WIRRAL councillors could transfer £1.1m to help its SEND services cope with a rise in demand. This comes as the local authority looks to avoid government intervention after a notice was issued earlier this year.

The Department for Education published an improvement notice on May 15 ordering the local authority to act up due to “poor progress” in addressing 10 areas of “significant concern” highlighted in a 2021 inspection by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission. This report looked into services for young people and children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND.)

The 2021 report said the council has been “too slow” to implement reforms from 2014 with changes following “the letter of the reforms, not the spirit.” Its plans lacked “sufficient detail” while families and carers said “the system is broken.” The report said promises hadn’t been delivered, with many families feeling “completely let down.”

Wirral Council has been told it should have improved services by October 2025 or sooner but the notice will not be withdrawn “until sufficient progress has been evidenced.” If the council does not comply with the government’s notice, this could lead to government intervention to direct the council on how to improve services.

Since the notice was issues, the local authority said it had completed 13 out of 22 actions needed and two of the 10 areas have now seen improvement. Wirral Council leader Cllr Paul Stuart said it was “positive news and demonstrates the progress we are already making.”

At a policy and resources committee meeting on September 11, councillors are being asked to transfer £1.1m to support services this year as well as note an extra £2.8m needed for assessment and psychology teams. This will likely be included in future council budgets going forward.

Statistics published by the council back in May shows the challenge the organisation faces to improve things. In April, only 14% of education, health, and care plans (EHCPs) were completed on time in 20 weeks and 17% in May.

The council’s target is 75% and around 33% were completed on time in 2023. It is also below target when it comes to staff training in working with families and people as well as quality assurance.

However the data also shows 52% of people were satisfied and it issued the highest number of plans in the north west with 260 plans finalised between January and May. The director of children’s services Elizabeth Hartley previously said the delays were due to a backlog of plans that had gone out of date.

Across the country, requests for EHCPs have increased by 20.8%. Pointing to 1,067 requests made to the local authority in 2023, Cllr Chris Carubia, vice-chair of the children, young people, and education committee, previously told the LDRS: “It’s not just a financial issue or the ever-increasing numbers we are seeing. There are not enough psychologists or speech and language therapists for instance, who’s assessments are required to complete the EHCPs.

“The waiting times for these assessments can be many weeks which is a factor out of the council’s hands sitting squarely with our struggling NHS.”

Councillors will also be asked to note that Policy in Practice has been appointed to work with the council’s household support fund team following a motion endorsed by all councillors in 2023. The company estimates more than £91m of benefits are unclaimed in Wirral.