'High risk' warning over number of East Lothian children with additional support needs

A lack of support for children with additional support needs (ASN) is leading to youngsters being placed outside East Lothian for education, a new report has warned.

Concern over the capacity of the local authority’s education service to cope with the number of children in need of additional support has seen the service red flagged as a high risk.

A report on the At Risk Register for the council’s education and children services placed care of youngsters with ASN at the highest risk level of 20.

It warned: “There is a current issue in relation to the lack of capacity to meet the needs of those with additional support needs.

'Monitoring the needs of children' - education chief Lesley Brown

“This is contributing to the need to place children outwith East Lothian for care and education, resulting in significant financial pressures in the externalresidential care and education budget.”

Lesley Brown, the council’s head of education, said that the local authority had introduced a new provision for ASN pupils at Windygoul Primary School in Tranent last year and was working to ensure children who were unable to find a place in special provision were supported in mainstream classes.

She told a virtual meeting of the council’s audit and governance committee that more pupils were expected to join the school population in the coming year.

She said: “We have over 70 new children coming on stream with additional support needs. The number are increasing, which is reflected nationally, not just in East Lothian.

“We have plans in place so that if places are not available, we have suitable places in the school setting.

“And we are monitoring the needs of children coming through in the future.”

The report warns: “Service activity pressures see demand for services outstrip available budgetary and staffing resources, leading to unmet client need and risk to client safety and independence, potentially generating reputational risk for the council, as well as failing to meet statutory responsibilities.”

However, it outlined a range of measure already in place to address the issues, adding: “Education and children’s services are working more collaboratively to support early intervention and prevention for our most vulnerable children and young people to mitigate against children and young people requiring to be placed externally at a later date.”

Speaking after the meeting, Ms Brown said that the 70 children mentioned with additional support needs would have their needs met within the county’s additional support needs provision.

She added: “Demand for our services is rising across the wide range of additional support needs – a pattern that is replicated across Scotland.

“It’s important that we highlight this as part of our resource planning.

“Across education and children’s services, we want to ensure that children are cared for, supported and can learn here in East Lothian, and that their needs are met, whether those are short-term or life-enduring.

“The integration of education and children’s services is critical to our planning across services to support children and families.

“In addition, opening a new specialist provision at Windygoul is part of our commitment to increasing places for children with the most severe and complex needs.

“We also work closely with our school teams and families to put in place support for children in our mainstream classrooms that will enable them to participate in the full range of educational experiences.”

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