
Council bosses in Tameside say ‘things are changing for the better’ following years of understaffing in special needs childcare and education.
In June 2024, town hall chiefs approved £750,000 of funding for the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) workforce. It resulted in the recruitment of 11 case officers, two senior case officers and three administration staff.
The latest meeting of the children’s services scrutiny panel was told how vital this was, given they’re facing an increasing demand for council services.
Data published last year identified the proportion of children in Tameside schools with an education, health and care plan (EHCP) was 9 per cent. This is more than double the national average of 4.3 per cent, Dukinfield Town Hall was told.
An EHCP, which can take months and even years for a child to get, outlines the level of support a child needs. That support can include placements to specialist schools or greater support within a mainstream school.
This can come at great cost to local authorities like Tameside, who may have to cover school transport, additional staff to support special needs children, or paying for independent specialist schools.
The newly appointed director of children’s services, Jill Colbert OBE, was in attendance at the meeting on January 15. She said: “We’re spending too much money in the in-permanent workforce (agency staff) and too much on children going to out of borough placements, but I’m confident we can address that.”
A scrutiny report revealed that if the current trend continues, the number of pupils with higher needs is projected to increase by 213 per cent by 2031/32. This would come with annual revenue costs increases of 200 per cent, and unaffordable costs for new placements estimated at £111m.
To tackle this growing demand, SEND bosses are planning to develop a new strategy; speed up EHCP reviews, train up more staff; and create SEND units in mainstream schools to reduce reliance on special schools and independent school placements.
This all forms part of a recovery plan in the children’s services department at the council.
The department was rated ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted in 2023 before a scathing independent report was released in September last year.