TRAFFORD Council has been challenged for its ‘extremely poor’ performance in issuing final educational plans for special needs school leavers in the borough.

Statements of Special Educational Needs (Statements) have been replaced by Educational Health and Care Plans (EHC plans), under the Children and Families Act 2014.

EHC plans are for children and young people who have a special educational need or disability that cannot be met by support that is usually available in a school or college.

Local authorities have until next year to transfer children who already have a SEN Statement to an EHC plan and transfers usually happen at a key point of transition, such as moving from primary and secondary school.

The legal deadline for local authorities to have produced a final transition Education Health Care plan for children with special educational needs was February 15. But according to official figures obtained by education lawyers at Simpson Millar, 111 local authorities missed the deadline for a staggering 3,812 children – including Trafford.

Figures from the Department for Education show that Trafford Council was the fifth worst performing council in the North West, coming in at more than 50 per cent lower than the regional average.

At the Trafford Council meeting at Trafford Town Hall last night, Cllr Joanne Bennett questioned the council’s ‘extremely poor’ performance.

She said: “Only 30 per cent of EHCPs for children transitioning from primary to secondary education had been completed, a figure that equates to 32 out of 107 children.

“For teenagers transitioning to Adult Services and further education from Children’s Services in September 2016, and who require an Education Health and Care Plan, none had been completed by the statutory deadline of March 31 – zero out of 144 children.

“Can the executive member why this has happened, particularly in light of the fact that this council prides itself on being a champion Pathfinder Council for the Children and Families Act 2014?”

Trafford Council’s Executive Member for Children's Services Cllr Michael Hyman responded to the question posed.

“Cllr Bennett you raised an important matter,” he said. “Although it is disappointing that all Year 6 pupils did not have their plans completed by the statutory deadline, this was by no means just a Trafford issue.

“Regionally and nationally significant numbers of pupils, in fact over 3,800, were in a similar position.”

Cllr Hyman said that the EHC team responsible for compiling the plans were getting to grips with an increased workload this year, which included processes and assessments that had never been undertaken before.

“It should be noted that these pupils and students are not only transferring between schools and colleges, but are also being transferred from a Statement (Special Educations Needs) to an EHC assessment and plan,” he added.

“This process is much more robust and involved children, young people, parents and professionals in the assessment and planning, quite unlike the old Statement process.”

He said that the reasons for delays in completing the plans are not just due to the volumes in new work.

“Please bear in mind that the EHC and transfer process is still in the implementation stage and as such processes are continually being refined as a result of feedback from parents and Department for Education guidance,” he added.

“As a result of the changes and the imperative to involve children and their families in the coproduction of plans, the EHC co-ordinator role has changed significantly. The EHC team experienced a shortage of experienced staff and carried several vacancies, including that of the manager during the Spring term, which will know is a critical time for meeting the statutory deadline.”

Cllr Hyman said that a number of measures have been put in place, including the appointment of a new EHC manager. Other measures include recruitment of additional EHC co-ordinators and business support, a training programme for staff, regular meetings with Trafford Parents Forum, and a revision of timetable for transfers for the 2016/17 cohort, so the process ‘starts earlier and spreads the workload more evenly’.

He added that all vacancies have been filled and the team will be fully-staffed from September.

With regards to the fact that no EHC plans had been completed for transitioning teenagers before the government deadline, Cllr Hyman said that colleges and sixth forms depend upon a student’s GCSE results before they can offer a place, which are not issued until after the March deadline. He said conditional offers cannot be named in the final plan but that Trafford Council is looking at remedying this problem.

“There was also the additional complication of not knowing whether Trafford College were going to be offering supportive learning provision from September 2016,” said Cllr Hyman.

“Therefore more work was needed with families and young people to look at alternative provision in other colleges. The team also needed to work with Trafford College in identifying which of their existing learners would need to move as the college were not offering a second year for some students.”

Cllr Bennett challenged Cllr Hyman’s assertions that delays were reflective of regional and national issues.

“This poor performance has been extremely poor when compared to other Greater Manchester authorities,” she responded.

“Manchester City Council completed 77 per cent (152 out of 196); Stockport completed 76 per cent (107 out of 140); Tameside 100 per cent (45 out of 45) Bury 95 per cent (111 out of 117); and Oldham 34 per cent (27 out of 80).

“This council last year underspent its budget by £5.5million of which £3.4million was underspent on staffing. We should have been aware that these issues were going to arise, why was no remedial action taken earlier? Bearing in mind the stress and the anxiety that has been caused to these families, who are still waiting for a plan. What does the executive member consider to be more important – saving money or delivering a quality service for these vulnerable children and young people?”

Cllr Hyman said: “I accept we have had a poorer performance than some of our compatriots in Greater Manchester but I provided a good amount of reasons in detail as to why that is the case. Not only that, we have also taken steps to ensure that that is something hopefully that will rest in the dustbin of history.”

Following the meeting, Cllr Mike Freeman spoke to the Messenger.

He said: “Cllr Hyman gave an extremely detailed responses, which have gone some way to explaining the poor performance of the council.

“However, that is small compared to the parents of the children still awaiting plans. I am surprised the council could not say sorry to these parents.”