Essex County Council is set to spend more than £1m on extra special needs assessment staff in a bid to reduce the worst backlog in England.
Currently, only 1% of SEND (special educational needs and disabilities) assessments are completed within a 20-week deadline.
There are more than 1,000 currently in the education and health care (EHC) needs assessment process.
The council said the most significant contributing factor was the national shortage of educational psychologists (EP).
In addition to the 1,000 outstanding cases, its 20-week process is already running approximately five to six months behind schedule - due in large part to the impact of the Covid-10 which stopped EPs from seeing children in schools.
Essex County Council said: “This has led to a large rise in complaints from parents awaiting the start of the process and has a direct impact on some aspects of the child or young person’s education and provision, particularly around requests for special school placement for instance.
“Where need is complex or children have high levels of need and vulnerability, there is, therefore, a larger than necessary delay in assessment of need and allocation of appropriate provision. This is somewhat mitigated by the use of Individual Pupil Resource Allocation funding but parental anxiety and low levels of confidence in the process remain high.”
In 2016, Essex was responsible for 7,550 children and young people with an Education Healthcare Plan (EHCP). In January 2024 the number increased to 13,228 – a 75% increase.
In 2015/16 it received 1,638 requests for assessment compared to 3,986 in 2022-23 - up 143%.
Of the 221,520 pupils in Essex, 24,862 pupils are on SEND support and 13,282 have an EHCP – a total of 38,144 SEND students.
According to the council, based on an average rate of £1,250 per case, to cover the backlog of 900 cases over 12 months with an option to extend for a further 12 months would require a minimum spend of £1.125m.
The council said: “The total number of EHCPs for the authority has increased by 28% since March 2021 and there are 1,232 pupils currently in the EHC needs assessment process. This decision is by way of addressing part of the backlog.
“The growing volume of EHCPs and vacancies within the education psychologist service has resulted in the need to appoint interim external associates to respond to this demand. The costs of external associate education psychologists are significantly higher than those directly employed, the service has experienced a cost pressure in the region of £520,000 in 2023/24.”
