EHCP 20 Week Timescale

We openly acknowledge that our performance against the 20-week target is not where it should be. We have invested in more staff across education, health and social care to improve our performance. Action to improve includes

• A new Family Support Worker will start in October who will report to the Designated Social Care Officer and take a lead on improving the timeliness and quality of social care advices.
• We have commissioned to independent private educational psychology service provider to help speed up the timeliness of educational psychology advices, on  temporary basis until our back log is cleared
• The Integrated Care Board (ICB) have allocated 2 SEND Nurse coordinators to support with health advices and improve timeliness and quality of advices.
• We have reviewed and changed how our EHC panels will operate which will help us make decisions more quickly.

We are hoping that we will see improvement this term and will keep you updated about our progress

We also provide lots of support to families without the need for an EHC plan from our SEND Advice and Support Allocation Panel. You can see the services that are available on our local offer at this link: Newcastle SEND Advice and Support Allocation Panel (SEN ASAP)