Suffolk County Council failed to conduct more than 40 per cent of reviews into the provision of support for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in the last three years.

The proportion of overdue annual reviews into Education Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) was around 40 per cent at the end of 2022 and 2021, 46 per cent at the end of 2020 and 35 per cent at the end of 2019.

EHCPs lay out the support a child with SEND needs and how this will be provided. These are required by law, as are annual reviews into them.

Adam Robertson, a Suffolk town councillor and Liberal Democrat spokesperson who has Asperger's Syndrome, said: "The fact that over 3,000 annual reviews are overdue is unacceptable.

"The children and young people affected are already disadvantaged in terms of their education, and delays to their annual reviews is making the situation worse for them.

"I have been made aware by some parents who have threatened to take Suffolk County Council to court to instigate the annual review process for their child.

"As someone with Asperger's Syndrome, I believe it is vital that every child should have opportunities.

"Liberal Democrats supports the extra £1.1 million going into inclusion services as part of the improvement into SEND Services in Suffolk.

"But we need to know why so many annual reviews are overdue and why the Conservative Government at Westminster is ignoring local Tories' call for more money for SEND services in Suffolk.

"We need to see greater transparency and accountability from the Conservative administration at Suffolk County Council.

"For example, an opposition councillor should sit on the SEND accountability board, which would increase transparency and accountability.

"I have taken up the invitation by Cllr Hood, cabinet member for education, SEND and skills, to meet and discuss SEND provision, but she seems uninterested in meeting people with lived experiences of the SEND system in Suffolk."

Annual reviews typically involve speaking to the child, their parents, teachers and others involved in the child's support to find out how they are progressing.

A review meeting is held in which the child's development over the last year is considered, and decisions about changing any parts of their provision is made.

Parent Steven Wright

Steven Wright, member of the SEND campaign group in Suffolk Campaign for Change and father to children with SEND, said: "I'm not at all surprised about the findings for last year. Campaign for Change constantly hears complaints from parents about overdue EHCP reviews.

"I have had an overdue annual review for my child about four or five times over the last few years.

"My most recent review was due in November, but the council didn't meet this. It has now been scheduled for January.

"The problem has been going on for years – it isn't new.

"The council says they had the Lincolnshire Review into SEND provision and now they have a plan, but they have known about this problem for years.

"I think the question from parents is: When will this issue be solved?

"A child starting secondary education this year will be out in five years, so they do not have decades to wait.

"What is also really worrying is that whenever I read statements from the council or talk to councillors, the position is always that things have gone wrong in some cases.

"If half of annual reviews are not getting done, the problem isn't individual slip ups – it's systemic.

"If someone had a health condition for which they were prescribed a complex mix of medication, you would expect them to have check-ups to make sure the medication was still working as it should be.

"Annual reviews for EHCPs are exactly the same and just as important. There can be quite catastrophic outcomes if they aren't done as children can be left without the support they need."

The Lincolnshire Review was an independent review by a team from Lincolnshire into Suffolk's SEND services, which included recommendations for improvement.

Annual reviews into 3,026 Education Health and Care Plans (EHCP) in Suffolk were not undertaken by the end of November 2022. This was out of a total of 6,993 plans.

The number of overdue annual reviews was 2,500 from a total of 6,313 EHCPs in December 2021; 2,550 out of 5,597 EHCPs by the end of 2020, and 1,663 out of 4,802 EHCPs by the end of 2019.

These statistics were found through freedom of information requests by Suffolk Liberal Democrats and Steven Wright – as well as questions put to Suffolk County Council by the Local Democracy Reporting scheme.

A Suffolk County Council spokesperson said: "An annual review of an EHCP is a five-step process, which includes a meeting between the school or education setting and the family to discuss the child's progress against the plan.

"The final part of the process involves Suffolk County Council notifying the family of the council's decision following the recommendations from the school meeting.

"These delays could be at any point in the five step process, including the meeting between the school and the family.

"We follow up with schools if they have not completed annual meetings and, of course, we are looking at our own processes and resources to make sure delays are kept to a minimum.

"This includes recruiting more staff to support adherence to timescales."

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