The government has not set a target to reduce education, health and care plans (EHCPs) by 20 per cent, the children’s minister has insisted, after concerns were raised by MPs.
The concerns, raised by Commons Education Select Committee chair Robin Walker, related to a Department for Education contract with consultancy firm Newton Europe that referred to “targeting at least a 20 per cent reduction in new EHCPs issued”.
Mr Walker asked ministers how this contract, relating to the DfE’s Delivering Better Value (DBV) in SEND programme, squared with evidence given to the committee by the former children’s minister Claire Coutinho that the government was “absolutely not trying to ration EHCPs”.
Responding in writing, Coutinho’s successor, David Johnston, said: “The department is not imposing a 20 per cent reduction in the number of children and young people with EHCPs.”
His letter, sent on Friday, added: “I stress that a 20 per cent - or any other percentage - reduction in new EHCPs issued is not a KPI that Newton Europe, our delivery partner for DBV, is working towards; nor a figure that the department is working towards; nor a target that local authorities have been asked to agree to.”
The minister said the 20 per cent reduction figure referred to in the contract with Newton Europe - which relates to projected EHCP growth rather than the current number of EHCPs - “reflects an impact we might expect if the Delivering Better Value programme successfully enables schools and LAs to identify need early and provide the appropriate support without an EHCP being required”.
Mr Johnston also told MPs that he has met with representatives of Newton Europe, “who emphatically confirmed” that neither they, nor the LAs with whom they are partners, are working to this figure.
There have been widespread concerns that the government’s SEND reforms and cost management programmes with councils will lead to pressure for councils not to issue EHCPs.
Earlier this year, Tes revealed that council education bosses were being urged to guarantee they will not breach their legal duties over education provision for pupils with SEND as a result of “cost-cutting” deals with the government.
The Independent Provider of Special Education Advice (IPSEA), a SEND charity, wrote to 30 councils that have Department for Education “safety valve” deals in place over concerns that these will result in young people’s entitlements being reduced “through the back door”.
Following IPSEA’s letter, Tes contacted these 30 councils to ask if there were agreed targets for EHCP reduction in place with the DfE.
Out of the seven councils that responded with a definitive answer, nearly all said targets were not in place.
However, a safety valve dashboard, published as part of a Kingston Council Schools Forum agenda, from September last year, features a series of targets for both the number of EHCPs and ceased EHCPs. A council spokesperson told Tes at the time that the targets had been set “in agreement with the DfE”.
Two years ago, the government indicated that its plan was to be able to reduce demand for EHCPs through its SEND reforms by ensuring more parents and children did not need one to have their needs met.
However, the DfE refused to provide its projections for how much it expects demand for EHCPs to reduce by when Tes submitted a Freedom of Information Act request.
When the department gave evidence to the select committee earlier this year, its director for SEND and alternative provision, Alison Ismail, said the government’s SEND and AP improvement plan is based on the hypothesis that if mainstream and specialist provision improves, there would be a decrease in the need for EHCPs.
But she added: “We weren’t projecting to a particular target as such.”
The education committee declined to comment further.
