The local area partnership is working through the Priority Action Plan and SEND Improvement Plan following the outcome of the 2024 Ofsted and CQC inspection. 

Here you will find some key updates on what we have been working on:

Education, Health and Care Plans

• Worcestershire County Council have three new SEND Casework Officer jobs out for advert. This will increase the capacity within the teams who support the co-ordination and management of Education Health and Care Plans (EHCPs). Having extra people in the team aims to reduce the time taken to create EHCPs, improve the quality of plans and improve the communication with families
• Worcestershire County Council has made small improvements to increase the number of EHCPs that are created within the statutory 20-week timeframe. In 2023, 27.7% of new EHCPs were issued within 20 weeks, and this has increased to 38.1% as of end August 2024. We know there is still a long way to go but are hopeful that the additional staffing will help us to improve further

Waiting times within health services

• to support the reduction in Community Paediatric waiting times, Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust (WHCT) have an active procurement process underway to secure additional clinical capacity. With this and by doing some things differently, more community paediatric appointments will be available for those children who are waiting
• WHCT have appointed an Epilepsy Nurse, and we are aiming for them to start in January subject to the usual HR processes
• The Trust have also contacted 250 young people aged 16 and who are on the Umbrella Pathway waiting list. They have been offered the opportunity to transfer to an independent accredited autism assessment provider with the aim of improving their waiting time. So far, 72 young people have opted for the transfer, and this is in process, while others are still considering the offer or working through the detail. The offer of a transfer will remain in place until September 2025

Improving co-production

• during August and September 2024 NHS Herefordshire & Worcestershire worked with Worcestershire Parent Carer Forum to run three online information sessions for parents and carers to share and received feedback on:
  • action being taken to reduce waiting times for Autism and ADHD diagnostic assessments in Worcestershire 
  • plans for a new care pathway for Autism and ADHD diagnostic assessments and support
  • co-produced models for an improved Autism and ADHD diagnostic assessment service & support service

Further information about the new care pathway for Autism and ADHD diagnostic assessments, as well as the summary of the parent carer information sessions is being added to the NHS website.  

• on 9 October we held a co-production session with 12 parent carers and senior leaders from the Worcestershire Local Area Partnership to discuss areas of improvement. The topics included data/attendance, specialist placements, EHCP timeliness and quality, and CAMHS waiting times. Parent carers provided suggestions on ways of addressing the areas of improvement, which will be incorporated into our planning. A full summary of the discussion will be published on the Local Offer. Parent carers were also clear that we need to improve communication with families – so we are making sure we issue monthly updates on the work we are doing

Other updates

• we are still recruiting for the role of Independent Chair of the SEND and Alternative Provision Executive Board. The Independent Chair will provide governance, strategic direction and performance management of leaders of the SEND local area partnership, as we continue our improvement journey. 
• Worcestershire County Council has commissioned Dingley’s Promise to provide two Early Years Enhanced Provisions in Droitwich and Worcester which will be accompanied by extensive outreach support services, including support to local nursery settings and family support. The aims of these provisions are to:
  • provide the best early support for young children
  • help more children join mainstream schools and settings
  • assist families get the right support for their child’s needs
  • ensure each child moves to the right school or setting for them
• The Family Support Offer is available to all families in south Worcestershire with children aged 0-5 who have SEND or a developmental delay and will include stay and plays, home visits, information sessions as well as 1:1 support

We will be providing updates each month, however, please look through the other information on this page to find out more about how you can get involved with our improvement journey. 

Worcestershire’s services for children and young people with SEND were inspected by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in April 2024. The whole local area partnership was part of the inspection which includes NHS Herefordshire and Worcestershire Integrated Care Board, Worcestershire Children First and Worcestershire County Council.

Read the full Ofsted and CQC report

Ofsted and CQC inspectors identified there are “widespread and/or systemic failings leading to significant concerns about the experiences and outcomes of children and young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), which the local area partnership must address urgently”. Inspectors have given the partnership two priority actions to improve:

1. address the long waiting times for community paediatrics, the neurodevelopment assessment pathway, occupational therapy and physiotherapy. Leaders should also improve the support available while children and young people wait
2. develop genuine co-production with children and young people with SEND at a strategic level. Children and young people should feel they have fully participated in the process of developing services, improvement strategies and plans that meet their needs

An additional three areas for improvement have also been identified through the inspection. 

These are:

1. Leaders across the partnership should work at pace to implement the action plans that underpin the SEND strategy and seek to address the areas identified as priorities
2. Leaders across the partnership should work at pace to continue to improve the timeliness and quality of new EHC plans and the quality of existing plans
3. Leaders across the partnership should continue to address the long waiting times for children and young people requesting support from CAMHS

As a result of the inspection, His Majesty’s Chief Inspector has asked the local area partnership to co-produce a Priority Action Plan to address the two priority actions, and an Improvement Plan to address the three areas for improvement. Both of these plans have been approved by Ofsted and the Department for Education and can be found via the links below. 

Read the Priority Action Plan (PDF)

Read the Improvement Plan (PDF)

We will receive a monitoring inspection after 18 months (expected Autumn 2025) and a full inspection after three years (expected Spring 2027). 

We are in the process of recruiting a new independent chair for our SEND and Alternative Provision (AP) Executive Board. The Chair will provide governance, strategic direction and performance management of leaders of the SEND local area partnership. 

The Department for Education (DfE) and NHS England will also be doing ‘deep dives’ on our priority actions after three, six and nine months to ensure things are progressing as they should. This will include assessing how effectively the partnership is responding to the inspection report recommendations, to identify concerns and to determine any next steps. 

Joint statement from the Local Area Partnership, on behalf of Worcestershire Children First and Worcestershire County Council and NHS Herefordshire and Worcestershire Integrated Care Board:

“As a partnership, we absolutely accept the failings and are truly sorry that children and young people have not received the support they need.

“We are determined to carry out the actions set within our improvement plans following the independent Ofsted and CQC inspection.

“One of the priority actions is to reduce waiting times within our health services. We will do this by focusing on additional capacity to meet the high increase in demand over the last few years, to make sure children get the assessments and the care that they need.

“The other priority action is how we include our children, young people and families in plans to change and improve the services we provide. We are committed to working together as a genuine partnership, which includes our families, to ensure meaningful improvements are made.

“All of the actions from the improvement plans will be monitored independently to ensure they are being delivered. This includes regular reviews by the Department for Education and NHS England, the appointment of an Independent Chair following the creation of an Improvement Board and quarterly oversight from the Children and Families Overview and Scrutiny Panel.

“We understand that it will take time to build the trust of those have been let down. We promise we will work together to make the necessary improvements required.”

Representatives from the local area partnership have met with the Worcestershire Youth Cabinet and Worcestershire’s Parent Carer Forum is working closely with the local area partnership to bring the voice of parent carers to our services, plans and strategies. We held a recent ‘priority action co-production workshop’ for parent carers and will hold future co-production events as we progress in our journey of improvement.

You can link in with the Parent Carer Forum to find out about the latest news, developments and events or get more involved and attend co production workshops, forums, discussion groups or become a parent carer rep at regular meetings with the local area partnership. 

Find out more about the Parent Carer Forum on their website

Follow Worcestershire Parent Carer Forum on Facebook for the latest news and events

We send out regular All-Age Disability newsletter to anyone who is signed up to our Children’s Disability and Additional Needs Register (who has provided their email address and opted in to receiving updates). The newsletters will include regular updates on the improvements we’re making in SEND services.