'More staff' needed to improve Suffolk SEND service

Andrew Reid took over the role following resignations

The new head of Suffolk's special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) services says they need more staff to help it improve.

A report on Suffolk's SEND provision said children got "lost in the system and [fell] through the cracks".

Investment of £4.4m will pay for more educational psychologists as well as help clear a backlog of annual reviews.

Andrew Reid said he wants to see Suffolk's service reach "beyond average" in a year's time.

Suffolk County Council says there has been a 15% increase in the number of Education Health Care plans (EHCPs) from January 2023 to 2024.

The council said there were more than 21,000 SEND children and young people in Suffolk schools

The majority of the funding - £1m - is set to be spent hiring educational psychologists, whose role it is to prepare EHCPs.

Mr Reid acknowledged that a national shortage could make that difficult and said they were looking at offering training in a bid to attract the professionals to Suffolk.

The council is spending £920,000 hiring temporary staff to help deal with more than 3,000 historical annual reviews that have not been completed for more than a year.

These reviews are supposed to check that children with an EHCP are receiving the right help.

£80,000 will be spent hiring a new Deputy Head of Service, a role the council says is needed to help oversee the expanded workforce.

Suffolk Parent Carer Forum chair, Claire Smith, told the BBC: "Families have reported that there has been a recent decline in quality of plans, and long delays in issuing amended plans, following annual reviews.

"We hope that investment will improve resources and training as well as promptly clearing the backlog of those waiting beyond statutory time frames."

Mr Reid added that the investment would create a more "resilient service" that could "actually help children and families directly."