Widespread and systemic failings in the provision for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) that need urgent action have been found in almost a third of the areas inspected last year, data has revealed.
Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) gave their lowest inspection rating to eight council areas in SEND area inspections carried out last year, which amounted to just under a third of the 26 area inspections carried out under the latest framework in 2023.
In those areas, inspectors concluded that there were “widespread and/or systemic failings leading to significant concerns about the experiences and outcomes of children and young people with SEND”.
Worst of three possible judgements
This outcome is the worst of three possible judgements in the new SEND area inspections that look at education, health and care services for children and young people in each local education authority area in England.
It requires local leaders to submit a priority area SEND action plan to Ofsted chief inspector Sir Martyn Oliver.
Ofsted and the CQC introduced the new rolling inspection framework for SEND area inspections in 2023.
Their latest published findings come amid concerns that government plans to change the way SEND support is funded could deepen the current “crisis”.
Inspectors found inconsistent experiences and outcomes for pupils with SEND in 11 of the 26 council areas inspected.
Arrangements were found to typically lead to positive experiences in just 7 of the 26 local education authority areas checked.
A monitoring inspection is triggered for areas that receive the lowest judgement, usually within 18 months, and a full inspection within three years.
Those where experiences are found to be inconsistent will usually be reinspected within three years and those where arrangements lead to positive experiences are usually reinspected within five years.
The new framework was designed to create an ongoing cycle of inspections to replace the first wave of SEND area inspections launched in 2016, which only carried out one-off checks with follow-up visits to areas where significant weaknesses were found.
Significant weaknesses in more than half of councils
In 2018, the then education secretary Damian Hinds instructed Ofsted and the CQC to introduce a new inspection framework to follow on from the first set of inspections, which had been scheduled to finish by 2021.
The completion of this set of inspections was delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic and concluded in 2022.
Under the first wave, Ofsted and the CQC would require local partnership leaders to produce a written statement of action if significant weaknesses were found. It found this to be the case in more than half of the council areas it visited under this framework.
Data on Ofsted’s website shows 82 council areas were required to produce written statements of action out of just over 150 local education authorities in the country.
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