Derbyshire council and partners’ plans to improve special educational needs’ services after critical report

Derbyshire County Council has released details of the county’s Local Area SEND partnership’s plans to improve services for children and youngsters with special educational needs or disabilities with better communication after a critical Ofsted report.

The council has been working on the plans for its Special Educational Needs and Disabilities’ provision after an Ofsted and Care Quality Commission report stated the Derbyshire Local Area Partnership’s work – including the council and the NHS Derby and Derbyshire Integrated Care Board – needed to improve after it identified ‘widespread and or systemic failings’.

But the Derbyshire Local Area Partnership – which plans, delivers and commissions services – has been busy addressing criticism that youngsters had been waiting too long for assessments, had been missing school and had been waiting for specialist health support amid poor communication with parents, and the council has now confirmed that the partnership has set up a mandatory Derbyshire SEND Improvement and Assurance Board with an independent chairperson as requested by the Department for Education with a Priority Impact Plan with six Priority Impact Areas and five Areas of Improvement to focus on up to June, 2026.

Board chairperson Deborah Glassbrook said: “As a result of the [Ofsted] inspection, the partnership had to prepare and submit a Priority Impact Plan to address the six priority areas and five areas for improvement outlined in the report.

“Derbyshire also received what is called an Improvement Notice issued by the Department for Education which requires the county council to take steps to improve its SEND services and set up an improvement board with an independent chair, agreed by the DfE.”

The Ofsted report which was released after an inspection in September, 2024, identified what it described as ‘widespread and or systemic failings’ in the council’s SEND provision with a significant number of families reporting being in crisis and feeling their requests for help were being ignored.

Its findings identified widespread, systemic failings in services and highlighted challenges to the partnership that have been consistently expressed by parents and carers and children and young people with SEND.  

The partnership – made up of Derbyshire County Council, NHS Derby and Derbyshire Integrated Care Board, schools and the private and public sector – apologised for these failings and it has expressed a commitment to address all the areas identified in the report. 

Its new board includes the county council, NHS Derby and Derbyshire Integrated Care Board, NHS provider organisations, representatives from early years, primary, secondary and special schools and other education settings, and the charity Derbyshire Parent Carer Voice.

The partnership’s Priority Impact Plan will focus on six Priority Impact Areas over eighteen months including:

• Identifying the needs of youngsters with a strategic direction with effective joint plans showing how improvements will be made;
• Ensuring a strategic partnership commissioning agreement based on a joint needs assessment;
• Assessing and providing for needs jointly and accurately with multi-agency assessment, multi-agency quality assurance, timely issuing of high-quality Education, Health and Care plans and holistic oversight through annual reviews to keep up to date;
• Addressing those youngsters missing education and to jointly address the reasons such as the lack of special school and approved premises places, long waits for assessments, and the lack of effective mental health support;
• Accelerating plans to improve communication with parents and other key stakeholders explaining any changes to services and ensuring input from families is considered and used to shape the services and support;
• Addressing waiting times for community paediatric assessments, neurodevelopmental and mental health support, and assessments so needs can be identified as soon as possible for plans to be developed while ensuring there is sufficient support for families while they wait for an assessment.

The partnership will also focus on five Areas for Improvement during the same period including:

• Local authority leaders ensuring all children and youngsters with disabilities are provided with the right support at the right time;
• Co-producing a partnership approach to working with mainstream schools to ensure the right early help support to reduce the rates of suspensions and exclusions;
• Health leaders are to address lengthy waits for specialist chairs and seating through wheelchair services,
• Area leaders will need to ensure there is a more seamless and less confusing pathway through the different stages of need for mental health.

The Board, which will publish minutes of monthly meetings, has also established working groups to deliver changes and Ofsted will carry out ‘stock-takes’ ahead of a further full Ofsted and CQC inspection from June 2026.

Derbyshire County Council has also invested £11m to create 500 additional special needs school places across Derbyshire and it has also invited schools to submit proposals for a share of £7m to fund additional special needs school places and support for children with SEND in mainstream education. 

The partnership says this funding will create special needs places in mainstream schools to improve inclusion across Derbyshire and support the development of education resource centres and SEND units within schools, both of which offer specialist nurturing teaching environments for vulnerable learners. 

Investment and changes are also underway through the NHS to support children and young people and their families, carers and teachers with the assessment and diagnosis of autism and neurodevelopment conditions.

This project work aims to cut waiting times, provide support before and after diagnosis, and to support teachers and staff to help children who have neurodevelopment conditions while supporting teachers and families with youngsters’ mental health.

The work, which started in 2023, is part of a £3.6m three-year programme aimed at cutting the waiting list for assessments and funding is being used to provide more than 1,000 assessments for children and youngsters each year, plus a further 200 for adults.

Five new drop-in ‘Neurohubs’ have also been set up for neurodiverse children and young people in Buxton, Chesterfield, Derby, Ripley and Swadlincote.

A partnership spokesperson stated: “The Derbyshire Local Area Partnership has made a commitment to work in close collaboration with parents and carers to provide the support and services children and young people with SEND in Derbyshire need and deserve. 

“While the Partnership fully acknowledges the failings highlighted in the recent inspection, work already underway will continue under the Priority Impact Plan to provide better outcomes for children in Derbyshire.” 

Derbyshire County Council’s former Conservative administration before the current Reform administration took control after the May election had been working on ‘timeliness’ to address assessments, capacity and better reporting and tracking systems. 

It also previously explained a lot work has gone into a digital case management system called iDOX to improve efficiency with children’s Education, Health and Care Plan assessments and communication as part of a £1m investment the council made in its SEND service with a redesign, a new team set-up, additional staff and SEND officers. 

The former administration had also argued that councils nationwide are facing huge demands for SEND support and the National Audit Office also raised concerns in a separate report during 2024 about the many SEND challenges faced by local authorities nationwide.