"We cannot commit to meeting our legal requirements" says the Conservative Administration at County Hall

Hertfordshire County Council Conservatives have voted down a Liberal Democrat motion that “the Council believes that the target must be to meet the authority’s statutory obligations” which are that 100% of Education Health and Care Plans for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities should be completed within 20 weeks. Instead the administration would only commit to achieving 60% of this statutory requirement, no better than the national average among all authorities which are generally recognised to be failing to deliver an adequate SEND Service.

The Liberal Democrat motion recognised the significant improvements that have been achieved by the hard work of the staff through the results of the investment being made in SEND services which are only now beginning to have an impact on the experience of children and parents with “a sizeable cohort who are still being failed by the systems in place” as identified by the recent review by Barrister Leon Glenister.

Liberal Democrat group leader Steve Jarvis, who proposed the motion, commented “By voting down our motion the Conservatives are telling a significant proportion of  children with special needs and their families waiting for the appropriate education support and that for the foreseeable future they may have to wait significantly longer than the 20-weeks the law requires.”

Herts County Council is required by the Childrens and Families Act to complete all Educational, Health and Care Plans within 20 weeks of an application but the council’s current target is that only 60% should be completed within this timescale.