Parents 'lose trust' in council over SEND failings
Joe Lepper
Tuesday, January 16, 2018
Health, education and care chiefs in Lancashire have been strongly criticised by inspectors for a raft of failings in their support for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
Among concerns raised, following a joint inspection by Ofsted and health watchdog the Care Quality Commission in November 2017, is that families are being frozen out of decisions about their children.
Inspectors found that parents no longer trust SEND support services due to a lack of transparency about decisions. They also found that health, social care and education leaders are unaware of the strength of animosity among families.
Lancashire County Council and the area's seven clinical commissioning groups were rebuked for failing to work together to address concerns, which also include poor-quality record keeping, a lack of information sharing and failures to ensure children are safe.
"Parents report bewilderment and confusion about how decisions are made by services about their children. They do not believe that systems and processes are transparent and fair," states a letter from inspectors to council and health chiefs.
"Consequently, most of the parents whom inspectors heard from have lost trust in the local area. The views and experience of provision among parents who took part in the inspection are overwhelmingly damning. Leaders are unaware of the extent of this."
The letter adds: "Some of the more vulnerable children and young people who spoke to inspectors did not have a good understanding of how to keep themselves safe."
Inspectors also found the quality of education, health and care (EHC) plans to be "alarmingly poor". They added: "[EHC plans] contain gaps, are out of date and/or do not reflect all of the child's or young person's needs. This means that those needs are not being met."
In addition, SEND services are failing to comply with National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (Nice) guidelines around identifying autism, which is leaving children without support.
The permanent exclusion rate of pupils with SEND is also too high, currently four times the national average, according to inspectors, who have ordered the Lancashire council and CCGs to submit a written statement outlining how they will improve the quality of SEND support.
Lancashire County Council was rated as "inadequate" by Ofsted in November 2015 and inspectors are also concerned that this has distracted managers and elected members from prioritising SEND services.
Despite the concerns inspectors noted some signs of improvement.
"The culture and focus at Lancashire have begun to change in recent months. Professionals are starting to talk to each other and are beginning to see the benefits of finding joint solutions to common challenges," their letter adds.
Lancashire County Council has been contacted for comment.
