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DfE orders struggling council to improve SEND services

1 min read Education Children's Services
A local authority, which is already under government direction to improve its children’s services, has been issued a separate notice from the Department for Education over its failure to provide "adequate" support for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
Slough Borough Council has pledged to improve support for children with SEND. Picture: Adobe Stock
Slough Borough Council has pledged to improve support for children with SEND. Picture: Adobe Stock

Slough Borough Council has been issued statutory direction from the Department for Education to improve standards of SEND support following a monitoring visit from Ofsted in February.

Issued last week (4 August), the direction states that the council is “failing” to improve its SEND provision following a damning report by inspectors from Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission in 2021 which found that council and health services were not working well together across health, education and social care, leaving children and their families without effective support.

The direction notice orders council leaders to work with DfE-appointed commissioner Paul Moffat, former chief executive of Doncaster Children’s Trust, to improve its SEND provision.

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