Surrey council reveals 532 children needing extra support awaiting special school places

• Surrey County Council discloses 532 children with EHC Plans are awaiting allocation of a special school place.
• Children with autism spectrum disorder form the largest group awaiting placement, numbering 229.
• No children are currently receiving Section 19 education or interim tuition while awaiting a specialist placement.
• Surrey refused to provide data on independent school placements or average waiting times, citing costs exceeding the £450 FOI threshold.
• The council offered to fulfil the refused requests upon payment or in response to a narrowed information request.

Surrey County Council has disclosed that 532 children and young people with Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plans are currently awaiting allocation of a special school place, according to a Freedom of Information response issued to a member of the public.

The disclosure, made in response to a request received on 17 August 2026, reveals that all 532 cases are open to the council's SEND admissions and SEND placements teams pending placement.

A breakdown by primary type of need shows that children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) account for the largest group, with 229 awaiting a place. Social, emotional and mental health needs (SEMH) represent the second largest category at 117, followed by speech, language and communication needs (SLCN) at 104, and moderate learning difficulties (MLD) at 53. Smaller numbers include severe and profound learning difficulties (SLD/PMLD) at 16, specific learning difficulties (SpLD) at 6, physical needs at 1, and visual needs at 1. Five children have no recorded primary need.

The council confirmed that zero children are currently being educated otherwise than at school under a Section 19 arrangement while awaiting a specialist placement, and zero are receiving interim or alternative tuition in the same circumstances.

Two of the six questions posed by the requester were refused on cost grounds. Surrey declined to provide the number of children placed in an independent special school because no maintained school place was available, and also declined to provide the average waiting time between an EHC Plan naming a school or type of provision and the child starting at that placement. In both cases, the council applied Section 12(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, which permits a public authority to refuse a request where the cost of compliance would exceed the statutory limit of £450. The council estimated that each task would require more than 18 hours of staff time at £25 per hour. It offered to fulfil either request upon payment, or to consider a narrowed version of each question.