The lives of children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) are being negatively affected by the shortage of educational psychologists, the local government ombudsman has warned.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman issued the warning in a report on a complaint from a Surrey family who experienced significant delays trying to get an Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan put in place for their autistic daughter.

During the Ombudsman’s investigation, it was revealed that Surrey County Council had a backlog of around 1,000 EHC needs assessments awaiting input from an educational psychologist.

According to the local authority, the delay in putting the plans in place was the result of a national shortage of qualified psychologists and other key professionals needed to produce EHC Plans.

In the case of this family, there was a delay of 37 weeks to produce an educational psychologist report for the girl, where it should have only taken six weeks. In total it took nine months to issue the girl’s final plan.

Nigel Ellis, Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman chief executive, said: ‘Sadly, the situation in Surrey is far from unique. We are increasingly seeing cases where, despite best efforts, councils do not have the specialist advisors they need to keep on top of caseloads.

‘This crisis has been 10 years in the making; both councils and the Government could have anticipated the issues and planned for the future, when the Children and Families Act was brought in and demand for EHC Plans started to increase.

‘Educational psychologists cannot be trained overnight and so this situation will not be resolved without significant input on a national scale. The focus on educational psychologist training in the Government’s SEND and Alternative Provision Plan of March 2023 is important but needs to be implemented at pace and supported by the funding needed to make a difference to young people.’

Clare Curran, Surrey CC cabinet member for Children, Families and Lifelong Learning, said: 'We take the findings from the Ombudsman very seriously and apologise for the distress the family experienced. We have agreed to take all necessary action in response to the complaint, have outlined to the Ombudsman what we propose to do and we will be considering the report, the learning from it and the action taken at a forthcoming meeting of the cabinet.'

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