Council spends £470,000 a year on agency staff to cope with rocketing demand for special education care plans

The number of children and young people with care plans for special educational needs in Bolton has risen by 150 per cent in less than 10 years. Bolton Council has agreed to hire an additional nine workers after the amount of youngsters with education, health and care plans (EHCPs) rose drastically from 1,364 in 2015 to 3,328 presently.

The massive increase in children and young people needing the plans means the authority is spending around £470,000 each year on agency staff to create the care assessments within the statutory 20 week timescale.

This week the council agreed to permanently hire six additional EHC plan writers and one administrator within the special education (SEND) service. They said that would reduce the need for agency staff and reduce costs.

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The restructure will need an additional annual budget of £263,400 funded corporately due to the increased demand for EHCPs. The council will also recruit two additional educational psychologists costing an extra £157,000 per year but the council said they will charge for their services, making them cost neutral to the authority.

A report the Bolton council’s cabinet member for children’s services set out the context of the massive increase in the numbers of special needs cases. It said: “There has been an 150 per cent increase in the number of educational care plans since the SEND reforms in 2015. “Referrals have increased 18.5 per cent between 2022 and 2023.

“Referrals for January and February 2024 are up 15 per cent on the same period 2023. “Officers now have a case load of approximately 600. “Creating additional capacity by establishing the plan writer posts will ensure that the service can discharge their duties and improve the effectiveness for children, young people and families.”

Educational care plans are designed to enable pupils with special needs such as autism, emotional and behaviour disorders and severe learning difficulties to flourish thanks to specially trained teachers, programmes, and equipment.

Last month the Department of Education reported that during the current academic year, 1.6 million pupils in England have special educational needs (SEN). That is an increase of 101,000 from 2023.

The figure includes the number of pupils with an education, health and care (EHC) plan and the number of pupils with SEN support, both of which continue a trend of increases since 2016.

The percentage of pupils with an EHC plan has increased to 4.8 per cent, from 4.3 per cent in 2023. The percentage of pupils with SEN support but no EHC plan has increased to 13.6 per cent, from 13 per cent in 2023.