A statement from Hampshire County Council’s Special Educational Needs Service
1200pm, 19 March 2020:

Hampshire County Council’s Special Educational Needs Service is a statutory service. As such, the County Council is doing everything possible to maintain essential services with as little interruption as possible in the face of the challenges created by Covid 19 (Coronavirus). The timely completion of education, health and care assessments are in-part dependent on professionals in other agencies including schools and the NHS. As the NHS considers redeploying staff to front-line support, some interruptions and delays to education, health and care assessments and the issuing of Education, Health and Care plans may be experienced but we will do all we can to minimise delays.
 

• Information about how the County Council supports children, young people and families with special educational needs is available on the website: https://www.hants.gov.uk/socialcareandhealth/childrenandfamilies/specialneeds 
• The County Council’s Special Educational Needs Helpline will remain staffed and open for families: Telephone 01329 316165 between 9am and 5pm (4.30pm on Fridays).
• The Special Educational Needs Service will continue to receive and process requests for education, health and care assessments.
• Hampshire SENDIASS are preparing contingency measures to ensure its service remains available to families in need over the coming weeks and months: https://www.hampshiresendiass.co.uk/ 

 
Hampshire County Council is in direct, regular contact with the Department for Education about the government’s announcement made on 18 March 2020 on learners with Education, Health and Care Plans, vulnerable groups, key workers and school closures. We will update how this affects children and young people with Education, Health and Care plans as soon as possible. Families should also continue to monitor communications from the school their child attends regarding closures.