Calls to reform SEND system amid growing demand across Nottinghamshire

There are numerous problems facing the system

Support is improving for Nottinghamshire children with special educational needs – but some local leaders think the national system needs to be overhauled. Nottinghamshire County Council has previously been criticised by watchdogs for delays in delivering Education, Health and Care plans for young people.

Around 40 per cent of the plans, which are a legal document detailing a young person’s needs and the support they require, are delivered within the 20-week time limit.

However, the authority says the demand for support has grown by a quarter in the last year alone. There were 1,081 EHCP assessments between January and July, compared with 892 for the same period last year.

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The council’s Children and Families Select Committee discussed the problems facing the system in a meeting on Monday (October 7). Councillor Sam Smith (Con), the council’s portfolio member for education and SEND, said: “Although the demand is rising, so is the rate responding to it. We are proud but there is more work to do.”

The Nottinghamshire SEND Partnership Improvement Board formed last year after criticism over delays from Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission.

Dame Christine Lenehan, who chairs the board, said: “We’re making the best in Nottinghamshire of a system which doesn’t work very well. No council has unlimited resources. My work with national government leads me to believe that there will be significant changes in SEND fairly quickly.

“We can’t get to a point where 18 per cent of children have EHC plans – we don’t have that level of need. We need to go back to what they were designed for, which is for around three per cent of children.

“Most children need good quality education with early intervention at the right time. Until we start to see fundamental national reform from the government, that’s where we are.”

Only 21 per cent of Nottinghamshire EHC plans were completed within the 20 week timeline in between January and July 2023, compared with 36 per cent this year. Six people have now been employed to liaise with families waiting for EHCP plan so they aren’t left in the dark.

Councillor Johno Lee (Con) was positive about his own family’s experience with the system for his daughter. “I was a little concerned and worried going in. But it’s been superb,” he told the meeting.

“Within a few days, we got an email about the delays and had a superb online meeting, and they engaged with everyone they need to. But we have a friend whose going through the same process and they aren’t happy. Their primary school didn’t engage and that made all the difference.”

Ofsted has paused its SEND inspections while a review is carried out, saying it wanted to “give local partners the breathing room to address issues in their area.”