EHCP & SEN plans in Herefordshire
Case reference FOI2025/01118
Received 10 June 2025
Published 3 July 2025
Request
The information concerns parental responsibility measures in the 2023/24 academic year, based on figures provided by local authorities in the parental responsibility measures attendance census (referred to henceforth as “the census”). My request relates directly to the figures provided by the council in response to this census, and subsequently published by the Department for Education.
1. Of the 21,913 pupil enrolments in academic year 2023/24 submitted in response to the census, how many pupils had an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) and/or SEN support short of an EHCP?
2. Of the 21,913 pupil enrolments in academic year 2023/24 submitted in response to the census, how many pupils had an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP)?
3. Of the 927 penalty notices issued in relation to school attendance in 2023/24, how many were in relation to pupils who had an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) and/or SEN support short of an EHCP?
4. Of the 927 penalty notices issued in relation to school attendance in 2023/24, how many were in relation to pupils who had an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP)?
5. Of the 17 penalty notices issued in relation to school attendance for reasons other than holidays or lateness in 2023/24, how many were in relation to pupils who had an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) and/or SEN support short of an EHCP?
6. Of the 17 penalty notices issued in relation to school attendance for reasons other than holidays or lateness in 2023/24, how many were in relation to pupils who had an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP)? Some of these questions concern “EHCP and/or SEN support short of an EHCP”, while others concern just EHCPs.
This is in case the council does not record the requested information in relation to “SEN support short of an EHCP”. If the information for any question is not recorded in an available manner, please mark that question as “information not held” and process the remainder of the request.
Response
The information concerns parental responsibility measures in the 2023/24 academic year, based on figures provided by local authorities in the parental responsibility measures attendance census (referred to henceforth as “the census”). My request relates directly to the figures provided by the council in response to this census, and subsequently published by the Department for Education.
1. Of the 21,913 pupil enrolments in academic year 2023/24 submitted in response to the census, how many pupils had an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) and/or SEN support short of an EHCP?
2. Of the 21,913 pupil enrolments in academic year 2023/24 submitted in response to the census, how many pupils had an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP)?
Answer: The Parental responsibility measures (PRM) data collection only consider pupils of statutory school age at the beginning of the year. The Department for Education (DfE) collects data on a termly basis from schools in the maintained sector three times a year as part of the termly school census. The DfE produces a data release - Special Educational Needs in England which contains figures on pupils with special educational needs (SEN) including their type of SEN provision, type of need, age, national curriculum year group, sex, ethnicity, English as a first language and free school meal eligibility.
Figures reported in the release are taken specifically from the Spring census in January each year, therefore the number of enrolments differs slightly from those presented in the PRM data release.
As at Spring 2023-4 there were 21,119 pupils on roll across Herefordshire maintained primary, secondary, special and alternative provision schools.
3575 (16.9%) pupils had SEN Support (special education needs but not a education, health and care plan)
917 (4.3%) pupils had a Education, health and care plan (EHCP)
4492 (21.3%) pupils has either SEN or EHCP
3. Of the 927 penalty notices issued in relation to school attendance in 2023/24, how many were in relation to pupils who had an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) and/or SEN support short of an EHCP?
4. Of the 927 penalty notices issued in relation to school attendance in 2023/24, how many were in relation to pupils who had an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP)?
5. Of the 17 penalty notices issued in relation to school attendance for reasons other than holidays or lateness in 2023/24, how many were in relation to pupils who had an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) and/or SEN support short of an EHCP?
6. Of the 17 penalty notices issued in relation to school attendance for reasons other than holidays or lateness in 2023/24, how many were in relation to pupils who had an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP)?
Answer: In relation to questions 3 to 6 unfortunately, we don’t record this data so would not be able to provide any information regarding penalty notices issued to pupils with an EHCP or SEN. The PRM information we provide to the DfE does not require us to report on these specific characteristics.
Some of these questions concern “EHCP and/or SEN support short of an EHCP”, while others concern just EHCPs. This is in case the council does not record the requested information in relation to “SEN support short of an EHCP”.
If the information for any question is not recorded in an available manner, please mark that question as “information not held” and process the remainder of the request.
Documents
This is Herefordshire Council's response to a freedom of information (FOI) or environmental information regulations (EIR) request.
You can browse our other responses or make a new FOI request.