Lewisham Council has significantly improved the speed at which it conducts annual reviews for Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) following an investigation by the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGO).
In a meeting of the Children and Young People Select Committee on Tuesday, 15 September 2026, councillors heard that the council has doubled the speed of issuing notification letters to families regarding EHCP reviews since 2024. Nearly 50% of annual reviews due in 2026 have already been completed.
The improvements come after the LGO investigated parental complaints in 2024 and 2025 concerning the timeliness of annual reviews for young people with EHCPs. The LGO's findings highlighted that a high number of annual reviews were not completed within statutory timeframes, prompting a wider investigation into the council's review practices. Lewisham Council submitted an action plan with remedial actions to the LGO, which was accepted.
Reinhild Onuoha, Head of Integrated SEND Services, presented the update, highlighting that the council has implemented several measures to improve compliance and address a backlog where a high number of annual reviews of EHCP's were not completed in 2024 within the statutory timeframes required
and many reviews go unrecorded or overdue.
Nationally, councils met the four-week decision deadline following an annual review meeting in approximately 47.6% of cases.
Measures implemented include the creation of a dedicated annual review officer post to support education settings, the implementation of Microsoft Teams platforms for easier document submission, and enhanced tracking and performance monitoring systems. These initiatives are part of the plan to provid[e] training to our schools and partners, appoint[ ] a specific annual review officer to support that statutory work, and sett[ ]ing up Teams platforms so that all of our schools and education settings can send annual reviews back on time.
While acknowledging that demand remains high and further work is needed, Ms Onuoha stated that the council is on a good trajectory
and moving in the right direction.
Positive feedback has been received from families who are reporting more timely responses.
The committee resolved to note the report and continue monitoring progress at six-month intervals. Further details can be found in the Public reports pack for the meeting.