Source · Select Committees · Women and Equalities Committee
Recommendation 9
9
Paragraph: 50
Assessing needs and securing provision for children and young people meeting the threshold for EHC...
Recommendation
Assessing needs and securing provision for children and young people meeting the threshold for EHC Plans was an extreme challenge for local authorities during the peak of the pandemic earlier this year. Local authorities could not have been expected to meet their EHC Plan duties fully in these circumstances; some flexibility was needed. It is less clear whether it was necessary for the relaxed “reasonable endeavours” duty to remain in place until the end of July, leaving many children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities with very little or no support for three months. We recommend the Department review the information- gathering and decision-making processes in place with a view to making a faster decision to return to full EHC Plan duties, should flexibilities be introduced again.
Paragraph Reference:
50
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government
Not Addressed
28. The temporary changes to the law were kept under close review during the period that they were in force, to ensure that they could be ceased as soon as they were no longer necessary. Following the expiry of the third modification notice on 31st July, we did not issue a further notice in order to ensure the restoration of support in full for children and young people with EHC plans in advance of their return to school or college in September. 29. To support local authorities, health commissioning bodies and others involved in EHC needs assessment and plan processes to discharge the modified duties, we published guidance on the temporary changes to the law. The guidance was clear that local authorities and health commissioning bodies had not been absolved of their duty to secure or arrange the provision specified in EHC plans and included some illustrative examples of alternative arrangements for delivering provision that it might have been reasonable to put in place. 30. The guidance was also clear that, as the modified duty related to the provision for each individual child and young person, local authorities and health commissioning bodies were not permitted to apply blanket policies about the provision that would be available within their area. Instead, they were required to consider for each individual with an EHC plan what they could reasonably provide in the circumstances during the notice period, based on the needs of and specific circumstances affecting each child or young person. The guidance was clear as to the ongoing importance of coproduction and effective communication with families, both at the strategic level and in relation to individual cases. 31. We do not intend to issue any further notices to modify the duty on local authorities and health commissioning bodies to secure or arrange the special educational and health care provision specified in EHC plans, unless the evidence changes.