Education minister Paul Givan has said it is “wholly unacceptable” that a child in Northern Ireland has had to wait 72 weeks to receive a statement of special educational needs (SEN).
The startling wait time for the child was revealed by the DUP minister in response to an assembly question by Alliance MLA Nick Mathison.
It comes amid a recent warning from Northern Ireland children’s commissioner (NICCY) that failure to deliver on special needs provision in the north is “robbing our children of their right to an education”.
Asked for the current longest waiting time for the issue of a statement of SEN in the north, Mr Givan said the “Education Authority (EA) has advised” that it is 72 weeks.
“While it is wholly unacceptable that any child is waiting this long for an assessment of their needs, my understanding is that the circumstances around the case are significantly complex and that the process itself can, in these type of cases, sometimes be the barrier”.
Mr Givan added that “it is for this reason that the assessment and statementing process is a key workstream under the End to End (E2E) review of SEN as this is a critical component to ensuring that children and young people receive the right support, from the right people, at the right time and in the right place”.
Earlier this month a report from the NICCY revealed just one quarter of recommendations made to help transform provision for children with SEN in the north has had “clear progress” over the past four years.
It said commitment from authorities to implementing recommendations that NICCY had made in 2020 to progress SEN provision had been “painstakingly slow”.
Mr Mathison said it is “deeply concerning to hear about any child or young person waiting this length of time for a statement of special educational needs”.
“I have today asked further questions of the minister to help understand the scale of the problem in relation to delays in children being provided with statements,” he said.
“The SEN system in Northern Ireland has been in crisis for many years now and one of the first motions Alliance brought to the assembly since its return called for urgent reform and investment so that our pupils are given the service and support they deserve.
“I will continue to make this a priority as chair of the education committee and Alliance education spokesperson - it is vital that the department deliver on the promise of reform of SEN services - failure to do so lets down our children and young people, their families and our schools.
“There has been a history of EA failing to deliver a fit for purpose service and families regularly report feeling like they have to fight for services they are entitled to for their children.
“The EA and department have no time to waste to address this crisis in our education system.
The EA said it has a duty to complete the statutory assessment process within 26 weeks, however, “in some instances where complex needs are identified this may take longer”.
“As of March 17, the EA is progressing 2187 requests for statements of which 6% are over the 26 week timeframe.”
It added that it could not pre-empt the outcome of a statutory assessment.
“This is a detailed process to determine the needs of children and young people, in order to ensure they receive the right support, delivered by the right people, at the right time and in the right place.”
