Special needs education Equity's the priority for council, not targets

CRUCIAL assessments for children with special needs could happen faster but "wouldn't be equitable" according to a leading councillor.

- Alex SEABROOK Local democracy reporter

More than 1,000 children are waiting for checks to see what support they can get with their education, with the average waiting for almost a year.

Legally, councils should take 20 weeks from when a request is made for an assessment to finalising an education, health and care plan. This is a document that sets out what help a child with special educational needs and disabilities is entitled to.

Across England, councils achieve this 46 per cent of the time. But the latest figures show that Bristol City Council manages to comply with the law just three per cent of the time, partly due to a backlog which built up when the former Labour administration cut the budget for early support. An update was given to the children and young people policy committee on Thursday last week.

Green Councillor Christine Townsend, chair of the committee, said: “We could put it up and chase the target, if that’s what we wanted to do to improve that percentage. But what that would mean is you pick out all the easier ones. There are children who have more complex needs than others.