12 hours ago
'Frustration' as city is slowest in England for SEND assessments
A city council has been criticised for being the slowest in England to assess children with special educational needs and disabilities (Send).In February, just 1% of assessments for Education, Health and Care Plans in Bristol were carried out within the official 20-week Bristol mum, who wished to remain anonymous, said: "I don't think they realise the impact it has on families. There are children who are regressing. There are children who, because they wait so long, end up on medication."Bristol City Council said it is struggling to deal with an increase in demand and was hiring more specialist staff to deal with the backlog.
The Bristol mum said she feels "frustrated" with the council as she continues to try and secure help for her son."It's just dysfunctional. There's a lack of communication," she for Education, Care and Health Plans should be carried out within 20 weeks but, nationally, councils only manage that in 50% of Bristol, the figure dropped to 1% in February and it is now edged up to 3%. Christine Townsend, the council's executive member for education, accepted that the city has performed poorly."It's absolutely not good enough," she said. Ms Townsend added that assessment requests have increased by 32%, compared with a national rise of 11%."That puts a huge number of people on our front door asking for an assessment," she challenge is a shortage of education psychologists, and the council is proactively recruiting specialist staff, she said.
Nationally, the demand for Send children has more than doubled in a a result, the amount councils need to spend on it has grown faster than the funding they receive from have been allowed to overspend on special needs, but they have been warned that as things stand they could go minister Stephen Morgan is responsible for Send provision and acknowledged that change is needed."We announced more money for Send in the Budget last year, we're rolling out a plan around special needs provision across schools, and we'll be announcing more in due course," he said.
