PLANS to help children with special educational needs in their schoolwork are not being completed quickly enough.

Oxfordshire County Council's cabinet will discuss the rate at which Education and Health Care Plans are completed within the county at its meeting today.

EHC plans are legal documents which explain what extra help children should have in school if they have special educational, health or social needs.

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According to Contact, a charity for families with disabled children, EHC plans are important because they 'explain the extra help that will be given to meet a child's needs and how that help will support the child to achieve what they want to in their life'.

The county council's business management monitoring report for January said only 43 per cent of these plans were completed within the 20 week target period.

The goal is for 75 per cent of them to be finished in 20 weeks.

The report said demand had risen, with 777 requests for EHC plans in 2018, and 1,027 in 2019.

On top of this, staff sicknesses and the Christmas holidays had contributed to the delay.

Every month, the council monitors how well it follows different goals using a Red, Amber and Green colour coding system.

In December, the rate at which EHC plans were complete was ranked yellow.

It is currently ranked red.

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Background work has been taken since January to make sure children have the reports in place within the 20-week deadline.

This has included meetings of education chiefs to make sure the council is on track to finish as many of the documents as soon as possible.

According to the report, the council is on track to do better in its February report.

The number of people who are being kept in hospital due to a lack of social care - also knowns as bed blocking - has also remained in the red.

It was also a poor area for the council's performance in December, with many of them waiting for reablement services: social workers who can hep them take steps to go about their daily business despite injuries or disabilities.

The cabinet is expected to note the report.