measure and that they have been looking at how data can be improved. She added that every child has a phased transfer review when moving between schools or at key stages, which is every three years, and that is always carried out in time.

Councillor Wright said that she was disappointed to see that work needs to be done to improve adherence to statutory timescales and said that this matter should be additionally highlighted as it is a real factor for the families concerned.

The Head of SEND replied that only 35 plans at present were over 20 weeks out of around 250 and that it was likely that these figures were comparable on a national level. She added that they always intend to finalise plans as quickly as possible.

She said she believed that communications between the Council and families on the timescales of finalising a plan are improving and stressed that it is also important to have a degree of quality to the plan.

Rachel Hale explained that it was the role of the Parent Carer Forum to act as a strategic voice to its 1,700 members and that a great deal of work is ongoing regarding communication from the Council to the public. She added the planned SEND reforms are interesting as they address hearing the voices of all families. She said that in the main most would welcome a good quality, robust plan even if it takes slightly longer than 20 weeks to finalise.

The Panel RESOLVED to;

i)  Note the national, regional and local picture regarding the increase in applications for Education, Health and Care Needs Assessments (EHCNA) and the increase in issued plans.

ii)  Be assured that Local Authority Officers continue to work strategically with social care, health, settings and other partners in order to work within statutory guidelines and support settings in delivering the very best outcomes for our children and young people.

iii)  Note the improving picture within the service regarding statutory compliance.

iv)  Be assured as to the quality of EHC needs assessments and plans, as evidenced by multi agency quality assurance.

v)  Be assured as to the commitment of officers to resolve disputes quickly and without the need for formal appeals process, noting the reduction in appeals for refusal to assess children and young people.