Somerset SEND pupils face school move delays

By Laura Linham 15th May 2026

Local News by Laura Linham 6 minutes ago

Somerset children with special educational needs are being left waiting for key support plans when they move schools, councillors have been told.

The issue was raised at Somerset Council's executive committee meeting in Taunton on Monday, 6 May.

Children with education, health and care plans, known as EHCPs, are meant to have their support reviewed when they move from primary to secondary school or into post-16 education.

The process is called a phase transfer.

It is supposed to make sure pupils do not lose support when they start at a new school or college.

But Councillor Diogo Rodrigues, leader of the Conservative opposition group on Somerset Council, said too many families were being left without proper arrangements in place.

Cllr Rodrigues, who represents Bridgwater East and Bawdrip, said Somerset already had a "dreadful backlog" of initial EHCP needs assessments.

He said: "I am concerned about the EHCP reviews that are required to support students' phase transfers – when they move from primary to secondary or on to post-16 education."

He asked the council how many reviews had been due over the last three years, how many were completed on time, how late delayed reviews were, and how many remain outstanding.

Councillor Heather Shearer, portfolio holder for children, families and education, admitted performance had declined in the last year.

Cllr Shearer, who represents Mendip West, said the number of EHCP transfer reviews had increased over the past three years.

She said timeliness had stayed steady in 2023/24 and 2024/25, but had fallen in 2025/26.

Cllr Shearer said: "It's really important that we address this increasing demand and our capacity to meet demand, along with statutory compliance."

The council says urgent measures are now being taken to complete all phase transfers by the end of the summer term.

These include bringing in agency support, involving several agencies in school place discussions, redeploying managers and increasing front-line capacity.

A business case is also being prepared to reorganise statutory SEND services and improve oversight.