Somerset children with special needs are suffering when they move from primary to secondary school due to a "dreadful backlog" in council assessments.
Children with education, health and care plans (EHCPs) undergo a 'phase transfer' while they move from one school to another, ensuring that they enjoy the same level of care and support without any gap in provision.
Councillor Diogo Rodrigues, who leads the Conservative opposition group on Somerset Council, said that too many children were moving from one school to their next without "appropriate and timely transition arrangements" being in place.
The council admitted its performance had declined in the last 12 months, but said it was putting measures in place to deal with increasing demand.
Mr Rodrigues (who represents the Bridgwater East and Bawdrip division) raised the issue when the council's executive committee met in Taunton on May 6.
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He said: "We are all very aware of the dreadful backlog of initial EHCP needs assessments in Somerset - it's so very much worse than in neighbouring areas, it does not need me to labour the point.
"I am concerned about the EHCP reviews that are required to support students’ phase transfers - when they move from primary to secondary or on to post-16 education - so that their placements for the following September can be settled, and appropriate and timely transition arrangements can put in place beforehand.
"Can you council please confirm The total number of EHCP transfer reviews due for completion by the statutory deadlines for the last three years?
"Of those, how many were completed on time for each year?
"Of those not completed on time, what is the maximum and the median number of weeks that they were over-time when they were completed?
"Of those not completed on time, how many remain outstanding for each year?"
Councillor Heather Shearer, portfolio holder for children, families and education, admitted that fewer transfers had been completed in the last financial years, but said steps were being taken to urgently address this.
She said: "We have seen an increase in the total number of EHCP transfer reviews, for year 11 and post-16, in each of the three years you mentioned - so they have gone up incrementally.
"Our timeliness in the completion of these transfers was constant in 2023/24 and 2024/25, but has decreased in 2025/26.
"Where we are completing transfers, we are doing them more quickly. The number of outstanding phase transfers again was constant in 2023/24 and 2024/25, but it has increased in 2025/26.
"It's really important that we address this increasing demand and our capacity to meet demand, along with statutory compliance.
"A number of urgent measures have been or are being taken to address this situation and ensure that all phase transfers are completed by the end of the summer term."
These measures include:
- "urgent securing" of agency contracts to temporarily increase capacity
- "multi-agency involvement" to support place discussions with schools
- "redeployed management" and additional front-line capacity to focus on phase transfer reviews
- a business case for the reorganisation of statutory SEND services and additional resources to "increase management oversight and front-line capacity"
Ms Shearer (who represents the Mendip West division) added that these transfers would be added by additional SEND units at mainstream schools - such as those planned at Court Fields School in Wellington - along with the expansion of specialist schools already in Somerset.
Mr Rodrigues will receive a statistical breakdown for each of the last three school years in a full written response in the coming weeks.
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