Norfolk Special Education Needs and Disabilities service 'failing'

Families "felt isolated" because of "significant weaknesses" in Special Education Needs and Disabilities services

Families have been left "feeling isolated" due to "significant" failings in Norfolk's Special Education Needs and Disabilities (Send) services, a report said.

Inspectors found failings in areas including diagnosis and waiting times.

They also found a backlog in reviews and assessments.

Norfolk County Council and NHS Norfolk and Waveney Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) said they were working to improve the service.

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Inspectors from Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) found that families were "facing a cliff edge" as children approached adulthood due to a lack of communication and knowledge by service leaders.

They found the backlog in reviews and assessments of critical education, health and care (EHC) plans was creating delays in accessing services, causing families to have "well-founded concerns" about the effectiveness those plans.

Their report said families "feel isolated" and unsure where to seek guidance.

However, leaders were praised for their "ambitious plan to resolve the crisis".

The council and CCG, which both have responsibility for the service, were praised for not relying on "quick fixes" and have been tasked with writing a statement of action to address the failings.

Norfolk County Council said it was "committed" to improving the service

John Fisher, cabinet member for children's services at the council, said: "We have an ambitious strategy to address it, which inspectors recognised. There are no surprises in this report: we know where improvement is required, and we are committed to achieving this."

He said £120m was being invested in Send services across the county.

Cath Byford, chief nurse at the CCG, said: "We take on board the criticisms found within the report and are working hard to progress our plans at pace and to improve consistency."