Incoming Nottinghamshire County Council leader to ‘bang on the drums for education’ as SEND plan support improves

The incoming Nottinghamshire County Council leader says he will keep applying pressure on the Government for changes to services for young people with special educational needs as the county’s access to specialised health plans improves.

Nottinghamshire County Council’s children and families select committee met on Monday, December 2, to discuss updates on their children’s and SEND services — for children with special educational needs and disabilities.

The committee also received an update report on educational, health and care plans (EHCP) across the county, as there have been delays in getting these completed for some Nottinghamshire children.

The plans are legal documents for young people detailing their needs, required support and their progress goals.

The target timeframe for which a young person receives their plan is within 20 weeks after assessment and the Government’s target is for 50% to be issued within this time.

Between January to October 2024 there were 1,396 Nottinghamshire requests for an assessment, which is 23.4% higher than in the same timeframe the year before.

The council have made significant improvements in EHCP’s being administered within 20 weeks.

Between January to October 2024 36.3% were provided within this timescale compared to 27.9% the year before.

Just 4.5% of new EHCPs were issued within 20 weeks in 2022.

Sam Smith, current cabinet member for education and SEND and incoming leader of the council, said he hopes the council will hit the government’s 50% timescale target by the end of the academic year.

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, he said: “We’ve spent millions of pounds trying to get there, we’ve employed nine extra education psychologists, we’ve got SEND pathway officers.

“We secured £16 million off the previous Conservative government to really improve SEND services.

“I want to be in line with the national average by the end of the [academic] year and whoever I appoint in a few days time to sit in this chair will have that as their prime focus and I’ll be holding them to account.”

Mr Smith says the council “needs SEND changes through the government” and added he will keep putting pressure on Whitehall.

With his new future role as leader of the county council, Mr Smith will sit on the East Midlands Combined Authority meetings and the County Councils Network, where he says he will be “banging on the drums for education” — including lobbying ministers.

He said: “I’ll take that experience… although I’m not going to be sat in this office, it doesn’t mean we’re going to lose that big, strong voice — I will amplify it as leader, across all streams I will work in.”

Mr Smith wants to see a more streamlined approach for qualifications for education psychologists and for this to be championed by universities and local authorities.

He also called for a national review of the ECHP timeframes in the rising number of assessment requests.

He added: “The 20-week timeframe was probably introduced when demand was far less than it is now.

“There’s been a 100% increase in demand and councils’ [timeframes] are still the same — does that need to be reviewed? Yes.”

Mr Smith will select a councillor to take over his current cabinet role in a few weeks.