Action plan drawn up to improve SEND services in Wolverhampton after critical report
An action plan has been drawn up to improve special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) services in Wolverhampton after they were criticised by officials.
Inspectors from the Care Quality Commission and Ofsted found "significant areas of weakness" in provision for older children and young people with SEND needs.
It led to the city being ordered to urgently submit a Written Statement of Action (WSOA) outlining planned improvements – which have now been backed by councillors.
The review by the two watchdogs had looked at how Wolverhampton Council, the Black Country and West Birmingham Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust among other bodies, identify and meet the needs of young people with SEND.
The WSOA is due to be submitted to Ofsted next month and will be published on the council website and Local Offer pages once it has been approved by Ofsted, which is expected to be in early March.
Councillor Dr Michael Hardacre, Wolverhampton Council's cabinet member for education and skills, said: "Giving children and young people the best possible start in life is a top priority for the council and our partners, and that is especially true for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities.
"As a city, we are committed to improving support, services and provision for SEND children, young adults, parents and carers in Wolverhampton and are committed to working in partnership with, and harnessing the expertise of, service users and the staff who work to support them.
"We are also committed to ensuring that the parents, carers and the children and young people with SEND themselves are directly and transparently involved in co-producing the services that support them, so that that they receive high quality education, care and health provision."
The review of SEND services, conducted in September and released in November, found there were “significant concerns about the effectiveness of the area” due to a lack of accuracy in individual plans, weaknesses in how local bodies worked together and delays in identifying needs and providing support.
It said: "Children in their pre-school years have their additional needs spotted swiftly and have timely access to high-quality support.
“However, too many older children and young people do not, and their parents and carers told inspectors of having to fight to get their child’s needs identified and then waiting too long for their child’s needs to be assessed. This causes a great deal of upset for many parents and carers. In addition, these children do not make the progress they should because the support they need is not in place quickly enough.”
It said the quality and timeliness of education, health and care (EHC) plans were “very poor” in some cases, with an annual review backlog of 200 cases contributing to a lack of urgency in identifying additional and changing needs.
Inspectors found, however, provision for children with SEND in early years "is a strength" and specialist settings provide high-quality provision for children and young people with a range of needs.
And the development of school outreach service three years ago is a "significant strength" of the local partnership – and the emotional, health and well-being board provides "ever-increasing support for children’s and young people’s emotional health and well-being needs across the area".
The watchdogs, however, concluded that "long-standing and embedded weaknesses and systemic failings" in implementing SEND reforms mean that the city’s aim of "every young person achieving an ‘ordinary life’ remains some distance off". Inspectors said the negative impact of Covid had been taken into account in their report.
