Highlights and key activity
More children need Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs), so demand is growing faster than we can improve waiting times.
Recent checks show that EHCP quality is high. We rated 89% as good and 11% as outstanding.
Social care continues to provide strong support for Education, Health and Care needs assessments. Educational psychology services are also improving their contributions.
Health services are responding more quickly after recent changes to staffing.
Impact on children and families
Families tell us that delays in the EHCP process cause stress and uncertainty. They also say that not hearing from us regularly while they wait makes them lose trust in the system.
Better quality EHCPs give children and young people clearer goals and better coordinated support.
Professionals say that assessments now use more focused and relevant information.
Key priorities
Over the next 6 months, we will:
- review and simplify the whole Education, Health and Care needs assessment process
- improve commissioning processes and digital tools
- strengthen contributions from health services
- start quality reviews of existing EHCPs and annual reviews