Wirral special needs and disability services 'pushing families to the limit'

Ofsted and the CQC said the council and CCG must outline how they will tackle areas of "significant weakness"

Wirral's special educational needs and disability services are pushing families to the limit "emotionally, physically and financially", the care and education watchdogs have found.

Parents told Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) that Wirral Council and Clinical Commissioning Group's (CCG) services were "broken".

They also told inspectors they were often "overlooked and ignored".

The council and CCG said there were "no quick fixes" to the problems faced.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service said Ofsted and the CQC had ordered the Labour-run council and CCG to outline how they would tackle areas of "significant weakness" in the future.

'Litany of failure'

In their report, the watchdogs noted that while parents and carers "sing the praises of some teams, frontline workers and managers", they had "told inspectors that 'the system is broken' in Wirral".

"Often, families are pushed to the limits, emotionally, financially and physically," the report said.

"They feel overlooked and ignored as well as blamed for asking for the help that their children need."

The council and CCG said while there had been "considerable progress", there was "still a substantial way to go"

The report highlighted a number of issues the council and CCG need to tackle, including the high level of parental dissatisfaction with services, poor communication with parents and carers and the lack of effective strategic oversight.

It also noted concerns about education, health and care (EHC) plans, which are meant to identify a child's needs and set out additional support.

It said Wirral's plans were "poorly written", included "unsuitable objectives" and had no input from "health professionals on the decision-making panels", meaning there was "no effective quality assurance to check that EHC plans are fit for purpose".

Liberal Democrat councillor Chris Carubia, who has campaigned about the issues in Wirral, said the report showed "a litany of failure", with the "only gratifying statement" being that the issues faced by parents have "been acknowledged".

In a joint response to the report, the chairwoman of the council's children, young people and education committee and the CCG's chief officer said there were "no quick fixes".

Wendy Clements and Simon Banks said while "considerable progress" had been made, there was "still a substantial way to go to support all children".

They said it would "take some time yet to get this right", but added that the voices of service users would be "embedded in how we deliver the help and support they rely on".

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