England's councils are having difficulty assessing the support that children with special educational needs need. This is due to a shortage in educational psychologists. The school year begins in just days.
EHCPs (education, health and care plans) outline the additional provision children with special educational needs or disabilities (Send), are legally entitled. Councils need to assess, get sourcing advice, and receive information from an educational psychologist before deciding whether or not to provide an EHCP.
A North Yorkshire county council letter to parents last month indicated that not enough specialists are available to provide the necessary reports. According to the letter, the council is having significant difficulties in completing assessments within the 20-week statutory deadline.
Every day, more than 130 children sign up for support plans. Anntoinette Bramble is a councillor.
Educational psychology staff have either retired or been on maternity leave over the past year. We have not been able to fill the different posts despite three ambitious recruiting campaigns.
This isn't a problem that North Yorkshire faces alone. The Department for Education has been monitoring the educational psychology capacity of local authorities during the pandemic. Current data shows that 70% of these local authorities have a reduced educational psychology capacity.
It is possible that children with autism or other conditions will not receive the support they need when they start school.
North Yorkshire's 70% figure was taken from an earlier year, the Department for Education stated. However, it did not show the current picture and would rather use a snapshot. It refused to provide an updated figure.
David Collingwood, president of Association of Educational Psychologists, stated that the figure is likely accurate due to the amount of advertisements we have.
Collingwood stated that the growing number of EHCP assessments is causing a shortage. This leads to increased workload demands and stress. Many educational psychologists either leave work or accept casual employment to take care of their own well-being.
It is important to have an educational psychology assessment done in order to develop a comprehensive EHCP. Any delay in their advice will be a problem. Some authorities had to outsource large numbers of statutory assessments, while others are far behind the statutory schedules.
Helen Page will have to appear before a tribunal in order to obtain additional support for her daughters under her EHCP. This is to ensure that her EHCP is legally protected. She hasn't had ed psychology [educational psychology] input for two years. However, the school doesn't have the resources necessary to provide ed psycho for every child who needs it. I've been going around and round, but I haven't been able to add any provision to the EHCP without their approval. She is frustrated by the behaviour of other students and finds it difficult to manage. This has led to bullying. She has a teacher assistant who gives behavioural support in lessons. It has greatly reduced her anxiety and made her a better child. That should be a part of the EHCP. They won't because they don't have a professional recommendation.
Anntoinette Bramble of the Local Government Association stated: Councils have seen an almost 50% increase in children and youth with education, health, and care plans since 2014's extension of Send support eligibility. More than 130 children or young people start support plans with their local council every day.
However, this has not been accompanied with an adequate increase in funding. Many councils are having difficulty recruiting and retaining staff such as educational psychologists. However, they can find better salaries through other employers like the NHS.
It is urgent that the government complete their long-awaited review of Send support to ensure that it works for everyone. This review should be accompanied with sufficient long-term funding later in the year, so that councils and partners can provide the support children and teenagers with special education needs need.
North Yorkshire council didn't respond to our request for comment.
