Increase in number of children refused SEND assessments

The number of pupils who have been refused assessments to determine if they need extra support to meet special educational needs has increased by 35 per cent.

According to statistics released by the Department of Education (DfE), 14,795 requests for an assessment for an education and health care plan (EHC) were refused during 2016. This is an increase of 3,860 (35.3 per cent) from 2015.

The figures also show that in 2016, decisions were made on whether 37,751 children and young people needed additional support through EHC plan, and of these, 95.6 per cent had plans made during 2016.

A further 10,654 children were still waiting for a decision by January 2017.

The SEND code of practice from the DfE and Department of Health says in deciding whether to go ahead with an assessment the local authority must consider whether there is evidence that despite the early years, school or post-16 institution taking action to meet the special educational needs of the child, the child has not made expected progress.

In order to decide this, local authorities are expected to take into account, the child’s academic attainment, information about the extent of the child’s SEN, and evidence that where progress has been made it has only been as a result of additional intervention over and above what is usually provided.

Local authorities are expected to take no more than 20 weeks from the point where the assessment is requested until the final EHC plan is issued, and of the new plans issued in 2016, just 55.7 per cent were made within the expected time frame.