Letter to Local Authority:

Dear Christine McInnes (Director of Education KCC),

We write to you on a matter that has been raised by Kent PACT families who are deeply concerned by Kent County Council’s (KCC’s) ongoing non-compliance with statutory duties regarding the timeliness of Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) phase transfer processes—particularly for post-16 transitions.

Recent data indicates that only 58% of post-16 EHCPs were finalised by the legal deadline of 31 March 2025. It is likely that this figure includes EHCPs finalised without a named placement, which adds further uncertainty and distress for young people and their families.

Further data from the KCC SEND Communications Hub reinforces these concerns. Between April 2023 and April 2025, the Hub received over 19,900 calls, with the most frequent topics being placements, EHC Needs Assessments (EHCNAs), annual reviews, and EHCPs:

  • 68% of all enquiries related to placements
  • 62% concerned EHCNAs, Annual Reviews, and EHCPs

This volume of concerns—especially during key transition stages (ages 4, 10–11, and 15–16)—underscores the significant anxiety and disruption families are experiencing. These transitions are legally recognised as critical periods that require timely and effective planning. The data clearly suggests that families are bearing the brunt of the Local Authority’s ongoing challenges in meeting its statutory responsibilities.

We would like to draw your attention to Regulation 18 of The Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014, which outlines the legal deadlines for EHCP reviews and amendments:

  • Post-16 and 19 transfers: by 31 March in the year of transfer
  • All other phase transfers: by 15 February
  • Transfers between post-16 settings: at least five months before the transfer date

KCC published the following statement on various platforms, including the SEND Newsletter:

“On 31 March, young people with SEND across Kent found out which post-16 placements they have been offered for September 2025.
If you are a parent who applied through the phase transfer process, you will be sent an email explaining the options available for your child.”.

This statement, led families to expect communication from KCC, many did not and it was raised with Kent PACT as a matter of concern.

The current situation reflects not only a failure to meet key statutory deadlines but also a growing sense of frustration, concern, and discontent among families who rely on these services to support their children’s development and education.

In the interest of constructive engagement and meaningful improvement, we respectfully request that Kent County Council respond to the concerns of families by:

  1. Acknowledging the current shortfalls in legal compliance and their impact;
  2. Providing a clear and detailed action plan to address these issues;
  3. Committing to improved transparency and accountability around EHCP timelines and processes;
  4. Strengthening communication and support for families, particularly during transition periods;
  5. Demonstrating how this year’s data and parental feedback will inform future service improvement and planning.

We additionally ask you to clarify the following:

  • How many families did not receive an email or letter on 31 March 2025?
  • How many families received placement communication that stated the “type” of placement rather than a named setting?
  • Of the 42% of families who did not receive a named placement on 31 March, how many have now received placement confirmation.

This matter has serious implications for the education and wellbeing of some of Kent’s most vulnerable young people. As a partner organisation, we remain committed to supporting families and working collaboratively with the Local Authority and Health to ensure meaningful progress. However, the data and ongoing issues highlight the urgent need for both strategic and operational changes.

We look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

Kent PACT – Parents and Carers Together

KCC Response to Kent PACT Letter:

Dear Kent PACT,  

Thank you for your email. The SEN Leadership team and I share your concerns that KCC continues to underperform in relation the expectations in the Code of Practice regarding Phase Transfer for Post 16 learners. You will be aware that KCC continues to be regularly monitored by the Department of Education, and we have shared this year’s outcomes on statutory deadlines with them, along with updates on progress since those dates. I hope this assures you of the transparency you understandably expect from KCC.

 It remains Kent’s aspiration to fully fulfil its statutory duties across all areas of the Code of Practice and every other statutory duty that it holds. I hope your engagement in both iterations of Kent’s SEND Partnership Board affords me the opportunity outline our overall approach to meeting that goal, rather than reiterate every stage of Kent’s improvement journey, although I am happy to provide a more granular response if the following does not provide the intended reassurance.

Put simply, Kent’s historic SEN failures were so extensive, it was not possible to fix every issue all at once, even with considerable investment in staffing capacity. Rather than repeat previous unsuccessful attempts, which spread resources thinly over all areas, our response to the Improvement Notice was to identify the critical points of failure that had a disproportionate impact on the overall system, and therefore pupils. We had to ensure things stopped getting worse before they could get better. While this may sound trite a couple of years on, it should not be forgotten that all previous approaches had simply overseen further decline.

Phase Transfer was one of those areas of priority. However, even within that area, all things were not even. The restructure that we inherited in April 2023 included four area teams who held responsibility for compulsory school age pupils and a single county wide Post 16 team. Historically, there was no dedicated Post 16 team. Unfortunately, while the four areas teams had benefited from more successful recruitment activities, the new Post 16 team was less than 50% staffed. To exacerbate issues, while a fully staffed Post 16 team would hold 40% of cases, they would only account for 25% of the total casework FTE. This untenable position was further compounded by the fact that the quality of EHCPs in Post 16-year groups was some of the poorest, having spent the longest time in Kent’s failing system. It is important to understand this difference when considering how much progress our action plan has driven for each age group over the two years that followed.

 You did not contact us with concerns in relation to compulsory school age Phase Transfers this year, and with good reason. By the 2023 statutory deadline, fewer than 50% of families received a complete EHCP. In 2024, we achieved what at that point was a record 93% of decisions by the deadline, with 85% of families receiving a named placement and the remaining 8% having confirmation of special type placement with their setting named shortly afterwards. This year Kent achieved a 97.5% completion rate. Within that cohort, 91% of families received a named preference, a 7% improvement on the previous year.

For the avoidance of all doubt, Kent will not be happy until this is universally 100% by the statutory deadline. However, I hope this does evidence that Kent’s approach is having a considerable positive effect for Kent residents.

 By comparison, in 2023, a little over 20% of Post 16 learners receive any outcome by the statutory deadline. By the deadline last year 883 cases were completed out of 1369, of which 503 were named places (36.7%). This year 916 (58.4%) cases were completed by the deadline out of 1569. Contrary to your concerns, all of these cases were named places. This means that Kent drove an 82% increase in the number of named places compared to last year’s statutory deadline. You will also note that there are 200 more young people in the cohort this year. In addition, a further 218 cases had been completed by the deadline, but we were still awaiting parental responses to amendment notices, so could not legally issue. This was not parents’ fault, as Kent should have sent them sooner, but it does mean that with some further refinements, completion totals could have been as high as 1134 or 72.3%.

I understand fully that this does not calm the frustrations of the 435 families that did not have an outcome or amendment notice at the deadline, but I do hope it outlines that Kent’s change programme is delivering significant year on year improvements. Building on this foundation, Kent has made further structural changes to Phase Transfer delivery which we’re anticipating will accelerate this improvement until all Phase Transfer stages are delivered to a consistently high standard, with no variations based on age.

I note your concerns in relation to the potential contradictory messages that parents may have received if they viewed social media or SEND Newsletter posts, only to not receive a full answer by the deadline. I can assure you that since 2024, all families have been sent a message to their supplied email address on the deadline, either to provide them with their outcome or an explanation why it was still being processed. Casework Officers have also been contacting families directly since the deadline to update them on progress. But I do acknowledge that the wording was not helpful, and we will ensure it is addressed in the future. Please share my apologies with any family who has contacted you about this.

 I note you have asked some additional questions, which I will respond to in turn:

  1. Acknowledging the current shortfalls in legal compliance and their impact; I trust my response acknowledges my acceptance of Kent’s current shortfalls and their impact, and provides assurance that work is well underway to ensure Kent’s delivery continues to improve for all pupils.
  2. Providing a clear and detailed action plan to address these issues; Kent continues to be monitored by the Department for Education and provides monthly updates and action plans, including Phase Transfer.
  1. Committing to improved transparency and accountability around EHCP timelines and processes: KCC remains fully transparent in relation to all areas of SEN delivery. In additional to normal internal governance process, CYPE’s Scrutiny Committee receives regular dedicated updates on SEN progress, including publicly published KPIs. Regular DfE monitoring remains in place. The SEND Partnership Board, of which Kent PACT is a member, has full access to monitor all aspects of SEN delivery.
  1. Strengthening communication and support for families, particularly during transition periods: Kent is fully committed to providing clear, timely advice and communication to parents. I have noted your specific concerns and will action them accordingly.
  1. Demonstrating how this year’s data and parental feedback will inform future service improvement and planning: I trust my response above demonstrates how Kent’s approach is delivering year on year improvements, which will result in the outcomes families expect from their local council.
  1. How many families did not receive an email or letter on 31 March 2025? All families were sent a message to their registered email address, or where that was not available, to their home address, on or before 31 March 2025 to provide their outcome or explain why it was not yet possible to do so. Breakdowns of numbers can be found in the response above.
  1. How many families received placement communication that stated the “type” of placement rather than a named setting? As above, none of the 916 compliant messages on the deadline named type.
  1. Of the 42% of families who did not receive a named placement on 31 March, how many have now received placement confirmation. As of 14 May, 389 or 24.8% of families have yet to receive a final offer, although all amendment notices have now been Of those cases, KCC has identified a potential suitable school to offer for 135 pupils, which will be made, subject to parental responses as soon as we are able to do so. This means that completion could be as high as 83.8%, or 245 outstanding families at 16.2%.

I continue to value your insights into Kent’s improvement journey and hope this provides you with a suitable response to share with your families. I know Kent is not where it needs to be, and this remains both my and my Officer’s primary focus. However, I hope that we can agree that parents can only be assured that things will get better if they understand how much improvement had already been made. This is not universal, and an unacceptable number of families continue to be failed by a system that no council is currently able to fulfil. But if Kent can achieve nearly 98% of cases for compulsory age pupils and has seen roughly a threefold increase in outcomes for post 16 pupils in 2 years, parents have good reason to expect things to continue to get better.

Yours sincerely

Christine Mcinnes

Director of Education and SEN

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