(UK) Cumbria: SPED struggles; demand doubled/'growth will continue for at least another 10 years'

Mar 4, 2022, Cumberland News: Cumbria's special needs support shows signs of improvement https://www.newsandstar.co.uk/news/19971036.cumbrias-special-needs-support-shows-signs-improvement/

NW England SPECIAL educational needs support in Cumbria is showing “significant evidence of progress” after a critical Ofsted report in 2019, but concerns still remain. The Cumbria Health and Wellbeing Board on Friday to hear updates from organisations across the sector on their work. Strategic Lead for SEND Improvement Sian Rees and Cumbria County Council’s assistant director for education and skills Dan Barton attended the meeting, providing an update on efforts to improve special needs support in Cumbria. … The statement of action was created by partners in Cumbria in 2019 after an Ofsted and Care Quality Commission inspection which provoked significant concern about the effectiveness of special educational needs services. Speaking of recent work to improve SEND services, Ms Rees said: “There is improved joint working between us and decision making around the most complex children. “We’re working quite closely with parents to develop services for those children who are in crisis, of course we would prefer to take action before children and families are in crisis but that does happen at times…. Cllr Young said: “I’ve read this report two or three times to try and get a sense of progress that we’re making and I’m struggling with that. It’s three years ago that Ofsted and CQC came in and raised significant concerns, there were nine areas of significant weakness, we’ve spent three years trying to address those areas and we’re still getting indications from DofE that there are concerns about performance in specific areas. “When they come back, if they decide we haven’t made sufficient progress, what happens then?” … “Demand within the SEND system has increase very significantly, it’s almost double what it was in 2014 and our projections are saying the growth will continue for at least another 10 years. “So we will have to look at a system, not just at strategic capacity but actually resource on the ground.”

Sian Rees and Dan Barton updated members of the Cumbria Health and Wellbeing Board on work to improve Special Educational Needs provision in the county