Quality and uses 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 
 
Quality and Uses of the Data 

 
2 
Contents 
Description 
3 
Users and usage 
3 
Quality 
3 
Pathfinder local authorities 
4 
Learning Difficulty Assessments (LDAs) 
4 
Statements and EHC plans issued within the timescales 
5 
Ambiguity in the 2015 SEN2 return 
5 
Related information 
6 
Annex A: Pathfinder local authorities 
7 
 
 
 

 
3 
Description  
This document provides information on the use of statistics from the SEN2 data return 
published in this Statistical First Release (SFR). It provides information on how the data 
is generally used as well as information on the quality and reliability of the data. There 
are a number of  points that need to be considered with the 2015 SEN2 data, following 
the introduction of Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans under the Children and 
Families Act 2014. 
Users and usage  
The information collected via the annual SEN2 return provides the major source of data 
on children and young people with statements or EHC plans. It is the only source of data 
on all statements and EHC plans maintained by individual local authorities. Ministers, 
Parliament, central and local government, external organisations and the public use this 
data to monitor government policies and their effectiveness. 
We are very familiar with the uses made of the data by local authorities, within the 
Department for Education and by the UK government. However, we have less clarity on 
the uses made of this data by other organisations. 
We received feedback regarding Table 21 in the Special Educational Needs in England 
SFR; now Table 5 in this SFR. We’ve been asked to consider providing information on 
those attending resourced provision or SEN Units within Academies, as this is provided 
for other mainstream schools. This would mean changing the establishment categories 
and definitions within the SEN2 data collection and we are considering this for the 2017 
return. 
We would like to know more about our users and would encourage and welcome any 
feedback on how the data is used. Comments on any issues relating to this publication 
are also welcomed and encouraged. If you would like to be involved in future user 
engagement consultations then please do get in touch. Please email us at: 
xxx@xxx.xx 
Quality 
There are a number of points that need to be considered:  
The scope of the 2015 SEN2 return increased to collect information on EHC plans for the 
first time since their introduction in September 2014. Systems and processes may still be 
bedding in during this period. There is anecdotal evidence that local authorities are 
prioritising the transformation to the new system in different ways. Potential differences in 
planning and prioritising need to be considered when interpreting the data. 
More specific points are outlined below: 

 
4 
Pathfinder local authorities 
The Department for Education funded twenty ‘pathfinders’, covering 31 local authority 
areas and associated clinical commissioning groups (see annex A for the full list), to test 
the provisions set out in what was the Children and Families Bill. 
Pathfinder local authorities will have issued non-statutory EHC plans before 1 September 
2014 and these plans are not included in the figures. These non-statutory EHC plans do 
not have the same duties and rights associated with them as an EHC plan issued on or 
after 1 September 2014 and local authorities will need to undertake EHC needs 
assessments to transfer them to statutory EHC plans. While some may be suitable to be 
transferred to statutory EHC plans without significant changes, others may require further 
work to comply with the 2014 Act and related Regulations. 
Some children and young people who have been issued with non-statutory EHC plans 
before 1 September 2014 also have statements. If a statement was issued alongside a 
non-statutory EHC plan, the statement should have been counted as a statement. If a 
pathfinder area counted a non-statutory EHC plan as a new statement in an SEN2 return 
and reissues the EHC plan on a statutory basis this is recorded as a transfer from a 
statement to avoid double counting. 
Only statutory EHC plans (i.e. EHC plans issued on or after 1 September 2014) are 
counted in the 2015 SEN2 data return. However, local authorities were advised to count 
non-statutory EHC plans as statements in the 2014 SEN2 return. As a result, some 
pathfinder local authorities could have large differences between 2014 and 2015 data. 
This should be taken into consideration when making year on year comparisons.  
Learning Difficulty Assessments (LDAs) 
As part of the new section of the 2015 SEN2 data return on progress transferring from 
the old system to the new; the number of LDAs at the 31 August 2014 was collected for 
the first time. Before using the LDA data, the following must be considered: 
 Generally LDAs are not maintained by local authorities in the same way as 
statements or EHC plans.  
 A small number of local authorities are known to have used estimation to obtain 
LDA figures. 
 Local authorities had a duty under section 139 of the Learning and Skills Act 2000 
to arrange for an LDA for all persons in respect of whom they maintain a 
statement and who they expect to leave school at 16-19 to receive post-16 
education, training or higher education. They had discretion to make LDAs for 
others. It is possible that some of the discretionary LDAs that were made are for 
children or young people with SEN who will not meet the criteria for an EHC plan. 

 
5 
Statements and EHC plans issued within the timescales 
There are certain circumstances when it is legitimate for local authorities not to record the 
timescales for both statements and EHC plans. This means that the total number of new 
statements (or EHC plans) used to calculate the percentages in Table 8 (and Table 9) 
can be different to the total number of new statements (or EHC plans) in Table 2. We 
would expect any differences to be small. Circumstances when local authorities are 
permitted not to record the timescales are given in the 2015 SEN2 return guide. These 
may include, following mediation or, a tribunal or reconsideration of the original decision 
not to issue, or a transfer between local authorities.  
In Section 1.6 of the 2015 SEN2 return guide, details are given on how to record cases 
that started as an assessment for a statement but resulted in an EHC plan. In these 
cases the EHC plan is considered a new EHC plan. However, when it comes to recording 
the timescales for these plans, the timescales and exceptions apply as for statements 
under the Education Act 1996 (26 week limit). Local authorities were advised to record 
these cases as having met the time limit for an EHC plan if they had met the time limit for 
a statement. 
Ambiguity in the 2015 SEN2 return 
We are aware that due to the wording of items 2.3 and 2.4 in the SEN2 return guide, 
some local authorities may have counted some or all of the transfers from statements or 
LDAs. The wording has been amended to ensure we only collect this data for new 
statements or EHC plans in 2016. 
We are also aware that due to the wording of items 5.1 (a) (iii) and 5.1 (b) (iii) in the 
SEN2 return guide, some local authorities may have reported those transfers in progress 
rather than those where a decision has been made not to issue a plan. The wording has 
been amended to ensure we only collect this data for those where a decision has been 
made not to issue an EHC plan in 2016. 
 

 
6 
Related information  
Previously 
published SEN 
figures 
The series of publications is available online at:  
Statistics: special educational needs (SEN). 
This web page also hosts the series Children with special 
educational needs: an analysis which contains key statistics 
on pupils with special educational needs including attainment, 
destinations, tribunal appeals, school absence and 
exclusions. 
Wales 
Welsh Assembly Government: Pupils with statements of 
Special Educational Needs (SEN): 
Welsh Government: Pupils with statements of special 
educational needs (SEN) 
Scotland 
Scottish Government: In Scotland there is different legislation 
and instead of having SEN they have pupils with Additional 
Support Needs (ASN). Information on this is included in the 
below publication. 
Summary Statistics for Schools in Scotland. 
School Education Statistics 
Northern Ireland 
Department for Education, Northern Ireland: Special 
Educational Needs (SEN) pupils by Education and Library 
Board (ELB). 
ELB 
Special schools data. 
School level data 
 
 

 
7 
Annex A: Pathfinder local authorities 
Local authority code Local authority name 
Region 
203 Greenwich 
London 
209 Lewisham 
London 
303 Bexley 
London 
305 Bromley 
London 
334 Solihull 
West Midlands 
352 Manchester 
North West 
353 Oldham 
North West 
354 Rochdale 
North West 
358 Trafford 
North West 
359 Wigan 
North West 
381 Calderdale 
Yorkshire and the Humber 
390 Gateshead 
North East 
420 Isles of Scilly 
South West 
805 Hartlepool 
North East 
815 North Yorkshire 
Yorkshire and the Humber 
841 Darlington 
North East 
845 East Sussex 
South East 
846 Brighton and Hove 
South East 
850 Hampshire 
South East 
852 Southampton 
South East 
856 Leicester 
East Midlands 
865 Wiltshire 
South West 
878 Devon 
South West 
886 Kent 
South East 
887 Medway 
South East 
891 Nottinghamshire 
East Midlands 
908 Cornwall 
South West 
919 Hertfordshire 
East of England 
928 Northamptonshire 
East Midlands 
936 Surrey 
South East 
938 West Sussex 
South East 

 
8 
 
 
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