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08
Sept
Council recruiting to cut backlog in SEND assessments
North Yorkshire Council is to nearly double the number of educational psychologists (EPs) it employs, in a bid to slash the backlog of children waiting to be assessed for places in specialist schools.
Responding to a freedom of information request submitted by the Stray Ferret, the council said it currently employs eight EPs, but has plans to recruit “at least seven more” in the 2024-25 academic year. It added that those figures do not include assistant EPs.
The announcement is important because EPs perform a crucial role in drawing up Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) – the legal documents that set out the tailored support a child needs.
In recent years, a sharp increase in demand for EHCPs has resulted in a backlog that the council has struggled to tackle due to a lack of EPs.
The Stray Ferret recently spoke to Harrogate mum Kate Maple, whose son Oscar is autistic, non-verbal and has language difficulties. Asked about the plans to recruit more educational psychologists, she said:
Anything that can help speed up the EHCP process has to be a good thing.
But the intention to recruit is not the same as recruiting, so we’ll have to see. If they can find these educational psychologists – and they stay – then they should be able to make real inroads into the backlog of EHCP applications and help get more completed within the statutory timescale.
These are positive sounds, and if they keep moving in that direction, it should make a real difference.
Kate Maple
Emily Mitchell, whose five-year-old daughter Elsie is non-verbal and has been diagnosed with autism, echoed those sentiments. She said:
The influx of EHCPs has been so huge, and the lack of educational psychologists has caused long delays, so anything that can help relieve that is a positive step. It's not going to solve everything, but it's definitely heading in the right direction.
Emily and Elsie Mitchell
In an interview with the Stray Ferret last week, the chief executive of North Yorkshire Council, Richard Flinton, described the system governing special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) as “broken” and said the government should carry out a “root and branch review”, as outcomes for families were currently “not good enough”.
In its response to our FOI request, North Yorkshire Council revealed that between 2022 and 2023, the number of applications it received for EHCPs soared by 36% (from 971 to 1,316), but the number of children who actually received an EHCP fell by 20% (from 831 to 665).
Put another way, in 2022 the number of EHCPs completed was equivalent to 86% of the number of applications received; in 2023 it had fallen to just 51%.
Just over a quarter (27%) of children with an EHCP in North Yorkshire are being educated in specialist schools, such as Springwater School in Starbeck, which accepts children aged 2-18, The Forest School in Knaresborough (3-16), and Mowbray School in Ripon (3-16).
The council said that since 2017 it had increased places in Academy and Maintained Special Schools at an accelerated rate of 52%, compared with a national average of 35%.
It added that it had also set out a capital programme of more than £20 million to continue to increase specialist education places, citing as examples the new special school in Bilton for 11-19-year-olds with autism, and 45 new places at Springwater School.
It also said it was in discussions with schools in the area to provide further SEN Resource Bases, known locally as Targeted Mainstream Provisions, to provide children with specialist support while they attend a local mainstream school.
Last November, North Yorkshire Council revealed that it already has a £13m annual deficit for SEND places, and that it faces an annual “black hole” of up to £100 million within four years due to spiralling demand for SEND support services.
Around 10,000 pupils in North Yorkshire schools are currently in receipt of SEND support.
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