Yahoo News North Northamptonshire Council outlines 'priority' plans to improve SEND services after damning Ofsted report
North Northamptonshire Council (NNC) has revealed their action plan to improve their special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) partnership after a damning report on their services was published earlier this year.
Inspectors from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and Ofsted viewed the service in January 2024 and found "widespread and systemic failings" in their provision. NNC previously said it "fully accepts" the findings.
His Majesty’s Chief Inspector required the Local Area Partnership to prepare and submit a priority action plan (PAP) to detail their ambitions to improve the service over the coming months and years. The partnership is made up from NNC and the NHS Northamptonshire Integrated Care Board in conjunction with the Children's Trust.
Charlotte Franks, interim head of SEND at NNC, said: "One of the key parts to note is in our self-evaluation of those services we recognised that there are lots of areas for improvement for children and young people with special educational needs.
"We weren't presenting that the services are really thorough and well delivered- we were recognising that there are lots of areas of improvement and the inspection agreed with that self-assessment."
The authority's PAP was approved by the Department for Education (DfE) in May. It contains four areas of 'priority' action, six areas for improvement and 11 strengths.
The key areas flagged as the highest need include ensuring there is a clear direction for partnership working across the services, strengthening joint commissioning, putting in place heightened governance arrangements to monitor SEND and alternative provision strategy and improving accurate and early identification of needs, including the timeliness of education health and care plans (EHCPs).
Other improvement areas encompass addressing long waiting times, commissioning quality alternative provision, supporting young people's transition into adulthood and more. Alongside this, a SEND Improvement Programme will be further developed for delivery and oversight of all identified areas for improvement in North Northants.
You can view the full action plan and detailed approach here.
A monitoring inspection from Ofsted and CQC will take place in 18 months (October 2025) to evaluate progress made in the priority areas. Following on from that, a full reinspection of the authority's SEND services will take place in around two to three years.
