Hertfordshire council making progress to improve education health and care plan provision

EHCPs identify a child’s educational, health and care needs – specifying any particular provision or support required.

And crucially any applications for an EHCP should be assessed and determined within a statutory 20-week time-frame.

Last November (2023) a team of inspectors from Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission found that too many children were waiting too long for the needs to be assessed through the EHCP process.

But on Monday (October 14) executive member for education, libraries and lifelong learning Cllr Caroline Clapper pointed to data that she said showed that progress was being made.

First she pointed to the number of requests that had been made in the three month period for EHC needs assessments – the first stage of securing an EHCP.

The data shows that the 835 requests made are higher than the 734 requests made during the same three month period last year.

But the 13.7 per cent increase in Hertfordshire was reported to be lower than previous years and lower than the national trend.

And Cllr Clapper said that demonstrated success in early identification and provision of support without the immediate need for an EHCP.

She also pointed to the proportion of EHCPs that had been completed in the three month period within the statutory 20-week time-frame.

According to council performance data, in the first three months of 2024/25 there were 448 EHCPs completed and issued by the county council.

And, it records 67 per cent of those as having been completed as issued within the 20-week time-frame.

That’s significantly higher than the 37 per cent, 29 per cent, 43 per cent and 44 percent recorded as being issued within 20 weeks in the four quarters of 2023/24.

“We have been working really hard to ensure that support for our children and young people with SEND is more joined-up, and is more inclusive and is easier to access,” said Cllr Clapper.

“Now with this council recognising that SEND is everyone’s business and our £7m per annum investment, we have seen a 13.8 per cent increase in EHCP requests in this quarter which is lower than the national average of 21 percent.

“This really demonstrates our success in early identification and our focus on providing support without the immediate need for an education health and care plan.

“It is also notable that the percentage of EHCPs issued within the 20 week time-frame has increased to 67 per cent.

“That is really significant improvement on previous years and better than the national average.

“So this really is testament to the additional resource that we have been putting into our assessment teams and the ongoing implementation of our priority action plan.”

Cllr Clapper made the remarks at the meeting, as councillors considered a ‘performance report’ for the first quarter of the 2024/25 financial year.

The report highlights data and performance issues for areas covered by each of the council’s portfolio holders.