HMCI commentary: publishing our new area SEND framework

Amanda Spielman announces the joint Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) report on the area SEND consultation and a new area SEND inspection framework.

Today, Ofsted and the CQC are publishing our report on the area SEND consultation and our new area SEND inspection framework, which will take effect from early 2023.

For too long, outcomes for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) have been poor. Families and carers have had negative experiences attempting to navigate a complex and often adversarial system. By strengthening accountability and clarifying where responsibility for improvement lies, our new framework will act as a catalyst for further improvement now and help areas prepare for future reform.

Going ahead with our main proposals

I would like to thank everyone who took the time to respond to our consultation. We have carefully analysed and considered your feedback.

I am pleased that all the proposals received strong approval. Many received over 80% support and some over 90%. We will therefore implement the proposed changes to our new framework. We will strengthen accountability by introducing a continuous inspection cycle and three distinct inspection outcomes. Our inspection reports will set out what local area partnerships are doing well and what they need to improve. We will be clear about who is responsible for making improvements and what they need to do. We will increase transparency by asking local area partnerships to update and publish their strategic plan following each inspection.

I am pleased that 90% of the people who responded to our consultation agreed that our inspections should focus more on the impact that local area partnerships have on the experiences and outcomes of children and young people with SEND. This will be central to our new framework. Our inspections will also consider how local authorities commission and oversee alternative provision (AP), following widespread support for this proposal.

Listening to your feedback: clarifications

While our proposals received strong support overall, we have listened to your feedback and have made some changes to our framework and handbook as a result. These include:

• Clarifying that inspectors will continue to take account of compliance with legal duties – we will focus more on the impact that the local area partnership’s arrangements are having on the lives of children and young people with SEND. However, we have made it clearer that inspectors will continue to take account of the local area’s compliance with legal duties and will report on how it affects children and young people with SEND if these duties are not being met.
• Altering the wording of the first inspection outcome – this will ensure that a local partnership that is performing well in many areas, but may still need to make some improvements, could receive this outcome if it is aware of weaknesses and is taking action to address them.
• Changes we’ve made to gather evidence more effectively from children and young people – we have improved our children and young people’s survey to make sure that the questions are easier to understand. We have also added some multimedia content to ensure that they are more accessible to children and young people with different needs and can be read using a screen reader, tablet or mobile device.

Why not wait for reform?

A minority of consultation respondents suggested that we should wait for the government to implement proposed SEND reforms before updating our framework. We know that large-scale system reform can take many years to implement and embed into practice. It would not be right to wait until reforms are implemented, given the scale and depth of problems in the SEND system. There can be no accountability gap while any new reforms are agreed and put into action.

We know that there are long-standing issues in the SEND system, from both our research and our inspection evidence. These issues include poor-quality education, health and care plans, poor co-production and poor outcomes for pupils with SEND. They existed before the pandemic and have only been worsened by it.

Given the persistent and worsening issues in the SEND system, we have been clear throughout that we cannot wait to act. To do so would risk creating an unacceptable accountability gap in a system that needs to improve urgently.

Future SEND reform

I am confident that our new framework will help raise standards across the SEND system. However, this does not change the need for wide-reaching SEND reform. I look forward to seeing the government’s national SEND and AP improvement plan.

I am pleased that the Department for Education (DfE) is incorporating our and others’ feedback on the SEND and AP green paper and engaging widely to develop its proposals in more detail. I urge the DfE to focus on accountability. The success of a reformed system will depend on clarity about which agency is responsible for delivering each part of the system and how they are expected to work together. It will also be crucial to equip the body/bodies responsible for coordination and oversight with the levers they need to do this. Otherwise, we run the risk of replicating the current system’s weaknesses.

Mainstream education must play a crucial part in this system. A strengthened mainstream offer must focus on a high-quality curriculum and effective teaching for all pupils. Teacher training and development form the foundation for this. The DfE must ensure that all routes into teaching, and further professional development, strengthen the consistency and quality of SEND training so that every teacher is well prepared to meet the needs of all children and young people. There should be a greater focus on pupils with SEND in both the core content framework and the early career framework.

First set of alternative provision thematic visits

We want our insights to help the DfE develop SEND policy. So, we will carry out an annual series of thematic reviews as part of the area SEND inspection arrangements. We will look in depth at particular aspects of the SEND system and share our findings.

Our first set of visits will focus on AP, to improve our knowledge of how it is used in practice, and the extent to which it meets pupils’ education, health and care needs. We want to examine how partners in local areas work together to deliver AP, highlighting and sharing examples of good practice in partnership working. In line with the DfE’s proposals in the SEND and AP green paper, we want to learn how mainstream providers use outreach services to support pupils. We plan to share our findings in autumn 2023. I hope that these insights will be valuable to government, strategic leaders and practitioners alike.