Issue details

The Council, like many Local Authorities, faces unprecedented demand in relation to the consideration of requests for support for additional Education, Health and Care needs of young people and subsequent issuing of Education Health and Care Plans (EHCP). EHCPs have, by statute, to be issued within set timescales and must include advice from Education Psychologists. Given the current demand for EHCPs there is a significant recruitment and retention issue for local authorities seeking to recruit and retain Educational Psychologists. The Council is currently not fulfilling its responsibility in terms of timelines with a considerable number of EHCPs which need to be either reviewed or issued. Despite the best endeavours of the existing staff, additional capacity is required to address this backlog and improve the performance on timeliness of the end-to-end EHCP process. The EHCP process is a significant undertaking for young people and families, the timely issuing of plans will ensure an improved experience for children and families and improved outcomes for children. Accordingly, the Directorate proposes to enter into contractual arrangements for the purchase of interim support from specialised recruitment agencies for appropriate Educational Psychologists to be engaged to work on and reduce the EHCP assessments and reviews that are currently delayed.