Decision details

The Cabinet Member for Children and Education:

1.    Approves the annual financial contribution of £1,112,074 towards the contract held by the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) for Speech and Language Therapy services provided by Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust (CLCH) for four years from April 2022 to March 2026. Total £4,448,296.

2.    Approves an additional financial contribution of £67,460 per annum towards the contract held by the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) for Speech and Language Therapy services provided by Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust (CLCH) for an integrated Speech Therapist post within the Council’s Joint Communication Team for a period of four years. Total £269,840.

The decision enables the Local Authority to discharge its statutory duties in securing provision specified in Section F of the EHC Plan (s.42 Children and Families Act 2014) whilst supporting ongoing transformation work in developing a robust ordinarily available offer that supports meeting speech, language and communication needs earlier and without the need for an EHC Plan.

Option 1: Agree to the financial contributions for the Speech and Language services, recommendations one and two. (Recommended)

Option 2: Do not agree the financial contributions for the Speech and Language services, recommendations one and two. (Not recommended)

Option 3: Agree the financial contributions for the Speech and Language services (recommendation one) but do not agree funding to support development of an integrated early intervention offer (recommendation two). (Not recommended)