Wirral’s journey to improving SEND services: things are changing for the better
In January 2025, there was an inspection of all the SEND services for children and young people in Wirral by OFSTED and the Care Quality Commission.
OFSTED have now published the inspection report, and you can read it here.
The inspection recognised that progress has been made and that, “things are changing for the better.” But there is still a lot more work to do to make sure that all children and young people with SEND have a positive experience.
The report gives the Local Area SEND Partnership (LASP) 3 priority areas to work on.
The LASP is made up of all the agencies that provide SEND services in Wirral. This includes the council, health, education and social care. Parents/carers who use the services are also represented in the LASP.
The LASP are now putting together a priority action plan. This plan will address the three areas identified for immediate action in the report:
Improving Education Health and Care (EHC) plans
Improving preparation for adulthood for young people with SEND
Improving waiting times for speech and language and neurodiversity assessments. Making sure that children waiting have support in place.
We wanted to let you know that we are working hard to improve these areas. This work includes the changes to the Statutory Review and Assessment team, SENDSTART. This will help make the EHC process better. Plus, improve communication for families and schools. Wirral is also rolling out a new neurodiversity profiling tool. The tool will help practitioners pick up neurodevelopmental needs early. This means that children waiting for assessments will have support in place. The tool will also be part of a new online neurodiversity hub that is being built for Wirral’s Local Offer website, SENDLO. The hub will provide advice and resources for parents, carers and professionals.
The inspection recognised many positive areas of improvement that stood out, including:
Family Hubs as strong examples of agencies working together.
The introduction of the online mental wellbeing hub, BRANCH.
The opportunities and activities available to young people with SEND across the borough.
The steps made in making sure that coproduction is in place. Inspectors gave Wirral’s first SEND Preparation for Adulthood Festival as a good example of service providers, young people and families working together.
The introduction of the Local Area SEND Partnership Board in April 2024. Wirral Council’s Chief Executive, Paul Satoor chairs the Board. The LASP had received a notice of improvement with 10 areas to focus on. With the strong pace of change driven by the Board, a year later there are now 2 areas of improvement remaining.
Parent Carer Participation Wirral (PCPW) are Wirral’s Parent Carer Forum. PCPW will be arranging a zoom session for those who would like to hear about the inspection report in more detail. Keep an eye out on PCPW’s Facebook page for more information on this.
We will keep you updated on the work that is taking place to improve SEND services. You can subscribe to SENDLO to receive the monthly SEND Snapshot. Scroll to the bottom of the page and add your email to the subscription box to get updates straight to your inbox.