Decision Maker: Cabinet

Outcome:

Is Key Decision?: Yes

Is Callable In?: Yes

Date of Decision: November 19, 2025

Purpose: To approve a plan to improve Education, Health and Care plan (EHCP) waiting lists

Content: The report recognised the implications of the current under performance on Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) assessments for children, young people, families and schools in Buckinghamshire and proposed additional investment to improve timeliness, as part of the Council’s overall improvement programme for SEND.   There was a statutory 20-week deadline from request for an EHC Needs Assessment (EHCNA) to issuing a final EHC Plan. As of 1st September 2025, there were 1488 children under assessment in Buckinghamshire with 1234 of these beyond the 20- week deadline. The current average wait of completed plans was 47 weeks – more than double the target timescale set out in statute.   The report proposed an investment of a total of £3m to accelerate the EHCP assessment process and tackle the waiting lists. It was important to note that an acceleration of EHCP assessments would result in additional pressure on the High Needs Block to fund the provision identified in plans, and on the Home to School Transport budget. These would be built into the emerging Medium Term Financial Plan 2026/27+.   The improvement programme was critical to the longer term sustainability of the system but the work alone would not tackle the EHCP waiting lists in the short to medium term. Demand was increasing at a pace that exceeded current capacity. For example, in September 2025, 121 new EHCNA requests were received and 66 plans were issued—highlighting the growing challenge that more cases were entering the system than were being progressed. On this basis, the Council were unable to reduce waiting times with the current capacity, and they would in fact continue to grow without further action. In view of the ongoing demand, it was recommended that the Council invested as a priority in additional staffing capacity to accelerate progress for those families on the waiting list.   The Council has engaged with national government through the Delivering Better Value programme and had met all the requirements as confirmed by the DfE.  However, this programme had not met the scale of the rise in demand.  Furthermore, Government have pushed to an unspecified date in the future any announcement on SEND funding reforms.  In this context the Council were taking further action to meet the rising demand and reduce the EHCP backlog.   RESOLVED that £3m be transferred into an earmarked reserve and that this be invested into reducing the waiting times for providing EHCP assessments.