Council invests £20m to help SEND children

A recent report by Ofsted found the local area partnership’s SEND arrangements lead to inconsistent experiences and outcomes

More than £20m is being invested to try to improve outcomes for children and young people with special education needs and disabilities (SEND) in West Sussex.

A recent report by Ofsted found the local area partnership’s SEND arrangements led to inconsistent experiences and outcomes and said the partnership must improve.

A total of £1.6m will be spent to reduce Educational Heath Care Needs Assessment waiting times to less than 20 weeks by October 2024.

Councillor Jacqui Russell said a recovery plan was "in place".

A further £20.2m in capital funding will be invested to try to meet the requirement for an additional 300 SEND school places.

The Ofsted inspection report included feedback from one young person who said: “It’s the people who listen, believe and act that make a difference…it can be revolutionary when you find that person…but finding the right person is a ‘needle in a haystack’ moment.”

Waiting times for families to have assessments and get Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCP) to identify a child or young person’s needs and outline the additional support required to meet their needs were identified as not meeting statutory timescales.

Caroline Tozzi, NHS Sussex strategic lead for SEND, said the NHS was looking at streamlining pathways for assessments but added: “Demand is outstripping the capacity and there is a recruitment challenge there as well that we’re working on.

Ms Russell, cabinet member for children and young people, learning and skills, said: “It was acknowledged that a recovery plan was in place, albeit embryonic.

“The last four months have seen successive, albeit modest but consistent, month on month increases, with the end of February reporting 13.1% of plans delivered within 20 weeks.”

She said all areas identified for improvement had already been identified by the partnership’s own improvement plan.

There will also be an additional £1m for schools access initiatives which allow SEND children to attend mainstream schools.

But the council’s children and young people’s services scrutiny committee questioned whether the funding is enough to meet the goals that it is intended to achieve.

An update on the council’s progress will be delivered in June.