Assessing children 'continues to be a challenge'

Assessments of children for special educational needs and disabilities (Send) by a county council "continues to be a challenge given the high volume", a new report has said.

Fewer than one in four education health and care plans (EHs) were completed by Essex County Council within the 20-week target, according to data for March.

It is an improvement compared with March 2024, when 0.6% were carried out within the legal time frame - which was the worst completion rate of any local authority in England.

Deborah Nye from Witham, who has a child with an ECHP, said it was "appalling" that more than three-quarters of these children "remain failed".

• Geoff Hurst has Essex school named after him

Essex County Council receives between 300 and 400 requests for an EH every month.

As of March, the authority was responsible for 14,581 young people who required extra for Send.

There has been an increase of 1,221 children with an ECHP in Essex in the space of a year, according to figures from a corporate performance report for councillors.

Since the start of 2025, 587 EH assessments have been completed, but they have taken on average 346 days to complete, according to the report.

More than 3,000 applications are currently being processed.

The county council says it has invested £1m to increase the number of educational psychologists to work on assessments.

Tony Ball, Conservative cabinet member for education, said: "We have been open about the ongoing work to improve the local Send system and are seeing the results of the changes we have made."

But Kim Mayhead, who runs a special educational needs advice and group for Essex families on Facebook, argued: "There's not enough funding.

"We are a huge county and we are running a piecemeal service.

"I've been in this world of Send with my son for 25 years. It has got worse year on year."

The report, which will be discussed at county hall on Thursday, notes that artificial intelligence is being used in producing the first draft of an EH - which is saving two hours per application.

There has also been a rise in the number of children who are home educated in the Essex county area, which stood at 4,333 during the first three months of 2025.

The report forecasts there will be 4,800 to 5,000 home educated children by the end of the academic year in August.

There has been "a significant increase" in children missing education, 570 as of early 2025 and a rise of 23% in a year, the report says.

Ball added: "Success can only truly be measured in of families' experiences and we won't stop until all families benefit."

Follow Essex news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.