Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) AI Pilot

Tender description

Cambridgeshire County Council is inviting interested suppliers to participate in the market engagement exercise for its Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) AI Pilot. The Council currently manages a significant and growing statutory Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) workload, with over 8,000 active plans requiring maintenance and annual review, alongside approximately 160 new referrals per month for assessment. Performance against the 20‑week statutory timescale remains poor, with a substantial backlog of assessments and limited capacity within casework teams to meet demand through existing ways of working. EHCP drafting is a highly manual, time intensive process, typically requiring up to one working day per case which contributes directly to delays, inconsistency in quality and customer dissatisfaction. At present, there is no AI enabled solution contracted or embedded within the EHCP drafting process, and drafting activity is undertaken using standard tools and manual processes. Therefore, the Council has undertaken this market engagement with suppliers offering AI assisted EHCP solutions. The exercise seeks to introduce a compliant, secure AI driven solution to support EHCP drafting that complements existing staffing investments and aligns with statutory requirements.