Zetema
Edit
EducationEngland, UK· Source · Jun 2026

Parents in England can't track how long their council is taking on their child's EHC plan or what to do when it runs late.

Families of children with special educational needs

Where it stands

  1. Sourced (done)
  2. Kit (done)
  3. Wanted (next)
  4. Building
  5. Solved

How this problem came to be

  1. Found2 sourcesexplore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk, schoolsweek.co.uk
  2. Quoted4 claimseach checked against its page
  3. BriefWrittenand what solved looks like
  4. MarketNot sizedon the next engine run
  5. Kit5 steps21 tools · 6 routes
  6. People0 want0 live it · 0 would test

The problem, broken down

Who it hurts
Parents who have asked their local council for an education, health and care (EHC) needs assessment.
The moment
Week 20 after the request, when the plan should be issued and nothing has arrived.
What people do today
Parents keep their own notes, chase caseworkers by email and learn about complaints and tribunals from charities and forums.
Why it's unsolved
Each council runs its own process. National figures show the delays, but a family has no simple view of where their own case stands against the legal deadlines.
What solved looks like
A free tracker where a parent enters the request date and gets each statutory deadline, reminders as they pass, their council's published on-time rate, and ready-to-send letters for a late plan.

Evidence

Every claim is tied to the source it comes from
Department for Education: Education, health and care plans, reporting year 2026 ↗
  1. 1During 2025, 46.1% of new EHC plans were issued within the 20-week statutory timeframe, slightly lower than 46.4% in 2024.
  2. 2There were 110,700 new EHC plans issued during 2025, 13.3% higher than in 2024.
Schools Week: Upheld SEND complaints rise 25% in a year (March 2026) ↗
  1. 3In 2025 the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman upheld 1,315 SEND complaints, 26% more than the 1,044 upheld in 2024.
  2. 4In one upheld case the council blamed the delay on shortages of educational psychologists and was ordered to pay at least £2,000.

Written from the cited sources. Anything they don't say is left as a question, not a guess.

Sources

From a public page with a citation.

  1. [1]Department for Education: Education, health and care plans, reporting year 2026
  2. [2]Schools Week: Upheld SEND complaints rise 25% in a year (March 2026)
What the source says, in short

During 2025, 46.1% of new EHC plans were issued within the 20-week statutory timeframe, slightly lower than 46.4% in 2024. There were 110,700 new EHC plans issued during 2025, 13.3% higher than in 2024. In 2025 the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman upheld 1,315 SEND complaints, 26% more than the 1,044 upheld in 2024. In one upheld case the council blamed the delay on shortages of educational psychologists and was ordered to pay at least £2,000.

Forks 0

Nobody has forked this yet. Be the first.

Market read

How big this is, from the evidence

Not sized yet. The engine reads the figures in the sources, news volume and builders' activity; this fills in on its next run.

For whoever takes this up

The builder's path for this problem

Five steps, each with the tools that fit this problem and a word to carry with you. A starter prompt is ready to paste into any assistant.

Open the path

Discussion 0

No comments yet.