Essex County Council is due to spend more than £1 million on paying for extra special needs assessment specialists in a bid to reduce its backlog – recognised as the worst in England.

Currently, only one per cent of SEND assessments are completed within the 20-week deadline. There are more than 1,000 currently in the education and health care (EHC) needs assessment process.

It has led to what Essex County Council concedes is leading to "parental anxiety and low levels of confidence in the process".

The council adds the most significant contributing factor is the national shortage of educational psychologists (EP) which means it is frequently unable to allocate an EP at the point of request.

It adds that in addition to the 1,000 outstanding cases, its 20-week process is already running approximately five to six months behind schedule, as a result in large part to the impact of the pandemic and the ability for EPs to see children in schools during this period.

A statement as part of an Essex County Council cabinet decision said: "This has led to a large rise in complaints from parents awaiting the start of the process and has a direct impact on some aspects of the child or young person's education and provision, particularly around requests for special school placement for instance.

"Where need is complex or children have high levels of need and vulnerability, there is, therefore, a larger than necessary delay in assessment of need and allocation of appropriate provision. This is somewhat mitigated by the use of Individual Pupil Resource Allocation funding but parental anxiety and low levels of confidence in the process remain high."

In 2016 Essex was responsible for 7,550 children and young people with an Education Healthcare Plan. In January 2024 the number increased to 13,228 – a 75 per cent increase.

In 2015/16 it received 1,638 requests for assessment. In 2022/23 it received 3,986 requests for assessment, an increase of 143 per cent.

Of the 221,520 pupils in Essex, 24,862 pupils are on SEN support and 13,282 pupils have an EHCP – a total of 38,144 with SEND.

It said based on an average rate of £1,250 per case, to cover the backlog of 900 cases over 12 months with an option to extend for a further 12 months, would require a minimum spend of £1.125m.

A statement added: The total number of EHCP's for the authority has increased by 28 per cent since March 2021 and there are 1,232 pupils currently in the EHC needs assessment process. This decision is by way of addressing part of the backlog.

"The growing volume of EHCP's and vacancies within the education psychologist service has resulted in the need to appoint interim external associates to respond to this demand. The costs of external associate education psychologists are significantly higher than those directly employed, the service has experienced a cost pressure in the region of £520,000 in 2023/24."