Data from August shows Waltham Forest Council misses the legal deadline for issuing education, health and care (EHC) plans more than two-thirds of the time, reports Sebastian Mann, Local Democracy Reporter

Waltham Forest Council should be “embarrassed” by its progress on dealing with special needs children, a local campaigner has said.

Data from August shows the council misses the legal deadline for issuing education, health and care (EHC) plans more than two-thirds of the time.

Under the Children and Families Act 2014, ECHPs – legal documents outlining a child’s needs and any extra support they require – need to be provided to a child within 20 weeks.

The council says it is taking proactive measures to improve, but the sector faces significant pressure across the country.

Claire Bithell, a local mum and member of Waltham Forest SEND Crisis, said: “Waltham Forest Council should be embarrassed by these figures.

“Behind every missed deadline lies an unsupported disabled child and their family. This puts hideous pressures on the children themselves, their families, their teachers and schools.

“In coming years this will show up as worsening mental health among our young people and poor educational outcomes.

“Waltham Forest parents, carers, nurseries, teachers and schools are left to pick up the pieces – doing the best they can without expert input, support or resources. This puts pressure on our whole community.”

Waltham Forest children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) face “inconsistent outcomes,” according to a report published by the Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission in April.

The council vowed to improve amid public backlash, and a fresh report, published last week, shows it completed or undertaken 35 out of 46 identified steps.

The historic EHCP backlog has been cleared, the department is 70% staffed and on track to be full, and waiting times for speech language therapy are decreasing – though are still around a year.

Additionally, CAMHS referrals are up and between 65% and 90% of health reports necessary for EHCPs are being returned within the six-week limit.

But plenty of issues remain. Just 28% of EHCP reports were completed within 20 weeks, according to data from August, which the council has blamed on delays in assessments by education psychologists.

There were 156 reviews of Year 9 pupils overdue, and the council says it wants to improve recording systems out of fear it is inaccurately providing the “worst-case scenario as data”.

Sophie Hope, a mum in Walthamstow, said she felt there was “no communication” between parents and the council.

She said her nine-year-old daughter is still working from the same EHCP she was given aged five.

Though her school would amend it internally after its own annual reviews, Sophie said it was “getting to a point where it’s ridiculous,” adding: “Teachers would read it and it would be completely out of date.”

Last November, an assessment found she would benefit from more in-class support from teaching assistants as her needs had changed. However, Sophie heard nothing from the council until last month.

She said: “I’m not alone in [receiving] that tumbleweed response. I just feel, like many, that there’s no communication.”

19 local parents were polled by SEND Crisis this week, and 15 people said they had experienced delays longer than six months.

The remaining four had been delayed by three or so months.

Councillor Kizzy Gardiner, the cabinet member for children and young people, said that supporting children with special needs was a “top priority” but the council faced “significant strain”.

She said: “Since introducing our local area improvement plan in April we have made good progress, with 35 out of the 46 improvement actions either on track or completed – however, we’re aware there is more work to do.

“We’re focused on building on the strengths identified by Ofsted in their inspection of our SEND services in February while at the same time addressing the weaknesses.

“Nationally, councils are experiencing significant funding pressures and sustained growth in the number of children requesting assessment for EHCPs.

“In Waltham Forest we have seen a 39% increase in the last two years alone.”

She added: “We are working regionally and nationally to try and address recruitment challenges, especially in relation to availability of educational psychologists [necessary for EHCPs to be drafted], and have a plan in place to try and address the EHCP assessment backlogs.”

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