SEND services inspection 'too early' council says

Protests have been held outside West Northamptonshire Council's offices in Northampton

The inspection of a local authority's Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) services has come "too early", the council has said.

Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) looked at the provision at West Northamptonshire Council last month.

The results are due later this spring, less than a year after a three-year strategy was published to improve SEND services.

Chief executive of the council Anna Earnshaw said: "It's too early in our improvement journey... to hope that we get a 'good' result."

'The right direction'

Both the authority and neighbouring North Northamptonshire Council share their responsibility for SEND with the same partners, Northamptonshire Children's Trust (NCT) and the local NHS integrated care board (ICB).

North Northamptonshire Council's SEND inspection published last week highlighted "widespread and systemic failings", the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Ms Earnshaw said the west "won't be far off the north, but we may hopefully have some really positive comments about the steps we have taken".

Parents have said West Northamptonshire Council have not done enough for SEND children

Leader of Conservative-led West Northamptonshire Council Jonathan Nunn added: "We started in the same place as the north, of course, so inevitably there'll be a lot of similarities in the journey we've had.

"That said, we've got a good grasp on what needs to be done and we're pointing in the right direction again - and I think that's the key thing."

Recently Lauren Bunting, co-founder of the West Northants SEND Action Group, addressed full council to ask for a "dramatic culture shift" to put young people with special educational needs first.

The group staged a demonstration, placing two whiteboards with names of "failed" SEND children outside council offices.