Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what support is available for a pupil waiting for a SEND assessment; and what the average cost was per pupil receiving such an assessment in the most recent period for which figures are available..

Schools (and further education colleges, sixth form colleges and 16-19 academies) are required to identify and address the special educational needs (SEN) of the pupils they support and to use their best endeavours to make sure that a child or young person who has SEN gets the support they need. This is outlined in the statutory SEN Code of Practice.

The school should assess the child, plan an intervention if a learning difficulty is identified, implement the intervention and then review the outcome and progressively repeat this cycle until the child’s learning difficulty is properly supported. This type of support is called SEN Support and the cyclical process is referred to as a ‘graduated approach’ to meeting children’s needs. This process should take place regardless of whether a child has been referred for an education, health and care (EHC) needs assessment by the local authority.

Information regarding the average waiting time and the average cost of SEND assessments is not held by the department. However, information is published on the number and percentage of new education, health and care plans that are issued within 20 weeks of referral in the annual ‘Statements of SEN and EHC plans’ statistical release. Information for the most recent period is published in table 8 of the release found at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/statements-of-sen-and-ehc-plans-england-2018.