Purpose

Stress on current capacity within SEN to meet
statutory deadlines and the attendant increase in all aspects of
challenge to the LA in respect of these duties. There has been a
significant increase in statutory challenges to the LA both in
terms of appeals to 1st Tier Tribunal (SENDIST) but also to
complaints to LGO and parents/carers seeking judicial review.
Appeals to SENDIST have gone from 3 live tribunal cases July 2017
to then rise to 8 in July 2021 but have then risen steeply with 77
live appeals at present, an increase of more than 2400% with
additional appeals submitted on a weekly basis. This places the LA
at both financial and reputational risk. The current Senior Officer
with lead responsibility for this does not have the capacity to
meet current level of demand, despite having a higher success rate
in SENDIST finding in favour of CDC than the national average. The
additional Grade 9 (Resolutions) permanent post would lead on
mediation/disagreement resolution processes to mitigate the risk of
tribunal appeals.
This post would also link to the investigation and response
required to deal with complaints.
There are currently 270 outstanding annual reviews to process and
this has increased the level of complaints to the LA. The
appointment of 4 additional staff on a temporary basis to address
this backlog would enable the LA to meet its statutory requirements
to complete the amendment process within the legally defined 12
weeks. This would be a time limited requirement with the intention
that two of the grade 7’s are for 3 months and two are for 6
months.
Additional Locality Officer resources would also mitigate any risks
through increasing case work capacity. CDC sits below regional
averages with regard to staffing resources and does not delegate
plan writing responsibilities. To maintain effective working
relationships with families, schools and other professionals we
have established a clear pathway, based on locality working, that
enables officers to build the strong relationships necessary to
delivery the high quality service. Current projections suggest that
the number of children with an EHCP will continue to rise and there
have been 330 requests for statutory assessment made, to date, in
the current calendar year. Doncaster now maintains 3258 EHCPs an
increase of over 92% since 2017. The 2 additional grade 8 officer
posts will alleviate the increased demand.
The addition of a grade 11 post on a 12 month basis would increase
the decision making powers and allow for timely resolution to
complex case work issues and allow current changes to resource
allocation to be properly embedded to support in the changes
implemented as part of the SEND improvement strategy. This requires
a level of decision making above grade 10. This will also increase
the capacity to enable a greater focus on PFA to support the PFA
Board and ensure that Doncaster’s strategic response to
likely challenges from an SEN perspective is sufficiently robust in
light of the upcoming inspection.

Content

Appointment of additional staff above current
headcount:

2 x grade 8s - appointed 1 need to go out for another post. (12
months fixed term)
4 x grade 7 (maximum 6 months). Sent to HR to look at agency
staffing.
1 grade 9 – Resolutions Officer (permanent)
1 additional service manager grade 11 (12 months fixed
term)

Alternative options considered

Costs of agency for all staff requested would
be prohibitive and unclear that we could get the necessary skills
required. Need to maintain control over the selection process
through a competitive recruitment cycle that would not be possible
through agency. Not
appointing would leave the LA open to risks both legal and
reputational pending likely inspection.