Page 20 - Issue 112 May-June 2021

EHCP A drive to improve standards Phil Stock says we need better Education Health & Care Plans (EHCPs) for young people with SEND EHC plans/Statements of SEN (percent) 2.8 2.8 2.9 3.1 3.3 20 In recent months the quality of Education Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) has been a topic of much debate across the SEND community nationally and the following questions keep on emerging: • Are children or budgets at the centre of the EHCP process? • Why is there a lack of consistency and quality with regards to EHCPs nationally? • Is the demand for efficiency (time & cost) negatively impacting the quality of EHCPs for C/YP with SEND? • The SEND CQC and Ofsted inspections have referenced limitations with the consistency and quality of EHCPs in nearly all inspections that resulted in a Written Statement of Action (WSOA), so what is being done to address this area? EHCPs in England In May 2019, the Department for Education published their annual snapshot of statistics about Education, Health and Care Plans in England. The figures highlight that 3.3% of all pupils in schools in England have an EHCP, a rise from 3.1% in 2019. A further12.1%ofallpupilshaveSENsupport,withoutanEHCP, up from 11.9% in 2019. The national increase in the number of EHCPs is placing increasing demands on local authorities who SEN support (percent) “The number of EHCPs is placing increasing demands on local authorities” are operating within considerable budget restraints. However, does this mean a lower quality of EHCPs should be expected? Are LAs focusing on quality rather than just time-frames and budgets? (See fig.1) Whilst data must be submitted annually by LAs on the number of children and young people (C/YP) with EHCPs and how many EHCPs are completed within the 20 week statutory time-frame (60% is the average number completed within 20 weeks nationally), there is little with regards to a consistent process in ensuring ‘quality’ of the content of the plan (e.g. standard, compliance, lawfulness etc.). With the focus for LAs to complete EHCPs within 20 weeks and to publish this key performance indicator publicly (on an annual basis), is this directly resulting in a lower standard of 2015/16 2016/17 2017/18 2018/19 2019/20 11.6 11.6 11.7 11.9 12.1 ■ fig. 1 Table showing ‘Number of pupils, by type of SEN provision, by type of school (including independent schools and general schools) - 2016 to 2020’ from ‘Special educational needs in England’ in England between 2015/16 and 2019/20. SEN112 senmagazine.co.uk