CONTINGENCY funds of almost £1m are needed to plug a cashflow gap in services for children with special educational needs – as the situation reaches crisis point.

Children’s services managers will ask Dorset County Council’s cabinet to make the funds available to address ‘significant human and financial resource issues’ at a meeting this week. 

A report to cabinet outlines how critical the situation has become, with high stress and sickness levels amongst SEN Assessment staff and poor learning outcomes for some of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children in Dorset.

It comes after a damning report by Ofsted and the CQC was published earlier this year, setting out ‘significant concerns’ in provision for children with special needs. Dorset County council was ordered to publish a written statement of action, setting out how they intended to improve the situation. This was accepted and praised by Ofsted and the CQC – but now children’s services say they cannot resolve the issues raised in that report without ‘significant’ additional funding.

A report to cabinet reveals that the difference between expenditure and funding is £93,200 in the current financial year, £454,000 in 2018/19 and £377,800 in 2019/20 – a total of £925,000.

The report is jointly signed by Sara Tough, who has recently left her role as DCC's corporate director for children, adults and communities and Nick Jarman, the new interim director of children’s services.

The problems outlined in the Ofsted and CQC report were down to three factors, it states. The Children and Families Act 2014 changed SEN statements to EHC Plans, extending local authorities’ responsibilities and raising expectations of parents, carers and schools. Before this came into force the Dorset SEN assessment team was one of the highest performing in the country, with 96 per cent of SEN statements produced within the 26-week time limit. Now, it is one of the worst performing, with just 11 per cent of EHC plans produced within the 20-week time limit.

The report also points to hugely increased demand for SEN assessments – the number of requests has more than doubled over the last three years. And budgets have not greatly increased to cope with demand.

All SEN statements must be transferred to the new system by April 1, 2018 – but the report states that the sheer volume of work, as well as delays in decision making and a ‘significant’ number of complaints from parents means that the process has to be outsourced to agencies in order to meet the deadline. Of the 1,451 statements planned for transfer, 483 have had an EHCP completed, 528 are in the process of transfer, 147 have had statements ceased or have left the county and 293 transfer reviews have not yet been started.

If approved by cabinet, the cash will be used to pay for this outsourcing, and to create several new roles. These include an SEND quality assurance and complaints officer role to manage complaints from parents. Currently, the failure to meet statutory timescales is leading to an increase in appeals and with no designated officer, the additional workload is falling on managers.

Other suggestions include roles to increase the involvement of parents and improve the level of information available as well as a data systems/finance officer.

The report says the investment will prevent further intervention by Ofsted, improve engagement with schools and parents and prevent further additional costs to the Higher Needs Block funding – which is already overspent.

The cabinet will discuss the request when it meets at County Hall in Dorchester tomorrow.