Recommendation 3 update
Recommendation 3
Local area partnership leaders should improve the effectiveness of joint working to support the co-production of Education Health Care (EHC) plans and annual reviews so that at each stage the provision that is planned takes full account of children's and young people's current and changing needs.
What we wanted:
To ensure EHC plans reflected multi agency outcomes and the age and stage of the young person.
What we did:
- Carried out internal evaluation and an external audit of the SEND Team to identify improvement priorities
- Increased capacity of the Educational Psychology (EP) Service to support timeliness of EP advice as part of the EHC needs assessment process
- Increased staffing within the SEND Assessment and Review teams to match demand
- Strengthened quality assurance processes within individual teams to ensure the quality, timeliness and content of EHC plans improves
- Commenced work on a multi-agency Quality Assurance framework around EHC assessment and EHC plans that will establish a baseline quality for new and existing plans, identifying areas to target for development
- Implemented reporting processes to track timeliness and quantity of advice obtained during assessment/review
- Provided additional resource routes to schools to ensure there was support for children and young people during assessment delays
The difference it made:
Data shows that there is increased output of new EHC assessments within timescale as 2024 progressed.
Priority 2024-25:
Managers across health education and social care to embed processes to quality assure statutory advice for EHC assessment and annual reviews and work together to strengthen data reporting mechanisms.