Decision details

There is a nationally recognised issue facing all LAs that have seen an increasing number of appeals against decisions that can be appealed to SENDIST, Doncaster is also seeing this was significant increase in tribunals. In Doncaster the numbers have risen significantly. In July 2017 there were 3 live tribunal cases and in July 2021 there were 8. The total number of tribunals in 2020 were 13 and currently as over April 2022 there are 10 active tribunal cases. It should be noted that this does not include cases resolved at the formal mediation stage. There are a range of reasons for appeals to SENDIST, including:

- The Local Authority secured an EHC assessment but refused to make an EHC plan
- The Local Authority has issued an EHC plan following an EHC Needs Assessment
- I disagree with what the EHC plan says about the child or young person’s special
educational needs (Section B)
- I disagree with what the EHC plan says about the educational help/provision the child or
Young Person requires (Section F)
- I disagree with the school/college/institution named in the EHC plan (Section I)

Alongside the increase in tribunals there has been a year on year increase since 2016 in requests for statutory assessments, and currently Doncaster maintains over 2300 Education Health and Care Plans with over 200 in the 20 week process. Due to these ongoing demands there is a need to increase the capacity in the SEND Service. Without the additional posts there is a significant risk to the LA both reputationally and financially.

Utilising the service transformation funding to provide additional capacity will support the team to embed high quality case work whilst responding to high levels of requests. Moving towards embedding the additional workloads into business as usual.
Attendance post:

The AWPS has seen a significant increase in demand since the start of the pandemic, with a 250% increase in EHE notifications and a 40% increase in CME referrals. The team has been disproportionately affected by Covid and other serious illnesses and require extra capacity in order to address the increase in need over the next six months.

To utilise funding identified through the Service Transformation Fund of £109k to provide additional temporary capacity into the SEND Team, in the form of:

- 1 year fixed term FTE Senior SEN Officer (grade 10) this would use the existing Job Description but the post would focus on 1st Tier Tribunal (SENDIST) work. That work in itself involves all aspects of the Senior role.

- 1 year fixed term 1 FTE SEND Co-ordinator (grade 8) In addition to utilise the Service Transformation Fund to provide additional temporary capacity into the Attendance and Pupil Welfare Service, in the form of:

- 1 x 0.5 Grade 8 Education Welfare officer for 6 months £19,84

ALTERNATIVE OPTIONS CONSIDERED AND REJECTED
There are a number of recruitment agencies that can supply Officers but there would be a limited or non-existent capacity for the associated case work needed and would come at a higher cost and with lower accountability.

Without addressing capacity pressures we will risk some children becoming vulnerable due to the lack of oversight and intervention or doing.