Herts County Council makes ‘significant progress’ in clearing education health and care plan backlog

The number of education health and care plans (EHCPs) for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) has increased by almost a third in the past year, Hertfordshire councillors were told.

Councillors reviewed the performance of the authority’s children’s services for the final quarter (January to March) of the 2023-24 financial year. A report detailing the successes and challenges was analysed at a meeting of the council’s children, young people and families cabinet panel on Friday June 21.

A key area of performance was agreeing on EHCPs for SEND children, which have been the subject of backlogs across the country.

An EHCP is for children and young people aged up to 25 who need more support than is available through special educational needs support. The plans identify educational, health and social needs and set out the additional support to meet them.

The report noted: “The good progress in issuing final EHCPs continued through quarter four, with 669 finalised in the period. The position at the end of the financial year was 32% higher than in the previous year, reflecting both the challenges of issuing plans during 2022-23 and the subsequent work to reduce the backlog of overdue assessments.

“Significant progress in reducing the numbers of overdue plans, particularly during Q4, [was] supported by additional resources in the assessment team from the Making SEND Everybody’s Business investment.

“Completing more of the historic cases has, at the same time, impacted the proportion of plans issued during the period in time.

“There has been strong performance throughout the quarter in completing assessments as they become due, but the issuing of historic assessments, particularly between October 2023 and March 2024, has impacted overall timeliness in the quarter.”