Welcome to the Autumn Term 2025! I am proud to say that this month is my first anniversary with the EHCP Team. The past 12 months have seen the EHCP Team developing it’s services and, reviewing and refining practices. We have a strengthened team with 7 new EHCP Case Officers who have followed a robust induction plan in May and the whole team has participated in on-going professional development.
Most recently we have an additional 4 staff to the team who are responsible for supporting the Annual Review processes.
There are more changes and developments planned to support and further strengthen the team, so that we can achieve our goal of all Shropshire children and young people with SEND to be healthy, happy and safe, and able to achieve their potential to lead a fulfilling life. We want them to have, and to expect the same opportunities in life as other children and young people. We want them to thrive and live their best life. As an EHCP Team we strive to play our part in this vision, whilst fully understanding and acknowledging that we are not there yet.
We have in excess of 3200 Children and Young People in Shropshire with an EHC Plan and will continue to improve our services to support them and their families.
Meet some of the Team:
Keith Melville - I am the Senior Case Officer for the Post-16 EHCP Team who have responsibility for those young people with EHCP’s from Year 12 and above.
I have previously worked in a variety of school settings including mainstream, pupil referral unit and special schools. I have worked within the Shropshire EHCP Team for the last four years.
Claire Fellowes - I am the Senior EHCP Case Officer for the Early Years EHCP Team, responsible for supporting children with Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) from birth through to the end of Year 2.
With a background in both classroom teaching and pastoral care across a range of school settings, I bring a deep understanding of the educational landscape. My passion for ensuring that all children and families have equitable access to education is what led me to this role.
I have worked within Shropshire Local Authority for 18 years, and for the past four years, I have been part of the EHCP Team, where I continue to advocate for the needs of our youngest learners and their families.
Jemma Allison - I have worked for Local Authority since I was a teenager, this is my 13th year working within the world of SEND. I started my career with Staffordshire, then moving on to Solihull. More recently I have worked within the post 16 team at Hackney Council.
I joined Shropshire Local Authority in April 2025 as a Senior EHC Case Officer to support with the Annual Review backlog and recovery project, since then my role has expanded, and I am now also overseeing the Annual Review team as well.
Gaynor Styles - I am the Senior Case Officer for the Secondary EHCP Team who have responsibility for those young people with EHCP’s in Years 7 – 11.
I am a qualified Teacher with 25 years’ experience working in the Secondary Phase in Shropshire and surrounding authorities and have strategically led SEND and Inclusion teams as part of my Senior Management role. I began my work within the Shropshire EHCP Team in March 2021.
Helen Petrie - My name is Helen Petrie, and I am the Senior EHCP Case Officer for the KS2 Team. I have a wealth of experience across SEND having worked in both mainstream primary settings and specialist secondary provision for young people experiencing difficulties with their Social, Emotional and Mental Health.
I have been a part of the EHCP Team at Shropshire LA for 4 years after initially joining the team as a Post 16 Transition Officer in September 2021.
I am married (to a Teacher) and have two daughters aged 21 and 18 years along with 4 lovely cats!!!
Priorities for the coming academic term
Phase Transfers - Phased transfers | Shropshire Council
Phase Transfers for those children and young people who are moving from Reception to Year 1, from Year 2 to Year 3, Year 6 to 7, and those at Year 11 and moving to post 16, all require their plans to be amended. This seasonal piece of work is critical to ensuring that we meet our statutory duties in line the SEN and Disability Regulations 2014. We aim to complete these amendments in readiness for the 15th February 2026 deadline.
The Annual Review Recovery Team are currently supporting with the cohort of Phase Transfers (Year 6 and Year 11). The parameters are those young people who have annual reviews which have not been actioned from the last academic year but are currently in Year 6 and Year 11. They will be responsible for amending the EHCP, consulting with future settings and the case work in between.
Our new EHCP Case Officers who will be working in the area of Annual Reviews, are taking part in their induction and training, but bring them a wealth of knowledge and experience already.
Our newly appointed Case Officers for Annual Reviews will be asking settings to flag where there are concerns, risk of placement breakdown, request for a change of placement or significant changes to needs. Our Officers will aim to attend reviews, and in person where this suits the needs and expectations of the family/young person, however, teams/zoom can be equally as productive.
Education Health Care Needs Assessments
In respect of the Children and Families Act 2014 (CAFA 2014), the 20-week legal timescale for local authorities to complete an EHC Plan, we have been and continue to experience delays in being able to meet our statutory timescales of 20 weeks. This timeframe ensures that families receive a decision on an EHC plan as efficiently as possible. We make a full apology for this, but we do have robust plans in place to recover this timeliness and having had these plans in place since May, are now seeing some growth in our timeliness recovery. As of August, is 15.6%, of plans have met the 20 week deadline.
Some of the delays are due to delays across the systems and partnerships which are beyond the control of the EHCP Team. For example, the Educational Psychology Service is experiencing a deficit of staff, which mirrors a national picture, and are not able to assess children and young people within timeframes, but where we can affect the outturn, we are making our best efforts.
Annie Williams, EHCP Team Manager, EHCP Team, Shropshire Council