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This report is a collaboration between the Council for Disabled Children (CDC) and the Disabled Children’s Partnership (DCP). The report demonstrates why well-resourced and properly coordinated services must be a priority.

You can access the report here.

The Department of Education have now published the Delivering Better Value in SEND Programme (DBV) Phase 1 report and National Toolkit. This was due to be published earlier this year but was delayed due to the election.

The Phase 1 report is an aggregation of the findings and insights that were collected from the 54 diagnostics conducted during Phase 1 of the DBV programme.

The report is designed to present the findings from Phase 1 of the programme and act as an evidence base to support further investigation and enactment of changes across the SEND system while the Toolkit is a collection of lessons from the 54 DBV diagnostics that has been developed into an accessible self-serve tool for local areas.

You can access both the report and the tool kit here:

The report states how children and young people’s unmet needs can tragically escalate to the point of crisis. The report emphasizes, as many other reports have, the need for providing needs led early interventions, and that by providing the right support at the right time enables children and young people to have improved outcomes.

We know that children and young people with neurodevelopmental conditions, such as Autism and or ADHD, can face several health inequalities, which are compounded by the growing wait times, which vary across regions and even within the local footprints of the commissioning Integrated Care Boards. Many families are faced with long waits and a postcode lottery for pre and post diagnostic support, with the report stating “Many children are unsupported during these waits, with little access to therapeutic interventions” and even once a diagnosis is provided the report confirmed that “Children and parents can feel abandoned by services after the diagnosis, often just receiving a letter with website links”

The NNPCF welcome the key recommendations regarding addressing both the wait times and the workforce strategy within the Government’s Child Health Action Plan. The focus on early interventions that are integrated across Health, social and Education we feel is much needed in order to support a needs led approach along with a timely assessment, outcome and/or diagnosis to ensure our Children, Young People and families receive the correct support, when they need it.

The NNPCF has been in conversations with NHSE regarding wait times for ASD and ADHD and we hope that now the new government is in place that wider strategic conversations can start to take place to ensure that the lived experience of our membership is represented.

You can access a copy of the report here.

The National Audit Office (NAO) Report, as ordered by the House of Commons, highlights that the current SEND System is not meeting the needs of children and young people (CYP) with SEND. The report is welcome by the NNPCF and much of it echoes what our membership of 153 local Parent Carer Forums have been telling us.

It’s disappointing, but not surprising, to read that since 2019, outcomes for CYP with SEN continue to be inconsistent and the disparities in attainment between CYP with and without SEN when they school after key stage 4 has not been lessened in accordance with the DfE’s ambition.

The report is clear that too many children and young people with SEND are not able to access an inclusive mainstream education. That CYP whose needs should be met through SEN Support, are sadly not being met. This increases the number of families feeling that they need to seek an Education and Health Care plan (EHCP) and request specialist provision in order to meet their CYP needs. Whilst the report focuses on the increased number of EHCPs, the report fails to acknowledge how the reforms in 2014, increased the age from 16 under the old statement system, to age 25 under an EHCP, which naturally would impact on the number of plans within the system, which are documented within this report.

Sadly, for many families the process to get the right support at the right time for their CYP, is dependent on long waits for assessments within health services, for an EHCP to be issued, which is often outside of statutory timescales and long waits for suitable education placements to be secured, that can for many see high travel costs due to a lack of appropriate local provision. Families, as clearly narrated within this report, find the processes adversarial and impacts on their confidence within the system.

Whilst we accept that the DfE under the previous Government have taken steps to address the financial sustainability of the SEND System and improve outcomes for CYP, this report would suggest that these measures have not or will not necessarily make the much-needed changes for families and CYP to feel the impact.

We hope that this report, as with other recent publications, will strengthen the need for robust discussions that are co-produced with all stakeholders to agree a positive way forward to benefit our CYP and families. We hope that the new Government will be bold and make the much-needed changes to ensure an inclusive school system that is both accountable and funded accordingly with the skilled workforce it needs to deliver improved outcomes for our CYP.

Change cannot happen in isolation. The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) also needs to prioritise and resource the system effectively to ensure local health and care systems can support the needs of CYP and their families.

NNPCF suggests that whilst the government must consider its plans to ensure sustainability, the immediate needs of the families of CYP whose needs are not being met must also be clearly considered. SEN Provision must also be a priority in provision planning to ensure that local areas have sufficient mainstream, state special and bespoke provision to meet future demands. Local areas must continue to develop and thrive with so that CYP can be educated within their local communities and enable the much-needed reforms have a lasting impact.

You can find a copy of the report here.

The NNPCF met with the Secretary of State for Education, Bridget Philipson, regarding the work of the NNPCF and Parent Carer Forums. We spoke about what is important to our families with children and young people who have Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities (SEND). 

The NNPCF raised key themes such as ensuring there is robust accountability across the SEND System, along with creating equity across the system. It is important that all professionals and families are aware of the ordinarily available provision across Education, Social Care and Health in their local area, and that it is an equal offer nationally for all with SEND.  

The NNPCF also highlighted the importance of lived experience being integral to any planned changes with a variety of voices, to ensure changes are co-produced with families so they meet the needs of children, young people, and their families. 

The Minster reassured us that inclusion of SEND is of upmost importance to the new government and highlighted the recent move within Department for Education of SEND policy areas from its families to school’s directorate, to sitting directly with the Schools Minister, Catherine McKinnell, MP. This realignment is to support inclusion within mainstream provision, ensuring all pupils are considered in any decisions. 

We also spoke regarding the recent publications from Ofsted regarding “one word” judgments and the recently launched Curriculum and Assessment Review, which promises to look closely at the key to attainment for young people, in particular for children and young people with SEND. 

We continue to welcome our ongoing discussions with the Department for Education.  

The NNPCF met with Sir Martyn Oliver, His Majesty’s Chief Inspector at Ofsted on 12^th September 2024, and were joined by Yvette Stanley, the social care lead and Lee Owston, the education lead for Ofsted.  

We welcomed the meeting with Sir Martyn to discuss the recently published Ofsted Big Listen, and how parents and carers, Parent Carer Forums and the NNPCF can be involved in the upcoming plans, ensuring that there is strong coproduction across the work.  

Sir Martyn reassured the NNPCF that there is a strong focus on the most vulnerable pupils, with a focus on support and accountability for both schools and local areas. Whilst some inspections have been put temporarily on hold, we were pleased to hear that accountability and the importance of Local Area SEND inspections remains a high priority, demonstrated by Local Area SEND inspections being continued as planned. We also discussed how Local Area SEND inspections can often highlight non-inclusive school practice but the individual school inspections in the area are rated Good and Outstanding creating a contradiction and distrust around local provisions and how this needs to be addressed.   

The NNPCF was reassured that coproduction with all stakeholders will be taking place over the next year to support the development of the report cards for both individual schools and Local Area SEND Inspections. The aim of the report cards is to provide more explicit information on schools and local areas, which the NNPCF has been assured will provide an increased focus on SEND provision, along with enabling national trends to be picked up earlier and addressed. It is therefore vital that Parent Carer Forums feedback their experiences of SEND area inspections and families experiences of school inspections to support our conversations nationally.  

Our understanding is that Local Area SEND Revisits will recommence in Spring 2025, following the anticipated publication of the monitoring handbook which will have been updated.  

We welcome the conversation and continued conversation, along with looking forward to coproducing with Ofsted.  

NHS England have produced a leaflet that helps people to think about whether their child or someone they care for, could be considered to have a learning disability.

This leaflet helps you think about whether your child or someone you
care for, could be considered to have a learning disability, and should be on your local GP practice’s Learning Disability Register, to help them get the help they need, including a free Annual Health Check from the age of 14

For more information on this subject, please click the link below:

NHS England » Find out more about the Learning Disability Register – leaflet

The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health have published a major new report: ‘From left behind to leading the way: a blueprint for transforming child health services in England’.

This calls on the UK government to commit to restoring health services for children in England. Across seven themes, it sets out a series of detailed and intersectional recommendations. These are intended to act as a guide to the transformational change that is needed across child health services in England. 

1. Ensuring fair funding for children.
2. Prioritising children in Integrated Care Systems.
3. Supporting a sustainable child health workforce.
4. Improving data and digital.
5. Reducing pressure on urgent and emergency care.
6. Reinvesting in community health services.
7. Improving the interface between primary and secondary care.

Underpinning this is a call for ambitious action on to prevent illness and address the wider determinants of health with a child health in all policies approach. Additionally, there are two core principles in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child to further help to improve children and young people’s health:

1.  
2. 1. Be active in how children and young people’s views are asked for, listened to and acted on (Article 12) 
3. 2. Do all you can to implement these rights, protecting children and young people from the harm of being overlooked and forgotten in health planning (Article 4, Article 24).  

You can read more about the College’s case for change in a four-page quick read or the full report. 

The report has been endorsed by the Children and Young People’s Health Policy Influencing Group (HPIG) of which NNPCF is an active member.

On 5^th September 2024, the NNPCF, along with Dingley’s Promise (Dingley’s Promise – Homepage – Dingley’s Promise) met the Minster or Early Education, Stephen Morgan MP, to discuss the importance of SEND in Early Years. 

Minister Morgan was very much in listening mode about what changes needed to happen in Early Years and had a good understanding of what was happening in the Early Years sector. 

Amongst the many topics discussed were the following: 

• The importance of reviewing the link between Disability Access Funding (DAF) and Disability Living Allowance (DLA).  Currently to be able to apply for DAF the family must be in receipt of DLA.  This puts significant pressure on families, and for many parent carers it is simply too early in their journey to feel comfortable making an application. Separating DAF and DLA to enable easier access to the DAF funding and ring-fencing the DAF funding would ensure more of the funds can be used to meet the needs of SEND in the Early Years.  DAF funding is already available but currently 48% (data from Dingley’s Promise) is being fully spent by Local Authorities.  

• The importance of including health partners in Early Years especially, speech and language, occupational therapists and general practitioners (GPs) with clear pathways for families to follow.  

• The importance of Health Visitors and how their Health Checks need to be working with the DfE Early Years toolkits and ensuring advice is joined up.  Along with supporting the increasing number of families who are concerned about SEND can find now clear information about whether their concerns are SEND related or natural development. 

• The importance of Local Authorities mapping out the Early Years SEND Provision.  Whilst all Early Years settings are inclusive, there are staffing and financial implications, which may impact the number of SEND places available in a provision. 

• The importance of good quality SEND training for Early Years practitioners and Primary SENDCo’s.  

• The importance of a good transition in every aspect of a SEND Child in Early Years, particularly to a new setting and to primary school. 

• The importance of well-trained settings and practitioners in Early Years SEND, and how this improves educational outcomes. 

We look forward to hearing what the Minster Morgan’s next steps are for SEND Early Years. 

Contact and the National Network of Parent Carer Forums (NNPCF) met the Exchequer Secretary, James Murray MP on Thursday 1st August in relation to the Chancellor’s formal announcement of Monday 29th July 2024 on the Taxation of Private Schools.

Thank you to the Parent Carer Forums who contributed their thoughts with us ahead of the meeting.

Please find an open letter to the Minister clarifying our discussion and additional concerns.