There has been a 10% rise in the number of Education and Health Care Plans issued to children and young people in the last year according to Department for Education statistics.
There were 473,255 EHC plans at January 2022, up from 430,697 in 2021, continuing the upward trend in the issuing of EHC plans since 2010.
“The number of new EHC plans has increased each year since their introduction in 2014,” the report added.
Indeed, there were 62,180 new EHC plans in 2021, up from 60,097 in 2020.
The number of initial requests for an EHC plan increased during the calendar year, continuing the long-term trend of increases
There were 93,300 initial requests for an EHC plan during 2021, up from 76,000 in 2020. Apart from a decrease in 2019, initial requests have increased each year since EHC plans were introduced.
In 2021, 59.9% of new EHC plans were issued within 20 weeks. This was an increase when compared to 2020 when 58% of new plans were issued within 20 weeks, but lower than the 60.4% issued in 2019.
