Wolverhampton Council to detail special needs improvement plans

Wolverhampton Council said improvements were "high on the agenda"

A council has been told it must improve its services for children with special educational needs and disabilities following an Ofsted report.

Wolverhampton City Council said there were "no surprises" in the report but improvements were "high on the agenda".

Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission inspected services in September and found the pandemic had delayed reforms.

The local authority was told it must produce a Written Statement of Action with its plans for improvements.

The main concerns raised during the inspection included long waits for children's needs to be assessed, quality of education, health and care plans being "too variable" and transitions in a child's life not being well planned.

Parts of the services in Wolverhampton were praised by inspectors

Inspectors also said many families "do not know where to turn to for support" and that "embedded weaknesses and systemic failings" mean reforms to help young people achieve "'an ordinary life' remains some distance off".

A backlog of 200 annual reviews was also highlighted as a concern as well as a "low" number of young people entering supported employment.

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However the report also praised the authority's provision for pre-school children as well as its outreach service, saying parents, carers and children "speak highly of the provision that they receive".

It also found that the number of young people with SEND not in education was one of the lowest nationally.

"We fully appreciate that we are not yet at the point we want to be, and there are no surprises in this report," Councillor Dr Michael Hardacre said.

"We believe the robust Written Statement of Action which is in development will put partners in a good place from which to drive forward the necessary improvements."