CCGs to be under legal duty to secure health services for children with SEN

Clinical commissioning groups are to be placed under a legal duty to secure services in education, health and care plans for children and young adults with special educational needs (SEN), ministers have announced.

This is to include specialist services such as physiotherapy and speech and language therapy.

The Department for Education said the move was in response to complaints from parents of children with SEN that, although councils have a legal duty to ensure those with the most complex needs receive support, health can fall between the gaps.

Children and Families Minister Edward Timpson said: “We are putting health at the centre of our reforms in bringing in this legal duty. It is a significant step forward for children and young adults with special educational needs, and I know that many parents will welcome it.

“The duty will mean that parents, and children and young adults with complex special educational needs, will get the health services that are right for them.”

The DfE also claimed that the new legal duty would mean in practice that health services worked better with education and care services.

“It will, together with other reforms, give valuable reassurance to parents of children and young adults who will have education, health and care plans,” it said.

“The duty will help to ensure that councils, health professionals and volunteers come together to organise services, and set out a clear expectation of what parents, children and young adults with special educational needs will get.”