The formal notice for Kent County Council (KCC) to improve services for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) has been lifted by the government.
The Children’s Minister, Janet Daby MP, wrote to local representatives on Tuesday (6th August) announcing the news, saying “considerable progress” had been made since the improvement notice was issued, following a critical SEND revisit inspection undertaken by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission in September 2022.
A formal monitoring visit in April 2024 found “sustainable improvements” were being made in all nine areas of weakness identified in the 2022 inspection.
During 2022 Kent parents faced delays in accessing vital support, such as educational health and care plans (EHCPs), which enable a child to go to a special school.
In May 2022, only 45% of EHCPs were delivered to parents within the legal timeframe of 20 weeks amid “unprecedented” demand.
The 9 areas of weakness were:
- A widely held concern of parents that the local area is not able, or in some cases not willing, to meet their children’s needs.
- A variable quality of provision and commitment to inclusion in schools, and the lack of willingness of some schools to accommodate children and young people with SEND.
- That parents and carers have a limited role in reviewing and designing services for children and young people with SEND.
- An inability of current joint commissioning arrangements to address known gaps and eliminate longstanding weaknesses in the services for children and young people with SEND.
- Poor standards achieved, and poor progress made, by too many children and young people with SEND.
- The inconsistent quality of the EHC process; a lack of up-to-date assessments and limited contributions from health and care professionals; and poor processes to check and review the quality of EHC plans.
- Weak governance of SEND arrangements across the EHC system at strategic and operational level and an absence of robust action plans to address known weaknesses.
- Unacceptable waiting times for children and young people to be seen by some health services, particularly CAMHS, tier two services, SALT, the wheelchair service, and ASD and ADHD assessment and review.
- A lack of effective systems to review and improve outcomes for those children and young people whose progress to date has been limited by weaknesses in provision.
While the notice was issued to KCC, the council was asked to work with NHS Kent and Medway Integrated Care Board (ICB) to deliver the improvement plan, which included health-related actions.
KCC says it has tripled the number of cases completed each month, halved the number of cases waiting for an assessment decision and is on track to hit national averages for the 20-week deadline by September.
In her latest letter, the Children’s Minister said: “I was encouraged to read that the local area was able to demonstrate evidence of considerable progress since the improvement notice was issued.
“I have noted that strengthened capacity and strong governance arrangements, alongside renewed commitment from senior leaders and improved partnership working across the local area has increased the pace of change over the last 16 months.
“I have therefore taken the decision to lift the improvement notice on the understanding that the provision of SEND services remains a priority for all in the local area… my decision is a reflection of the hard work undertaken by the local area to improve services.”
The Minister added that there is still “further progress to be made” and that government officials and NHS England will continue to support progress of the improvement plan. This will be achieved through their regular attendance at Improvement Board and through six-monthly reviews.
KCC’s Cabinet Member for Education and Skills, Rory Love, said: “I am delighted that the significant improvements we have already made have been recognised by the Government.
“Since my appointment to my Cabinet role, we have strengthened our internal teams, strengthened our working practices, and strengthened our partnerships with the NHS, the education sector, and Kent PACT. The hard work of all concerned is now bringing benefits for children, young people, and their families.”
KCC’s Corporate Director for Children, Young People and Education, Sarah Hammond, said: “The Minister’s decision is a testament to the hard work and dedication of the people who work tirelessly to support children and young people and their families – nursery, childcare and early years workers, teachers and teaching assistants, school and college leaders, health and social care workers, therapists, Kent PACT, our partners in the NHS and our own staff.
“I also want to thank all the young people and their parents and carers for sharing their experiences and feedback. Your willingness to work positively with us has been critical to helping shape the improvements we have collectively made across the SEND system.”
NHS Kent and Medway’s Chief Delivery Officer, Lee Martin, said: “This is welcome recognition of the strengthened partnership working put in place between KCC and NHS Kent and Medway following the improvement notice. Together, we can really make a difference.
“It is good news for children in Kent with special educational needs and disabilities, their families and our colleagues, who will continue to work hard to support them.”