Nottinghamshire Council improving speed of support for children with special educational needs

Nottinghamshire Council has published an updated report on support for young people with SEND which will be discussed, along with the authortiy’s performance, at a council meeting on Monday, October 7.

The council is running an improvement plan after a critical Ofsted and Care Quality Commission inspection in 2023, which found systemic failings in its support for young people with SEND.

The new report details progress made on this plan across a partnership consisting of the council, the local integrated care board, and Nottinghamshire health and education providers.

There are six key things the plan wants to achieve, relating to the right identification, assessment time and support for young people with SEND and their families.

The target time for a child or young person with SEND to receive an Educational, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) is 20 weeks after assessment.

An EHCP is a legal document detailing a young person’s needs, the support they require and the progress they want to make.

Between January and July this year, there were 1,081 requests for an EHC assessment in the county, which is a 21.2 per cent increase than the 892 requests from January to July 2023.

Along with the assessment increase, the proportion of new EHCPs given within 20 weeks has also improved ‘significantly’.

Around 36 per cent of EHCPs were issued within time scale between January to July this year compared to 21 per cent from January to July 2023.

This figure still falls just short of the county’s aim to issue 40 per cent of new EHCPs on time by July 2024.

The county’s statutory SEND services also issued an extra 288 EHCPs between January to July this year, which is a 63 per cent increase from the same period in 2023, which the council says has ‘been supported by the additional, temporary capacity within services to enable more plans to be issued’.

SEND consultants also started work at the council in August 2024 to review performance.

The partnership also wants to extend its educational psychology service contract with nation provider Skylakes until the end of March 2025, with a longer-term contract after this time being explored.