Yet, as the latest data reveals, no EHCPs were turned around by Suffolk County Council within the statutory 20-weeks in March. Now, the average wait time for an EHCP in Suffolk is nearly nine months, which means that many children are now being left without adequate support for a full school year. Nationally, 50.7% of new EHCPs were issued within 20 weeks in 2022.
It is the latest in a long line of failures by Suffolk County Council. In 2016, Ofsted and the CQC produced a damning report into the county’s SEND provision, and three years later, Suffolk became one of the first areas in the country to essentially ‘fail’ a re-inspection. In 2021, Lincolnshire County Council published another scathing report. However, despite promises of change, and protestations that improvements are being made, families are saying their lived experiences are getting worse, not better.
Even leaving aside these dreadful EHCP figures, and recognising that the SEND crisis is a national one, all the evidence points to something systemically wrong in Suffolk. Per-pupil, the county is the worst for upheld education complaints to the ombudsman. Suffolk’s primary school suspension rates have consistently ranked in the top three of the country, with children with SEND disproportionately affected. Woeful mental health provision for children and young people has been allowed to continue unabated for years.
Earlier this week, families took to the streets to highlight how Suffolk’s SEND crisis was affecting them. Make no mistake, these constant battles that families are having to fight, just to get the support their child is entitled to, are often expensive and always exhausting. It simply shouldn’t be like this.
Suffolk County Council will point to hundreds of new specialist school places as an important development, and I was proud to play my part in producing the original plans. It shows the value of cross-party working, and an in-depth, extensive look at a complex and critical issue.
Nonetheless, as I have repeatedly warned, this was never meant to be a case of ‘job done’ or a magic bullet that would fix the multitude of the problems with the system. There had to be a constant stream of progress, but the issues have been allowed to become so wide-ranging and deep rooted that it is overwhelming Suffolk County Council and its partners. It is clear that the authority needs significant help to turn this situation around – the Government must now step in.
It is crucial to note that, while misery is being heaped on families here in Suffolk, the local authority isn’t solely to blame. This is a national scandal, with the system being starved of
accountability, resources, and funding. We might be seeing the consequences of this negligence play out in our local communities, but this is a crisis emanating from Westminster.
The Government and the MPs in Suffolk now have a choice. They either intervene and deliver the scrutiny, resources and expertise Suffolk County Council needs, or they let this crisis continue, harming many more children and their families in the process.
