Disclosure Log

Freedom of Information request - Freedom of Information request: children with EHCPs currently awaiting placement (FOI/7894)

Message from Nottinghamshire County Council - 20 May 2026

Dear Requester,
Request FOI/7894
Further to your request received on 7th May 2026, I confirm that the Council has now considered your request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Questions)
Please provide the most recent data available, as at the date you process this request, regarding children and young people with a maintained Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP).

Please provide:
  1. The total number of children and young people with a maintained EHCP for whom no named educational placement is currently recorded in Section I.
 
  1. Of those in Q1, the number currently awaiting:
  • a maintained special school placement
  • an academy special school placement
  • an independent or non-maintained special school placement
  • a mainstream placement
  • an alternative provision placement
  • another type of placement
 
  1. Of those in Q1, the number currently receiving:
  • Education Otherwise Than At School (EOTAS)
  • home tuition or interim tuition
  • a reduced or part-time education package
  • no education package commissioned by the authority
 
  1. Of those in Q1, the number by phase:
  • Primary
  • Secondary
  • Post-16
 
  1. Of those in Q1, the number by primary need:
  • ASD
  • SEMH
  • SLCN
  • all other primary needs combined

Answers)
We have undertaken initial enquiries and identified approximately 245 children and young people who appear to have maintained EHCPs but are not currently recorded as being in education.

The additional information you have requested (including placement type, provision, phase, and primary need) is not held in a format that can be extracted through standard reporting. It is recorded across individual EHCP documents and case records.

To provide this information would require manual review of each case file. We estimate this would take in excess of 6 minutes per record, equating to over 24 hours of officer time (6mins x 245 / 60 = 24.5hrs).

This exceeds the statutory cost limit of £450 (18 hours at £25 per hour). Your request is therefore refused under Section 12(1).

Advice and Assistance (Section 16 of the FOIA2000)
You may wish to refine your request to fall within the cost limit. The following options may enable us to provide a response:
  • Requesting a headline figure only (e.g. number of EHCPs with no placement / placement unknown)
  • Limiting to one breakdown only (e.g. phase or primary need)
  • Narrowing the scope to a specific cohort, age group, or snapshot date

We hope you find this information useful.
The Council publishes Access to Information requests and responses on its online Disclosure Log. Only requests deemed to be in the public interest will be included and any request included within this log will be de-personalised accordingly.
To view the Council’s Disclosure Log, please visit our website.
Your privacy: we use your personal information such as name and address so that we can comply with our legal obligations to respond to FOI requests.  For further details about the use of information about you, please see the information handling privacy notice on our website at:
https://www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/media/4323566/informationgovernanceandinformationrightsprivacynotice.pdf
 
If you are dissatisfied with the handling of your request, you have the right to ask for an internal review.   Requests should be submitted within 40 working days of the date of receipt of the response to your original request and should be addressed to: Complaints and Information Team, Nottinghamshire County Council, County Hall, Loughborough Road, West Bridgford, NOTTINGHAM, NG2 7QP or [email protected].
 
Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future communications.
 
If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision.  The Information Commissioner can be contacted at: Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, WILMSLOW, SK9 5AF or https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/foi-and-eir-complaints/.

Yours sincerely



Freedom of Information
Complaints and Information Team
Chief Executives Department                                         
Nottinghamshire County Council
The Council is committed to protecting your privacy and ensuring all personal information is kept confidential and safe. For more details see our general and service specific privacy notices at: https://www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/global-content/privacy