Methodology document: SFR14/2015
Source: data.gov.uk (2017-07-24)

Statements of SEN and EHC plans: England 2015. Statistics and analysis on statements of special educational needs (SEN) and education, health and care (EHC) plans in England. This statistical first release from the Department of Education provides statistics and analysis on data from the SEN2 survey earlier than in previous years. It provides information on reforms introduced in September 2014. In July 2015 the DfE published a second statistical publication, Special educational needs in England: January 2015 , which contains data from the school census.

Statements of SEN 
and EHC plans: 
England 2015 
 
Methodology Document 

 
2 
 
Contents 
1. Background 
3 
2. Methodology 
3 
2.1 
Data cleaning 
3 
2.2 
Production of Statistical First Release 
4 
2.3 
Calculated item 
5 
2.4 
Process map 
6 
 
 
 

 
3 
 
1. Background 
The Statements of SEN and EHC plans: England 2015 statistical first release (SFR) 
publishes data from the annual SEN2 data return. In previous years, SEN2 data has 
been published as part of the Special Educational Needs in England SFR alongside data 
from the school census. This year the SEN2 data is published in a separate SFR 
because the data is available and ready to publish sooner than school census data. The 
January 2015 school census data will be published in a separate SFR in July 2015. 
In September 2014 the special educational needs and disability (SEND) reforms came 
into effect as part of the Children and Families Act 2014. See the SEND code of practice: 
0 to 25 for more detailed information on the reforms. 
The SEN2 return is mandatory for all local authorities and collects aggregate local 
authority level information on children with statements of special educational needs 
(SEN), or Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans. Further details on the 2015 collection 
can be found in the SEN2 return guide. 
The information collected in the SEN2 return is the only source of data on all statements 
and EHC plans maintained by individual local authorities. 
2. Methodology 
Local authorities return their information on children and young people with statements of 
SEN and EHC plans to the DfE via the COLLECT (Collections On-Line for Learning, 
Education, Children and Teachers) system.  
For details of the SEN2 data collection see the SEN2 collection website. 
2.1 Data cleaning 
COLLECT has 64 built-in validation rules which flag up data which is invalid or the quality 
is questionable. This allows local authorities to identify errors and clean the data before 
final submission to DfE. Local authorities are encouraged to clean all errors and double-
check data where queries are flagged. Local authorities are also encouraged to add 
notes to their return to explain any “unusual” data. 
Additional common sense checks are carried out within and across local authorities, 
comparing local authorities with each other. 
Once all users have cleaned and submitted their data, a final dataset is compiled. 

 
4 
 
2.2 Production of Statistical First Release 
The SFR contains 10 tables which cover: 
 Numbers of statements and EHC plans 
 Placement of children and young people 
 Statements and EHC plans issued within timescales 
 Progress transferring cases to the new system 
In all cases the figures are compiled from the aggregate data provided by local 
authorities. When reviewing the tables, please note the following: 
We preserve 
confidentiality  
The Code of Practice for Official Statistics requires we take 
reasonable steps to ensure that our published or 
disseminated statistics protect confidentiality. 
We round and 
suppress numbers 
and percentages 
Numbers of children and young people have been rounded to 
the nearest 5. Numbers based on 1 or 2 children and young 
people have been suppressed.  
Percentages are calculated on unrounded data and are 
rounded to the nearest 0.1. Percentages based on 1 or 2 
children and young people in the numerator or the 
denominator have been suppressed. 
Zeros have not been suppressed. 
This suppression is consistent with the Departmental 
statistical policy which can be found at: 
Departmental statistical policy. 
And adopt symbols 
to help identify this 
Symbols are used in the tables as follows: 
  .   not applicable 
  .. not available 
  x  suppressed figure 
 
 

 
5 
 
2.3 Calculated item 
In Tables 2 and 6 the item that is labelled; 
Total children and young people assessed and decision taken whether or not to issue a 
statement, or EHC plan, during the calendar year, 
was labelled ‘Total children assessed for SEN during [calendar year]’ in previous SFRs. 
The calculation is essentially the same but now includes EHC plans, and is the sum of; 
 Children and young people for whom statements, or EHC plans were made for the 
first time during the calendar year 
 Children and young people assessed under Section 323 of the Education Act 
1996 and under the Children and Families Act 2014 during the calendar year for 
whom it was decided not to issue a statement, or EHC plan 
 
 

 
6 
 
2.4 Process map 
The process map shown in Figure 1 covers the end to end process of the SEN2 data 
collection; from data collection through to publication of the SFR. 
Figure 1: Overview of end to end process of SEN collection and publication 
 
 

 
 
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