Sources and method

Every figure on this site comes from a public document or official statistic, listed below.

Department for Education statistics

These come from Explore Education Statistics. A script downloads each file, keeps the rows for England, London and the London boroughs, and saves a copy in the repository. Rates such as "% within 20 weeks" are recalculated from the published counts. The City of London is left out of London rankings because its numbers are too small to compare.

Ombudsman data

Published decisions and headline complaint statistics from the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman are downloaded by a script, like the DfE data. Last downloaded 2026-10-25. Copies: ombudsman_decisions.csv, ombudsman_annual_stats.csv.

When new figures are due

Dates from the GOV.UK release calendar, checked 2026-10-25. Provisional dates can change.

Council, NHS and inspection documents

Figures from these documents were copied by hand, with the page number. The original wording is kept where it is unclear what a figure covers, with a note explaining the problem. The extracted figures are in council_reported.yaml and inspection.yaml.

Things to bear in mind

• DfE and council figures measure different things. DfE timeliness counts plans issued in a calendar year. The council's monitoring uses monthly or quarterly snapshots from its own case management system.
• Data quality. In October 2025 the council said its performance data "may be providing a worst-case scenario as data analytics from our Capita system is inaccurate" (London Borough of Waltham Forest, SEND Improvement Plan - Progress So Far (October 2025), p. 5). The council did not say whether this also affects the figures it sends to the DfE.
• Small numbers. Exam results and exclusion rates for pupils with EHC plans are based on small groups and can change a lot from year to year.
• Provisional data. The latest year of exam results is usually provisional and is revised later.
• Suppressed figures. DfE hides some small numbers to protect privacy. These show as "–" or "no data".

Gaps

Figures parents have asked for that we have not found published for Waltham Forest:

• Numeric targets for EHC plan timeliness, annual reviews or plan quality.
• Regular, dated performance monitoring since the September 2025 highlight report. The only later timeliness figure we found is "12% within 20 weeks" in the July 2026 Schools Forum papers, and they don't say what period it covers.
• The full SEND Reform Plan and its slide pack (Annex A). The July 2026 Schools Forum papers refer to them, but they are not in the published pack.
• Outcomes of SEND Tribunal appeals for Waltham Forest. National figures are published, but not figures for each council.
• How many children are waiting for a named school place or for the provision in their plan to be delivered.

Corrections and updates

The code and data are open. See the repository README for how to add a new document or refresh the statistics. If something here is wrong or out of date, or you have a document we should include, email [email protected] or raise an issue on the repository.