We have refreshed our Quality Assurance framework to ensure that the Education Health and Care Plans (EHCPs), written by the council with evidence and advice from young people, their families, schools and other and partner agencies, appropriately meet the needs of those young people.
We know that the timeliness of EHCPs, and how long it takes for us and our partners to respond to applications and produce plans for young people who meet the criteria, is an issue for many families.
That’s why we have recently made short term changes to the structure of our Assessment teams to address the back-log of applications more quickly, and to streamline the processing of new applications, with the aim of meeting the 20-week deadline for most families.
We also know though that the quality of the EHCPs is vitally important – that each plan must properly meet the needs of the young person.
Balancing the timeliness of the EHCP process, without compromising on quality, is what we are working hard to get right.
So, we have also changed the way we check on quality, and how officers make sure that young people’s EHCPs are accurate, and that they correctly meet that child’s individual needs.
Every month, a selection of EHCP’s are chosen and shared with representatives from health, schools, children’s services and other partners – services that work with that child – to each review the section of the EHCP for which their organisation is responsible.
They’re asked to check that the plan, from their different perspectives, is accurate and correct, and that they agree the appropriateness of that plan.
This multi-agency team comes together monthly to discuss what they’ve learned from each review in order to improve the way they work, and how EHCPs are developed and could be improved in future.
Claire Merchant-Jones, Head of SEND Operations at Devon County Council, said:
“The quality of the EHCPs has to be at its best, to deliver the right support to meet the needs of young people.
“Our new quality assurance framework involves looking at a selection of EHCPs to make sure that they’re fit for purpose and right for those individual young people – bringing in all of the agencies involved with that young person’s to make sure that plans are right.”
Councillor Denise Bickley, our Cabinet Member with responsibility for services that support children and young people with SEND, said:
“Timeliness of finalising EHCPs within the statutory timescale is one thing, and I’m pleased that we’re now starting to see signs of improvement on that front. But the quality of the EHCPs is absolutely vital and we mustn’t compromise quality in order to get things done quickly. I’m pleased that the plans are now effectively reviewed and moderated to ensure they are meaningful and will meet the needs of the young people for whom they’re written. Listening and acting on feedback from parents and SENCOs is vital in this process to make sure plans work for all involved.”
