Latest news with #ECHP
Yahoo
6 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
SEND assessment delay 'prolonged injustice' for mum
"Significant delays" by a council in assessing a child's special educational needs caused his mother "prolonged injustice", a government watchdog has ruled. The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman ordered Slough Borough Council to pay her £1,000 for delays and lack of communication. Its report said the council's faults had caused her "significant distress and frustration". The council said it acknowledged the findings of the report and had complied with all of its recommendations. The mother, named as Ms X in the ombudsman's report, asked the council to update her son B's education health and care plan (EHCP) in March 2024. This is a legal document reviewed annually that sets out what a council has to do to meet a child's special educational needs. She wanted the council to update B's EHCP with information from a private occupational therapist's assessment she had sourced, and asked if it could reimburse her for the cost. Ms X then complained "shortly after" about the time the council had taken to update B's EHCP after a review in October 2023, and asked for a personal budget to pay for his occupational therapy. The council replied that B's annual review would take place in April, that she could discuss a personal budget then, and that it might need to take 14 weeks to reassess his needs. The council also said it had "not yet decided" whether to reimburse Ms X for the private occupational therapist's assessment. B's annual review took place in April and the council wrote to Ms X in June saying it had prepared an amended plan, that it would reimburse her for the occupational therapist's assessment and reassess B's needs. In response to her complaint, Slough Borough Council said it would consider her request for a personal budget. It accepted there had been delays in updating B's plan and securing a decision around the private occupational therapist funding. When the council did issue an updated ECHP in September 2024 the reassessment had still not taken place – and was ongoing at the time of the ombudsman's decision in March this year. The council 'said waiting for the outcome of the private OT's review, had delayed this consideration'. The ombudsman ruled this delay was "especially severe" and the the council should pay Ms X £750. In addition, the ombudsman said there was a "lack of communication! from the council in explaining its decision whether to award Ms X a personal budget, and that there was a delay in deciding whether to reimburse her for the private assessment. It said the council should pay Ms X a further £250 for these. The council said: "We are conscious of historic failings and delays within parts of our SEND service and recognise the impact this has had on some families. "In response, we have taken clear steps to strengthen the service — including increasing staffing capacity, improving oversight, and ensuring Education, Health, and Care (EHC) needs assessments are completed in a more timely and consistent way." It added: "We remain committed to improving outcomes for children and young people with SEND and to working closely with families to provide the support they need." You can follow BBC Berkshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram. Authority to pay £11,750 over special needs case Council to pay £6,500 after failing autistic child SEND delay 'horrible' for boy, 11 Mother awarded £9,400 over education battle for son Slough Borough Council Local Government & Social Care Ombudsman
Daily Mail
24-04-2025
- Health
- Daily Mail
Nigel Farage clashes with charities as he claims GPs are 'massively overdiagnosing' children with special educational needs and disabilities
Nigel Farage clashed with charities today as he claimed family doctors are 'massively over-diagnosing' children with special educational needs and disabilities. Ahead of next week's local elections, the Reform UK leader said there was a 'massive problem' among councils due to soaring demand for SEND services. Data has shown how the number of school pupils with education, health and care plans (EHCPs) in England rose by 180,000 - or 71 per cent - between 2018 and 2024. As a result, nearly 5 per cent of pupils now have EHCPs - a legal document that sets out what support a child or young person needs. Meanwhile, in 2023/24 there were 1.24 million pupils in England with special educational needs support but without an ECHP - almost 14 per cent of pupils. SEND funding in England is not allocated as a separate amount per pupil but is instead part of the overall 'dedicated schools grant' allocated to each local authority. Council leaders have warned they are facing 'unmanageable' SEND deficits, which has left many town halls facing bankruptcy over the coming years. Parliament's spending watchdog has also criticised the 'chaotic' system for accessing SEND support in damning report earlier this year. A wide variation in waiting times for EHCPs across the country has been branded a 'postcode lottery'. During a press conference in Dover, Kent, Mr Farage bemoaned an overdiagnosis of 'those with mental illness problems and... other general behavioural disabilities'. The Reform leader said: 'So many of these diagnoses - for SEND before 18, for disability register after 18 – so many of these have been conducted on Zoom, with the family GP. I think that is a massive mistake. 'If I'm your family GP, and I've known your family for generations, and you're saying to me 'doc, there's a real problem here with depression, or whatever it may be', it's quite hard for me as your GP to say no. 'So I don't think any of these allocations should be done by family GPs. I think they should be done independently. 'I think we are massively – I'm not being heartless here, I'm being frank – I think we are massively over-diagnosing those with mental illness problems and those with other general behavioural disabilities. 'And I think we're creating class of victims in Britain who will struggle ever to get out of it. That's not good for them and it's not good for us, so I worry about those things. 'I do accept though, I do accept that repeated lockdowns - particularly the third lockdown - were probably the biggest mistakes ever made by a peacetime government in this country. And they have caused great long-term harm.' Mel Merritt, head of policy and campaigns at the National Autistic Society, criticised Mr Farage's comments as 'wildly inaccurate'. She said the Reform leader's remarks 'show that he's completely out of touch with what autistic children and adults have to go through to get a diagnosis or any support at all'. 'For the record, absolutely no one has got an autism diagnosis through the GP – this is just incorrect, wrong, fake news,' she added. 'Children with SEND and disabled adults, including autistic people, are not victims who are being 'over diagnosed'. 'They are people who face huge delays and long fights to get the most basic support across every aspect of their lives, including diagnosis, education, health and social care. 'Spreading misinformation only perpetuates stigma and makes life harder. 'We're calling on all politicians to drop the political point scoring and stand up for their autistic and other disabled constituents.' Liberal Democrat MP Munira Wilson, her party's education spokesperson, said: 'Farage is clearly laying the groundwork to axe crucial special needs provision in councils he's got his eye on - communities where families and vulnerable young people are already waiting years to access threadbare special needs funds and special schools bursting at the seams. 'If Nigel Farage had spent any time speaking to parents in his constituency, he'd know he's barking up the wrong tree. 'The special needs crisis needs urgent repair - not his lazy rhetoric. We need a national body for SEND to end the special needs postcode lottery now.'
Yahoo
20-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
School admissions changes to go before councillors
Proposed changes to secondary school admissions across Brighton and Hove are due to go before councillors next week. Brighton & Hove City Council wants to reduce the intake at three secondary schools, introduce an open admission policy and increase the number of preferences that families can make. While the original proposal was to allocate 20% of places for pupils who live in single school catchment areas, this drops to 5% in the modified plans, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service. An eight-week public consultation in December and January received almost 4,000 responses, while concerned parents staged a protest last month. Five per cent open admission for pupils from single-school catchment areas Reduce the intake in year 7 by one class or 30 pupils at Blatchington Mill and Dorothy Stringer, and by two classes at Longhill Offer four choices rather than three when applying for secondary school Give priority to children eligible for free school meals up to 30% of admissions Move part of Whitehawk into the Dorothy Stringer and Varndean catchment area and Kemp Town into the Longhill catchment area The open admissions policy would give children living in four secondary school catchments – BACA, PACA, Longhill and Patcham High – a better change of a place at schools such as Stringer, Varndean, Blatchington Mill and Hove Park. Deputy council leader Jacob Taylor said the recommendations had been "shaped by the responses we received during the consultation stage". Separately both Brighton MPs have raised concerns about the impact on children with SEND, particularly those without an education, health and care plan (ECHP). Chris Ward, Labour MP for Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven, is concerned that the current catchment proposals "could result in some children with SEND having to travel a long way and potentially via multiple forms of transport" to go to school. The proposals will go before councillors on 27 February. Follow BBC Sussex on Facebook, on X, and on Instagram. Send your story ideas to southeasttoday@ or WhatsApp us on 08081 002250. Parents protest over school intake changes Consultation on school changes to be discussed Brighton & Hove City Council Local Democracy Reporting Service
BBC News
20-02-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Brighton: Proposed changes to school admissions to be decided
Proposed changes to secondary school admissions across Brighton and Hove are due to go before councillors next & Hove City Council wants to reduce the intake at three secondary schools, introduce an open admission policy and increase the number of preferences that families can the original proposal was to allocate 20% of places for pupils who live in single school catchment areas, this drops to 5% in the modified plans, according to the Local Democracy Reporting eight-week public consultation in December and January received almost 4,000 responses, while concerned parents staged a protest last month. The proposals Five per cent open admission for pupils from single-school catchment areasReduce the intake in year 7 by one class or 30 pupils at Blatchington Mill and Dorothy Stringer, and by two classes at LonghillOffer four choices rather than three when applying for secondary schoolGive priority to children eligible for free school meals up to 30% of admissionsMove part of Whitehawk into the Dorothy Stringer and Varndean catchment area and Kemp Town into the Longhill catchment area The open admissions policy would give children living in four secondary school catchments – BACA, PACA, Longhill and Patcham High – a better change of a place at schools such as Stringer, Varndean, Blatchington Mill and Hove council leader Jacob Taylor said the recommendations had been "shaped by the responses we received during the consultation stage".Separately both Brighton MPs have raised concerns about the impact on children with SEND, particularly those without an education, health and care plan (ECHP).Chris Ward, Labour MP for Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven, is concerned that the current catchment proposals "could result in some children with SEND having to travel a long way and potentially via multiple forms of transport" to go to proposals will go before councillors on 27 February.
