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The Director of Education and Skills submitted
a report to the committee to provide an overview of the work
undertaken to improve the quality and timeliness of the Education
Health care Plans (EHCP) in 2020-21 and to improve the experience
of children and their families when part of the process.
Andrews Jones, Director of Educations and
Skills and Tim Armstrong Head of Special Educational Needs were in
attendance to present the report and answer questions.
Following the publication of the Annual
Ombudsman Report 2019-20 and after discussion with the Audit and
Standards Committee in February 2021, it was requested that an
update be brought back for consideration by the committee.
In January 2020, 15.7% of children and young
people in Sheffield schools were identified as having a special
educational need; this included both children with EHC plans and
those receiving SEN support. This was
0.3% above the statistical neighbour average and 0.5% above England
as a whole. The proportion of children
and young people in schools with an EHC plan in Sheffield continued
to be below the national average 2.7% compared to 3.3%
nationally.
SEN support in Sheffield had been higher than
in England as a whole, 13% compared with 11.9% nationally as
reported in the 2020 school census. In
the last 5 years, the proportion of SEN support pupils had declined
by 1% locally, whilst increasing nationally by 0.4%.
It was advised that since 2014, there had been
a significant increase in young people over statutory school age
having EHC plans. In January 2014, the
number was 157, by January 2017 it had risen to 581 and by January
2020 the total was at 926. There had
been increase particularly FE-related provision at 584 in January
2020 and 196 of those who applied to schools.
The Director of Education and Skills advised
that-
- There had been an increase in the
number of EHC plans in Sheffield over the past 5 years.
- Sheffield had a higher rate of
children with SEN support than nationally.
- Sheffield had a lower rate of
children with an EHC plan than nationally.
- Overall, Sheffield had a
higher-than-average percentage of children with SEND in schools
than nationally.
Like many areas within Education, since the
2019-20 ombudsman report, there had been significant impact because
of covid. In April 2020, The
Coronavirus Act 2020, temporarily lifted the statutory duty on
local authorities to maintain the precise provision for EHC plans,
with local authorities needing to instead to apply
‘reasonable endeavours’ to support children and their
families.
Throughout the pandemic Sheffield City Council
continued to prioritise the EHC assessment process and although
timeliness had fallen due to the ways of working in the pandemic,
this had been held consistent at the 50% mark.
The Committee were advised that the service
recognised the number of complaints were due to the timeliness in
dealing with the EHC plans and the service was currently working on
reducing these.
Significant improvement activity has been
taking place both prior and during the pandemic to the process and
this had been done through updating letters to parents and carers
in a plainer English style, greater telephone contact was being
made to families from the SENDSAR Team throughout the EHC plan
process to ensure clarity about the next steps and decision
outcomes. It was felt this would make
the process more personable and would allow any issues to be
resolved in an easier way. It was
advised that where possible earlier decision making would be made
throughout the 20-week period
Members asked numerous questions and responses
are summarised as followed –
In terms of the amount of EHC plans for
children in the City there was not necessarily more applications
for EHC plans than the national average, however there was a
higher-than-average percentage of children with SEN needs in the
City, this could be due to deprivation, however there was no
national research to confirm.
The timeframe for dealing with an application
for EHC plan was over a 20-week period.
At the moment in Sheffield there was between 170-180 in the
process, with 48 over the 20-week timeframe, however this changed
daily. It was advised that officers were trying to drill down
why. It was advised that some parts of
the process were done well, with other parts needing
improvement.
When questioned around the differences between
different parts of the City the Head of Special Educational Needs
advised that locality D, East of the City had the most children
with EHC plans. It was advised that
more informed parents would ask more questions.
There had been no reduction in requests for
assessments due to covid, this had increased due to the impact of
covid upon children.
It was advised that improvements had been made
around home education provision.
Elective home education had been invested in and the Council
offered a dedicated home education advisory team to
parents. Further investment had been
made on additional officers to monitor and track children being
home educated.
At present an officer could have up to 200
assessments in their caseload at any one time. It was advised that
that a significant funding increase has allowed substantial
investment to bring in four Inclusion Officers and Locality
Managers.
The Committee were advised that the
development of Education and Skills was a good way to respond to
the issues raised. The department had a
responsibility within the service for Adult Education and SEND as
these sat within the same directorate.
The Director of Education and Skills found the process with Members
would help with improvements and would be happy to report back to
the committee in 6 months’ time.
Councillor Clement-Jones commented that he
found the current way of working lacked compassion from the
system. He found the report initially
disappointing but thanked the Officers for the update and for
trying to implement improvements.
The Director of Education and Skills advised
the Committee that the service works closely with colleagues in
legal services who provide advice to avoid tribunal
cases. The tribunal process was already
adversarial without legal colleagues.
The Director of Education and Skills advised
that overall the service felt better, but it still had a long way
to go with improvements.
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