Sandwell Council has pledged more than £200,000 to help improve services for children with special educational needs and disabilities. A team of experts will be tasked with reviewing over 1,400 children and young people's circumstances and put plans in place to ensure their specialist needs continue to be met.
Under previous government policy children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities were given a statement of needs. However since September 2014 these statements need to be moved to the new Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans.
EHC plans need to be in place for all children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities up to the age of 25 by Spring 2018.
Councillor Simon Hackett, cabinet member for children's services believes it is important to make the extra investment in this area. He said: "We want to ensure all our children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities receive the support they need.
"This extra money will make sure they all have their circumstances reviewed and get the help they need.
“This investment is part of the council’s overall commitment to making sure children and young people in Sandwell get the best support we can give them.
"We will continue to work closely with parents, carers and young people to ensure that they are at the centre of what we do.”
