Parents take legal action against Walsall Council over special needs delays
Parents have taken legal action against Walsall Council over delays to plans which support children with special educational needs and disabilities.
The authority had 2,041 requests for an education, health and care (EHC) plan during 2018, which identifies educational, health and social needs for young people aged up to 25 and sets out the additional support to meet those needs.
For the initial assessments for the EHCs, demand is increasing month-on-month, according to a council report.
In the report Councillor Aftab Nawaz said a working group, which was formed to examine the provision of support for children with special educations needs and disabilities (SEND), met four times and produced seven recommendations to improve current practices.
The recommendations included that steps be taken to ensure compliance with the 20 weeks deadline for EHC plans.
The report says that the needs of children are changing and that schools are “struggling to keep up”, especially with the needs relating to autism.
It adds: “This was also because some schools have a high number of children with SEND and they may not have the knowledge and skillsto deal with this.”
For each child with an EHC in mainstream school, the school has to find the first £6,000 on top of the funding provided for pupils and schools are struggling to find the funds.
The report says the SEND team is understaffed due to sickness and staff turnover, so interim and supply cover has been used.
A statutory deadline of 20 weeks for the length of the assessment process is being exceeded in some cases as a result of “the complexity and rising number of cases”.
The report adds: “Because of the delays, parents have been dissatisfied and have taken legal action, which then has an impact on the council’s resources.”
