A North East council has apologised after leaving children waiting more than five months for an assessment of their special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and the support they need. 

Newcastle City Council has admitted that it is not meeting a legal deadline to produce plans to support SEND children through their education. Local authorities are required to issue an education, health and care plan (EHCP) for a child within 20 weeks of a request being made.

But latest figures show that, as of August 2024, there were 380 children or young people awaiting the outcome of an EHCP assessment in Newcastle – 189 of which had been waiting for more than 20 weeks.

Civic centre education chiefs have blamed a rapidly rising number of requests, common both in the city and across the country, and staff shortages for the delays.

Labour councillor Lesley Storey, the council’s cabinet member responsible for education, told the authority’s health and social care scrutiny committee on Thursday: “I really apologise. It is a dreadful situation to be in and staff here certainly have a huge amount of empathy for all of those families.”

Lesley Storey.Lesley Storey. (Image: LDRS)

The number of children and young people in Newcastle with EHCPs has increased to 2,769 in 2024, a massive rise of 86% since 2019, and there have long been concerns about an increasing need and lack of capacity in existing special schools – with the biggest area of need being for pupils with autism.

Addressing the backlog in EHCP assessment, council assistant director of education Mark Patton added: “It is largely based on the fact that we have had a very, very rapid increase in the number of referrals from families and also from professionals who have questions about a young person’s ability to make good progress. Those increases in referrals were not expected by us and it has taken a bit of time to increase resources in the statutory assessment and review team and also to increase the resources and expertise in the educational psychology team.

Recommended reading:

Get more from The Northern Echo with a digital subscription. Get access for five months for just £5, or get 40% off an annual subscription with our latest offer. Click here.

“The backlog is decreasing. It is getting smaller and smaller. It is taking a long time and we are trying to deal with that while also dealing with an increasing number of incoming assessments, which is a tricky situation to manage. We are trying to do that as best we can, given the recruitment and retention problems we have.”

Mr Patton also confirmed that the council has written to the Department for Education and directly to Catherine McKinnell, the schools minister and MP for Newcastle North, to discuss plans to build a new SEND school in the city.

The council has hopes of opening a new school in Byker that would support almost up to 192 children and young people with autism but has been unable to secure funding for the project so far.