A local authority that slashed children’s speech and language therapy by 50% to help reduce waiting lists has been forced to reverse the policy after a legal challenge that could have implications for other councils.
Coram Children’s Legal Centre (CCLC) sent a pre-litigation letter to Norfolk county council warning that the policy was unlawful after a mother of an 11-year-old boy, referred to as H, was told his provision was going to be halved.
The mother, who does not wish to be identified, said H had already missed considerable support due to the pandemic. He has an education, health and care plan (EHCPs) that legally entitles him to speech and language therapy.
“Families understood and accepted the need for staff to be redeployed to other areas of the NHS during a national health crisis,” she said. “The last thing they expected though, when services were able to be reinstated, was for Norfolk county council to introduce a policy that would dramatically reduce speech and language therapy to the children who need it the most.”
The policy was detailed in a document entitled Supporting Children and Young People on the Norfolk and Waveney Speech and Language Therapy Waiting List, which said there were 1,500 on the waiting list and more than 2,400 children actively being supported.
To try to reduce the backlog and “release capacity”, it said Covid arrangements for EHCP provision would continue with “an average of 50% provision” for two terms, a move that would have had a dramatic impact on children living in the county who have special needs, according to the CCLC.
According to CCLC, H’s support was cut even more, after the council commissioned NHS community services to provide a report on his language and communication needs, which further reduced his sessions by a half – leaving him with a quarter of his original support.
CCLC said the council had failed to deliver special educational provision as outlined in H’s EHCP in accordance with section 42 of the Children and Families Act 2014. It also said it was unlawful to review children’s EHCPs outside of the statutory timetable and it should be based only on a change in the child’s needs rather than motivated by the needs of the service.
Waiting lists for speech and language therapy are growing in many areas following disruption caused by the pandemic. Qaisar Sheikh, the head of education law at CCLC, said: “The local authority’s withdrawal of the unlawful policy was a great outcome not only for H but all children who access speech and language therapy through their EHCPs in Norfolk.
“Following this legal action, we have already been contacted by parent groups in at least one other local authority who have seen similar cuts in services and are looking for legal support.”
Michael Bateman, the assistant director for SEND strategic improvement at Norfolk county council, said it was always intended as a short-term plan to make children on the waiting list the top priority for the first two terms of a five-year contract with a new specialist provider.
“This decision was taken to increase our support to as many children and their families as possible and has enabled the new provider to reduce the number of children waiting by just under half.
“This approach, which was always planned to be short-term, meant a reduced service to some children who were already receiving speech and language therapy. After listening to parents, we have changed this interim approach.”
