| SPOTLIGHT |
A shortage of educational psychologists is having a significant impact on councils’ ability to set out the needs of children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) has warned.
The warning came following an Ombudsman investigation into a complaint from a Surrey family who experienced significant delays trying to get an Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan put in place for their autistic daughter.
Surrey County Council told the Ombudsman it had a backlog of around 1,000 EHC needs assessments awaiting input from an educational psychologist.
In the family concerned’s case, there was a delay of 37 weeks to produce an educational psychologist report for the girl, where it should have only taken six, and a total delay of nine months to issue the girl’s final plan.
The delay caused the family frustration and the girl was left distressed attending taster day sessions at schools she felt were not suitable for her, the LGSCO said.
The county council has agreed to apologise to the mother and pay her £1,000 for the injustice caused by its failings.
Surrey has also agreed to prepare quarterly reports to its relevant committee, to ensure democratic oversight of its recovery plan and publish updates on its website, so those affected can track its progress.
Nigel Ellis, Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman Chief Executive, said: “Sadly, the situation in Surrey is far from unique. We are increasingly seeing cases where, despite best efforts, councils do not have the specialist advisors they need to keep on top of caseloads.
“This crisis has been 10 years in the making; both councils and the government could have anticipated the issues and planned for the future, when the Children and Families Act was brought in and demand for EHC Plans started to increase. Educational Psychologists cannot be trained overnight and so this situation will not be resolved without significant input on a national scale. The focus on Educational Psychologist training in the Government’s SEND and Alternative Provision Plan of March 2023 is important but needs to be implemented at pace and supported by the funding needed to make a difference to young people.”
Ellis added: “Councils have a clear obligation to complete the EHC Plan process within the statutory timescales, and while we do have some sympathy for their recruitment and retention problems, we will find fault where cases are outside those timescales.
"The recent announcement of additional money for social care, particularly that to be focused on children, is a welcome development and could help councils to manage some of the pressures they face, but its use needs to be prioritised on the actions that will make a tangible difference: young people don’t have the time to wait.
“I welcome the efforts Surrey council has already made to reduce its waiting lists, however it should not have got to the stage it did before senior officers intervened.”
Clare Curran, Surrey's Cabinet Member for Children, Families and Lifelong Learning, said: “We take the findings from the Ombudsman very seriously and apologise for the distress the family experienced. We have agreed to take all necessary action in response to the complaint, have outlined to the Ombudsman what we propose to do and we will be considering the report, the learning from it and the action taken at a forthcoming meeting of the cabinet .
“Despite national pressures we regret all delays and are working hard to reduce any backlogs for EHC needs assessments. We have taken several actions to address this including securing an additional £15m of funding to increase the capacity of key teams, extending the use of locum and associate educational psychologists, commissioning external providers for support, and increasing advertising to fill positions. We are working hard to improve services, and a recent Local Area SEND Inspection found that, although there is more to do, the right actions are being taken and we are starting to see progress."
Curran added: “We also recognise the significant issues that confront the SEND system nationally. We have seen a 64% increase in education, health and care needs assessment requests across Surrey since 2020, at a time of a national shortage of Educational Psychologists (EPs). We are doing our utmost to recruit more to meet this demand, and we are filling this gap as best we can. We have already been able to halve the backlog of EP advices through the steps we’ve taken locally, but we hope to see the national shortage in trained EPs and other issues addressed soon through the government’s improvement plan.
“We remain committed to improving our services and outcomes for children and young people with additional needs and disabilities so that they are happy, healthy, safe and confident about their future.”
