County council missed education plan deadlines

Hundreds of children in Surrey with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) did not get a support plan within the legal time limit, a report by MPs has said.

In most cases, councils have a deadline of 20 weeks to issue an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) after a parent or school asks for one.

The Public Accounts Committee said too many families in England are struggling to access help for their children.

Surrey County Council said its "timeliness levels" had "improved significantly".

The report said 16.2% of EHCPs in Surrey were issued in time in 2023, with 4.7% of decisions about the plans being to taken to a tribunal by families.

In January 2024, 5.9 % of children aged five to 15 in the county had an EHCP.

Only half of the EHC plans in England were issued within the statutory 20-week time limit in 2023, the report said.

Parents have told the BBC that getting support for their children, including EHCPs, felt "scary" and like "fighting with a brick wall".

The Schools Minister Catherine McKinnell said: "These problems are deep-rooted and will take time to fix but we remain steadfast in our commitment to deliver the change.

"We are already making progress by investing £1 billion into SEND, £740 million for councils to create more specialist places in mainstream schools and through our Curriculum and Assessment Review which will look at barriers that hold children back."

The Liberal Democrat MP for Esher and Walton, Monica Harding, said she was not surprised by the findings.

"The report underscores what I have been saying for years about the situation here in Surrey, and stressing since I was elected MP," she said.

"The system is broken, failing children, and creating a 'lost generation'. Week in, week out, I hear this from parents, including from parents of the 1,800 Surrey children currently out of school unable to access SEND provision."

Clare Curran, Surrey County Council Cabinet Member for Children, Families and Lifelong Learning, said: "We recognise that in 2023 our percentage of EHCPs issued within the statutory timescale was not at an acceptable level; this reflected the fact that we were facing shortages of essential staff required to complete the process at a time of sharply rising demand for support.

"However, we have been working hard to improve this council's services for children with additional needs and disabilities."

Ms Curran said the authority had invested an additional £15m into a three-year multi-agency recovery plan in September 2023.

This was, she said, "delivering clear performance improvements, including with regard to our EHC needs assessment timeliness".

She added: "This has improved significantly with our timeliness levels reaching an average of 69.2%, well above the national average of 50.3%, over the past six months from July to December 2024."

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