Recruitment concerns over staff needed to boost SEND support

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Concerns have been raised that plans to create more than 100 new roles to better support the growing number of children with special educational needs could be hampered by recruitment struggles.

Norfolk County Council recently unveiled a three-year plan to improve support for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), amid growing demand and increasingly complex needs.

Norfolk County Council has a new plan to support the growing number of children with special educational needs and disabilities (Image: Pixabay)

The government needs to approve that plan, but if approved it would include County Hall receiving £5.9m through Labour's Experts At Hand scheme - money which would create just over 100 new roles within the SEND system.

That money would be used to employ more specialist teachers, speech and occupational therapists, and educational psychologists, which officials at Norfolk County Council have described as a "substantial investment".

Norfolk has a higher proportion of children getting extra support for special educational needs than almost anywhere else in the country.

Almost one in 15 Norfolk pupils has an Education, Health and Care Plan, which describes their special educational needs and the additional support the council has to ensure is provided.

But, when the plan was discussed at a meeting of the council's children, families, and select committee, concerns were raised about whether - with all councils set to get money for extra staff at the same time - Norfolk could lose out to other authorities in its efforts to recruit staff.

Maxine Webb (Image: Maxine Webb)

Maxine Webb, leader of the Green group, asked officers if it would be a struggle to attract high-calibre staff to Norfolk when other councils are also trying to do the same.

James Wilson, Norfolk County Council's director of education strategy (Image: Norfolk County Council)

James Wilson, the county council's director of education strategy, said she was "100pc right" to raise that issue.

He said: "Every local authority in the land has one of these plans, so will all be trying to recruit the same worker types all at once and some of them are already extremely scarce - such as educational psychologists.

"So, by design, we've tried to put into our plan a mixed economy of different types of worker role, partly for that reason."

He said the council might have to rethink its plans and "think of creative ways to achieve the same end" if it could not recruit all the staff.

Mr Wilson said: "I think it's a real risk to call out, because it's definitely everyone fishing in the same pool, all at once."

Norfolk County Council's County Hall headquarters (Image: Mike Page)

If Reform-led Norfolk County Council's SEND plan is approved by the government it could see the authority repaid around £195m.

That is money County Hall has accrued in debts to provide SEND support, because costs, including home to school transport, outstrip the money the government gives.

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