Special Educational Needs
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to hold local authorities accountable for meeting the statutory 20-week timeframe for issuing education, health and care plans.
Answered by Georgia Gould
The Schools White Paper sets clear expectations for the quality and timeliness of special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) provision delivered by local authorities, supported by significant investment to drive system transformation.
In March 2026, the department commissioned local authorities, working with Integrated Care Boards, to develop SEND reform plans and will hold them to account for delivering strong outcomes for children and young people with SEND, intervening decisively where progress stalls and using our full intervention powers where failure persists.
The department publishes annual SEN2 data on education, health and care (EHC) plans and assessments, including timeliness, which informs performance monitoring. Where this highlights a concern around local authority failure to meet statutory duties on EHC plan timeliness, we take action that prioritises children’s needs. Support and challenge is delivered through expert improvement advisers, commissioners and managed support programmes to drive sustained improvement.
Where a council does not meet its duties, the department can take action that supports local areas to bring about rapid improvement, including the issuing of Improvement Notices or Statutory Directions to drive urgent improvements.
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