Actions: The Hertfordshire SEND Academy is a training and development programme launched by the county council to support a new generation of SEND workers.
As part of its workforce transformation programme, Making SEND Everyone’s Business, Hertfordshire County Council launched an innovative recruitment campaign in January to recruit 138 individuals with lived experience and transferable skills to deliver its local offer.
The SEND Academy was set up to give new and existing staff the skills and knowledge to become frontline professionals delivering education health and care plans (EHCPs). This initiative, which received an initial investment of £5mn per year followed by a further £2mn, supports a key element of the council’s SEND improvement programme: to enhance the quality, timeliness, and communication of EHCPs.
It was initiated prior to an Ofsted inspection in July 2023 which identified “widespread and systemic failings” across the local area partnership, followed by an improvement notice from the Department for Education.
Following a recruitment campaign that received 950 applications, 136 candidates were selected, with 95 graduating from the SEND Academy’s six-week, fulltime training programme. The majority are now working as education care and health (ECH) co-ordinators across a range of children’s services teams or other roles, such as SEND panel managers or in SEND quality assurance posts. The remaining candidates are either undergoing training or are about to be onboarded into their new roles.
“No qualifications are needed to be ECH co-ordinators,” explains Hero Slinn, Hertfordshire’s director for inclusion and skills. “Training is not standardised and there is no national framework, which is a challenge. We recruited staff from a range of backgrounds – social care, housing, schools and parents with children with SEND – who have lived experience and transferable skills. This is because we recognise the knowledge that real experience can bring.
“We wanted to bring in people who had the skills to improve outcomes and experience for our children and young people with EHCPs, but it was essential to equip them with a standardised induction to cover the basics of legislation along with local knowledge about schools, settings and how the teams work.”
The training blends classroom learning, self-directed on-the-job training with social learning, where participants spend time in their teams, meeting colleagues and partners. Candidates are equipped with knowledge of the statutory duties and processes around EHCPs and the challenges that parents and children face when trying to access support. Elements of the induction are delivered by the council’s young commissioners and there is a module on how to write a good quality EHCP which includes working with partners, and Herts Parent Carers Involvement to ensure the voice of the child is reflected in the plan.
The SEND Academy is also helping to develop a supportive, learning-focused workplace where staff feel valued. After the initial training, staff can gain accredited BTEC qualifications delivered by NASEN, which brings “increased professionalisation and supports us to recruit and retain a high calibre workforce”, Slinn explains.
Impact: Despite the challenges of developing and implementing a new induction, training and personal development package that recruited 136 new staff within nine months, the positive impact of the reform is now showing.
“We have 12,500 children with EHCPs,” Slinn says. “Each EHC co-ordinator in Hertfordshire was previously holding caseloads of up to 500. Our new model, Making SEND Everyone’s Business, allocates cases across a broader range of teams, to improve quality and timeliness of new and existing EHCPs.
“Caseloads have now dropped to between 50 and 200, depending on the department, and we have more EHC co-ordinators on the ground supporting parents and young people. “It’s no surprise that most inspection reports cite the quality of EHCPs, which is largely to do with the numbers of places that people are holding and the quality of training and consistency.
“The quality of our EHCPs is improving – there’s been a 20% increase in the proportion rated ‘good’ or better over nine months. It’s not where we want to be, but it shows that our training is having a positive impact.”
A major focus of the programme is addressing the annual review process of existing EHCPs. “Our research shows that annual review decisions between January and July 2024 have more than doubled compared to 2023,” says Slinn.
“There has also been a significant improvement in the timeliness of completed EHC needs assessments – 58% to July 2024, compared to 40% in 2023. Meanwhile, formal complaints fell 14% in 2023/24,” she adds.
