Further investment in improving the quality and timeliness of Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) was supported by the Children and Young People committee today (Tuesday, 7 October) and recommended to be approved at the upcoming Strategy, Resources and Performance committee.
Councillors heard an update on the progress being made to address the recommendations for improvement identified in the inspection of the Cambridgeshire Area SEND Partnership, where the middle rating of three possible outcomes was given.
The update at today’s meeting focused on the recommendation that ‘The local area partnership should work together to improve the timeliness and quality of the statutory EHCP processes so that children and young people with SEND get the right support at the right time. This should include a particular focus on:
▪ improving the timeliness of EHC Plan needs assessments and annual reviews
▪ improving the quality of EHC Plans
▪ amending EHC Plans appropriately after annual review.’
Councillors heard that through the council’s ‘Inclusion for All’ partnership programme, which was introduced earlier this year, work is already underway to address issues with the timeliness and quality of EHC Plans.
Inclusion for All is based on six inter-connected themes and is designed to address whole sector and system wide improvements to ensure more children and young people with additional needs access the right support from the right service at the right time, with improvements to the EHCP process being a key focus. The council has invested £500k to manage the increased demand for EHC Plans, with an additional £920k annual investment approved in February this year to increase the capacity of the council’s frontline services.
As a result, the EHCP casework teams have increased their average output of new plans since June 2025, with additional resource allocated to address backlogs within the annual review process. This has enabled 450 annual reviews to be progressed during the summer and early autumn term period.
Councillors supported the investment of £780,000 at today’s meeting, which will be allocated to increase capacity across the EHCP process, including assessments, casework and reviews, helping to improve the timeliness and therefore the number of plans completed within the 20-week target.
The recommendation for this additional funding to be approved will now go to the council’s Strategy, Resources and Performance committee on Thursday 23 October.
Councillor Edna Murphy, chair of the Children and Young People committee at Cambridgeshire County Council, said: “It's vital we invest in improving the timeliness and quality of EHC plans in Cambridgeshire, as we must improve these services for children and families.
“We are committed to ensuring all children and young people are able to thrive. However, like many other councils, Cambridgeshire is experiencing significant increased demand for supporting children and young people with special educational needs or disabilities.
“Currently, over 8,000 children and young people in the county have EHCPs, compared to 4,667 in 2019, illustrating the increasing scale of the challenge facing the council. That’s why this extra investment is so important – it will enable us to improve our support for children as quickly as possible, delivering better outcomes for their education, health and care.”
The committee will be updated on the other four areas for improvement at future meetings.
You can read the Ofsted and CQC inspection action plan at: post_ofsted_inspection_action_plan_for_publication_july_2025.pdf
