Two out of three children in the Wirral left waiting for urgent support in schools

The number of EHCP requests made to Wirral Council has risen sharply over recent years, while funding from Government has stagnated. This has led to capacity issues within the council, schools and other partners to produce timely EHCP assessments and plans.

Inadequate funding and resources is preventing the production of timely and effective EHCPs across the country. Each EHCP costs thousands of pounds to produce. As a result schools and councils are struggling to meet the increasing number of referrals.

In 2023 in Wirral, 1067 EHCP requests were made to the council. Just 32.5% of these were produced within the statutory obligated 20 week timeline. Across England, requests for EHCPs have increased by 20.8% since 2022. The demand has put enormous pressure on councils to produce EHCPs in a timely fashion. As demand has risen funding has stagnated meaning resources are stretched. An EHCP costs approximately £6000. Children and families are being left waiting for the support they need. 98% of appeals against EHCP decisions are successful.

Eastham Councillor Chris Carubia, Vice-Chair of the Children, Young People & Education Committee adds “It's not just a financial issue or the ever-increasing numbers we are seeing. There are not enough psychologists or speech and language therapists for instance, who's assessments are required to complete the EHCPs. The waiting times for these assessments can be many weeks which is a factor out of the council's hands sitting squarely with our struggling NHS."

Wirral Liberal Democrats support the calls made by Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey MP to create a new national body to champion young people with special educational needs and disabilities, and to make an extra £300 million available to councils and schools to support the production care plans.