Charity backs overhaul of SEND system
Joe Lepper
Wednesday, June 7, 2017
A charity has said an overhaul of support for children with special educational needs is necessary because changes currently being implemented are restricting access to support for young people.
The National Deaf Children's Society (NDCS) told CYP Now that education, health and care (EHC) plans, which are being gradually introduced as a replacement for SEN statements, either need to be scrapped or have a major revamp as the system is beset with problems.
Yesterday CYP Now reported that the Labour Party intends to scrap EHC plans and replace them with a new system for providing support if it wins tomorrow's general election.
EHC plans were introduced in the Children and Families Act 2014 from birth to 25 years with the aim of providing better joined-up support.
Under government plans, all children with existing SEN statements must be assessed and transferred from the old system on to new EHC plans by April 2018. But there are fears that councils will struggle to be ready in time.
Department for Education figures published last month show that of the 287,290 children receiving SEN support 175,233 (61 per cent) are now on EHC plans.
NDCS said that too often a 20-week deadline to put an EHC plan in place is being missed, and the quality of individual plans varies, with some too vague and not tailored to each child's needs.
It is also concerned that while the number of deaf children overall is on the rise, the number of those with a plan has fallen.
"It's clear that deaf children's access to support is being restricted; the number of deaf children with an EHC plan has fallen by four per cent since 2014, even though the number of deaf children overall is continuing to rise," Ian Noon, NDCS head of policy and research, said.
"We know from our casework with families that there are lots of issues with EHC plans - provision varies hugely between local authorities; the 20-week deadline is being missed; plans are poor quality, vague and do not address children's individual needs.
"If they aren't scrapped, they certainly need to improve.
"We want to work with the next government to make the system work better for deaf children. It's important to ensure services are properly funded so that deaf children get the support they need, and to strengthen the accountability system so that action is taken against local authorities that fall short," he added.
Labour's manifesto for disabled people said assessments for the EHC plans are "flawed" and are being "used to restrict access to support".
Government statistics show that there has been a 35.3 per cent increase between 2015 and 2016 in the number of requests for an assessment for an EHC plan being refused.
The Conservative Party has been contacted for comment.
