'Do I have to get my child sectioned before you'll help me?' Plan to improve Lancashire special needs services

Waits of several years for assessments - as well as for diagnoses of conditions like autism - were highlighted in a report into the SEND services delivered by Lancashire County Council and the local NHS, which were found to have "systemic" flaws.

The damning judgement - published by the regulator, Ofsted, in February - followed an inspection late last year, the outcome of which required the creation of a ‘priority action plan’ to address the deficiencies identified.

That document - which has now been submitted to the Department for Education - details how some of the additional £5m SEND funding committed by the local authority in its budget this year will be spent on adding 57 people to the team involved in producing education, health and care plans [EHCPs].

There has been a nationwide surge in demand for the personalised plans - which set out the support that must be provided to meet the needs of children who require additional help in order to access education - over the last decade. The number issued by Lancashire County Council more than doubled from 5,200 in 2015/16 to 12,200 as of January this year.

The Ofsted report noted significant delays in the EHCP process, especially the annual reviews that should be carried out to ensure the plans are still sufficient in each case - some of which were years overdue.

The action plan lists a raft of additional posts it is hoped will be filled by the start of 2026, including 30 new assistant casework managers and five additional educational psychologists, which the county council has previously said are in short supply.

It also sets out an aim to create a “streamlined referral system” for the assessment and diagnosis of neurodivergent conditions - and reduce waiting times - by next March.

A recent meeting of the NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB) was told some children had faced waits of more than five years for autism assessments.

The gathering also heard anonymised testimony from a parent who said their family had been “failed…time and again” by the NHS over SEND issues and was left going “round in circles”.

In a written submission read out by Professor Sarah O’Brien, the ICB’s chief nursing officer, the parent asked: “Do I have to get my child sectioned to get any type of conversation or input from a psychologist?”

Prof O’Brien said the situation was "unfortunately the lived experience of too many families in Lancashire and South Cumbria at the moment”. She apologised and said the parent in question would be contacted directly.

She also told the meeting that a complete review of the pathway for neuro-divergent referrals was required - but warned that it would take up to two years to complete.

Until the ICB was formed in 2022, the eight - now defunct - clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) across Lancashire were responsible for securing neuro-divergent assessments, which had left a legacy of variations in service depending on where a child lives and their age, Prof O’Brien explained.

Chris Oliver, chief executive of Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust, which provides learning disability and autism services, said he could not understand why there was not more of “a national outcry” about SEND assessments.

“There are children that were waiting in my services for over five years for autism assessment - and the impact on educational attainment and employability is just massive,” he warned.

Mr. Oliver said there were organisations within the voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise (VCFSE) sector which were capable of providing additional capacity - which his trust had already made use of with ICB funding.

The ICB resolved to “recognise the need to allocate resources to the SEND agenda to respond to the inspection findings”.

Meanwhile, at a county council cabinet meeting last month at which the SEND action plan was approved by members, the authority’s executive director of education and children’s services, Jacqui Old, said there was an "unwavering commitment” to improving SEND services - and noted that Ofsted had highlighted some positive aspects of what was already being provided in Lancashire.

Implementation of the plan will be overseen by an ‘improvement board” led by an independent chair. The Labour opposition group said it would also set up a scrutiny committee dedicated to the issue rather than it being added to the work of the existing children and families scrutiny group.

Deputy county Labour leader Jenny Mein said she thought it was "appalling" that there had not been an apology from any cabinet member for the failings identified by Ofsted.

Conservative deputy county council leader Alan Vincent said the partners involved in providing SEND services had to “try and get better”, but added:

“It’s easy to criticise, [but] when you face a tripling of demand for a service within a relatively short period of time, it is very difficult to cope with - and we accept that….people have been disappointed with that performance.”

The Ofsted inspection did not assess SEND services in the standalone Blackpool and Blackburn with Darwen council areas.

NEW SEND ROLES

These are the additional posts to be created as part of the action plan in response to the Ofsted SEND report for the Lancashire County Council patch:

***4 team managers

***30 assistant casework managers

***7 caseworkers

***1 tribunal manager

***4 Tribunal officers

***5 educational psychologists

***6 special educational needs and disabilities information, advice and support (SENDIAS) officers