Nottinghamshire's SEND services are failing, inspectors say

An investigation into services for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in Nottinghamshire has found "widespread failings".

Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission published a report after an inspection from 30 January to 3 February.

The report raised concerns it said must be addressed urgently.

The county council accepted the findings and said it was committed to improving.

The local area inspection by the education and health watchdogs found SEND children and young people had to wait too long to have their needs accurately assessed.

As a result, their needs were not being met in a timely way.

"Too many children and young people with SEND wait too long to access some health services such as speech and language therapy and neuro-developmental pathways," the report said.

"In addition, there are gaps in service provision, for example in occupational therapy and some specialist equipment provision.

"This results in ongoing frustration for children, young people and families."

It added for children with the most complex needs, the education, health and care (EHC) plans "do not identify health and social care needs, outcomes or services well enough".

This was compounded by a lack of health and social care input at annual reviews, it said.

Government targets state children should not wait more than 20 weeks for an EHC - but in Nottinghamshire, four out of five children are waiting longer, and some children with "particularly complex needs" wait for about 37 weeks.

An additional element was the transition to adult health services, where some people's care was based on "access to services rather than need", some saw health services stop entirely and others did not get clear advice on moving to the next stages of education.

The partnership responsible for these services - Nottinghamshire County Council and the NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) - has been given two areas for priority action by Ofsted and the CQC.

These are to urgently identify, assess and provide for the needs of children and young people with SEND.

The other is to identify and address the delays and gaps in access to some health services.

A Nottinghamshire SEND Partnership Improvement Board has been established to oversee the improvement actions needed.

Colin Pettigrew, director of children's and families' services at Nottinghamshire County Council, said: "We accept the findings of the report and we are committed to working across the partnership to improve the experience of children and young people with SEND.

"There has been a substantial increase in demand and an acute shortage of the specialists to meet that need.

"We cannot meet the increased demand based on the shortage of specialists available.

"This is simply not good enough and we appreciate the impact this is having on children and young people and their families."

Amanda Sullivan, chief executive of the Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Integrated Care Board, which is responsible for delivering services such as speech and language therapy, added: "We are sorry that the experiences and outcomes of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities are not as good as they should be."

She said it was working to develop and agree an improvement plan.

A spokesperson for the Nottinghamshire Parent Carer Forum (NPCF), which is run by parent carers of children or young people with an additional needs or disabilities, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service there was a "considerable amount of work to be done".

The forum's lead, Georgina Palmer, said: "Sadly, the findings of the inspection reflect the experiences and concerns that families of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) often communicate with the forum. Prompt action must be taken to address the issues raised in the report."

The report's authors said a monitoring inspection would be carried out within 18 months and a full inspection in about three years.

Follow BBC East Midlands on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected].