Concerns have been raised over Ofsted’s decision to delay return visits to areas found to have widespread failings in special educational needs provision.

Experts claim it is “irresponsible” for these visits to have been put on hold at a time when the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system is widely regarded as being in crisis.

It comes as a Tes analysis of published SEND inspection reports for the 12 areas found to have “widespread and systemic failings” - the lowest rating - sets out the huge scale of the problems identified in these authorities.

The analysis also reveals that nearly one in five areas has not had a SEND area inspection for five years or more, amid concerns over a SEND “accountability gap”.

‘Scrutiny and accountability’ needed now

The 12 areas with the lowest rating for SEND would have previously expected further scrutiny in a “monitoring” visit 18 months after their initial inspection.

However, Ofsted has announced that its SEND area inspections are under review and, until this is completed, it will not carry out monitoring visits.

Catriona Moore, policy manager for SEND charity IPSEA, said: “Area SEND inspection is one of the few forms of accountability that exists for young people with SEND. If accountability is really as non-negotiable as the education secretary has said, it is baffling that monitoring visits to local areas with the most significant weaknesses are being put on hold.”

Gillian Doherty of Special Needs Jungle said that “given the desperate state of SEND provision nationally, it is irrational and irresponsible” for Ofsted to pause monitoring visits for local authorities identified as having widespread and systemic failings.

“This reduces scrutiny and accountability at the time it is most needed,” she added.

SEND area inspections are an inspection of partnerships of service providers. Follow-up inspections are on hold, but full inspections of local area SEND partnerships will still be carried out.

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Jo Fisher of the Association of Directors of Children’s Services welcomed the review.

Supporting children with additional needs and disabilities was a partnership between health, schools and councils, but “currently it is only the local authority that is held to account when weaknesses are uncovered”, she said.

The government had recognised the “significant systemic issues” facing SEND services, and “no single local authority can solve these issues alone”, she said.

Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) launched their new SEND area inspections last year and the first monitoring visits were due to start this term.

Inspections rank a local area partnership in one of three categories:

• SEND arrangements typically lead to positive experiences and outcomes for children and young people with SEND.
• SEND arrangements lead to inconsistent experiences and outcomes for children and young people with SEND.
• There are widespread and/or systemic failings leading to significant concerns about the experiences and outcomes of children and young people with SEND.

There have been 42 published reports since inspections started in 2023.

Eleven local council areas have been found to have arrangements that typically lead to positive experiences, 19 have been found to have arrangements leading to inconsistent experiences and 12 have been found to have widespread or systemic failings.

Tes has analysed the key failings in the reports for areas given the worst of these three judgements.

Here are six recurring issues:

1. Problems with education, health and care plans

Education, health and care plans (EHCPs) were introduced to replace a Statement of SEN in the 2014 SEND reforms. The plans are a legal document setting out a pupil’s educational, health and social care needs.

But inspectors have found widespread problems with the quality and timeliness of the plans.

Bury’s SEND area report found that “many children and young people’s EHCPs are significantly out of date”. For some older children with SEND, the plan still described them as if they were as a child in primary school.

In Oldham, despite improvements, there was still too much variability in the quality of EHCPs with outcomes not being specific enough, Ofsted and the CQC found.

Halton’s report said there were too many barriers - and significant confusion - around the process of how to request an EHCP.

2. Needs not being met or identified

Reports also highlight the link between pupils’ needs not being met in schools and other settings, and long waits for accessing support services.

Ofsted and CQC’s report for Worcestershire says: “Ultimately, too many children and young people with SEND in Worcestershire wait an unacceptable time to have their needs accurately identified, assessed and met.”

A report for Suffolk warns that “unidentified and unmet needs sometimes manifest in behaviours which too frequently result in many not accessing mainstream settings, because of exclusion or absence”.

Bury’s report warns that many pupils do not benefit from a “robust” approach to identifying and assessing needs at the earliest opportunity.

3. ‘Unacceptable’ waiting times

Another common theme across many of the SEND inspection reports is the amount of time pupils wait for services and assessments.

In Oldham, inspectors found that too many children with SEND wait an “unacceptable length of time to have their health needs accurately assessed and met”. The report warned this was the case for pupils who are receiving SEN support and those with EHCPs.

In Bexley, inspectors found too many children and young people are not accessing the therapy support that they need quickly enough.

4. Pressure on special school places

Another recurrent issue is the pressure on special school places.

Oxfordshire’s report warns that many school leaders and staff in mainstream schools feel overwhelmed because they cannot support pupils as well as they aspire to.

It says: “The sufficiency of specialist provision is a significant area of concern. Too many children and young people are unable to access the education provision they need. Some wait for years.”

In Hertfordshire, inspectors highlighted exclusion from mainstream schools. The report says: “The rate of exclusions for children and young people with EHCPs is a concern. A significant number of parents feel they have no alternative but to educate their child at home while they are waiting for a place in a special school to become available.”

5. Alternative provision used as a ‘waiting room’

Tes previously revealed how alternative provision (AP) leaders have seen places filling up more quickly than ever in the last academic year.

Challenges around AP are mentioned in several of the Ofsted and CQC reports - in some cases linked to a shortage of special school places.

In Worcestershire, inspectors note a lack of specialist places means that, in the interim, AP is being used as a “waiting room” for some children before they can access a specialist setting.

The inspection report for Bury raised a concern that a very small number of EHCPs name unregistered AP settings for the child’s provision. The report said this “means that children and young people with SEND are placed in unregulated provision”.

Ofsted and the CQC said the local area partnership had not made sufficient inroads to understanding the scale and nature of AP in the area.

6. Transition challenges

Another area of concern is the level of support for pupils with SEND when they move stages in education.

In Nottinghamshire, some children with SEND in mainstream education do not receive clear advice to prepare for moving to their next stages of education, its report said.

It says this means they do not always get the support they require in a timely fashion.

The report for Suffolk says some transitions between stages of education are poorly planned and managed, beginning from early years for pupils with SEND.

Council responses

Bexley Council said that in response to a national shortage of occupational therapists, the local health and care system will be launching a campaign in October 2024 to improve the recruitment and retention of therapists.

The campaign will include occupational therapists going into schools and sixth-form colleges to talk about a career in the profession.

Councillor Mohon Ali, Oldham’s Cabinet member for education and skills, said the authority had been delivering on a priority action plan that addresses the concerns outlined in the SEND area report.

He said: “The progress and completion against these action areas is being overseen by enhanced partnership governance arrangements to ensure that improvements are made as quickly as possible. We are pleased to say that we have already started to see results from these actions.”

More timely inspections needed

The first wave of SEND area inspections was originally designed to be a one-off check to assess how the reforms of 2014 were being introduced.

Tes revealed in 2019 how more than half of the first 100 inspection reports had resulted in area partnerships being told to produce a written statement of action - the worst possible inspection outcome.

A replacement rolling system of inspections was launched last year.

Analysis by Tes shows there are 29 local authority areas where the latest SEND area inspection was published more than five years ago - although at least two of these do have inspections scheduled.

IPSEA’s Ms Moore warned that more timely inspections were needed.

She said: “An important aspect of accountability is knowing that inspections will happen frequently enough to reflect changes in a local area...It’s hard to have confidence in an inspection report that’s five years old.”

In announcing the decision to put the visits on hold, Ofsted said some respondents to its Big Listen consultation had wanted inspections to stop altogether because they felt “the system of SEND provision is too broken for us to hold providers and services to account fairly”.

An Ofsted spokesperson said the watchdog wanted to review how it inspects SEND provision so it can strengthen practice where needed.

They added: “Ofsted and CQC haven’t yet carried out monitoring inspections of local area SEND provision, and we haven’t published guidance on what to expect from those inspections.

“We’ve therefore decided to put a hold on their implementation while the review takes place, rather than introduce them while the framework is being reviewed.”

Leaders find ‘little value’ 

Pepe Di’Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said the greater focus on inclusion and SEND signalled by Ofsted in their response to the Big Listen consultation was welcome.

He added: “On this basis, we think it’s reasonable for Ofsted and CQC to review the current area SEND inspection framework. Although pausing monitoring inspections is not ideal, there is logic in doing so while this review takes place”.

James Bowen, assistant general secretary of the NAHT school leaders’ union, said school leaders often say they find area SEND inspections to be of “relatively little value and without any meaningful input from them”.

He added: “There clearly is a role for local SEND accountability, but the current system doesn’t feel like it is really leading to the level of improvement we need to see as the underlying factors remain unaddressed.”

All councils mentioned were contacted for comment.

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