“Significant areas of weakness” highlighted in Wandsworth’s special education needs practice
By Sian Bayley, Local Democracy Correspondent
A report on services for children with special needs and disabilities has highlighted “significant areas of weakness” in one borough’s practice – and some parts must be “urgently improved”.
An inspection carried out by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission before Christmas asked Wandsworth council and the local NHS to produce a Written Statement of Action explaining how they would tackle the problems.
It emphasised that the town hall was jointly responsible with the Wandsworth Clinical Commissioning Group, an NHS body which plans and commissions health services for the area.
The report said they must “urgently improve” the planning and assessment arrangements for Education Health Plans (EHCPs).
These are legal documents that describe a child or young person’s special educational health and social care needs, and explain the extra help that will be given to help them, as well as their aspirations for the future.
It said these improvements needed to be made to “better meet children’s and young people’s needs and aspirations, and meet statutory timescales”.
The report also said the department needed to “evaluate the impact of the local area’s work in embedding the reforms more comprehensively”.
It said they should establish “a consistently agreed and applied framework” and use the findings “to share strong practice and rectify weaknesses”.
Key findings in the report included “poor quality” EHC plans, where timescales “are not consistently met”.
It also noted that parents “are often left feeling confused and frustrated” and even professionals “do not always feel well consulted or involved in the planning and review process.”
The report added that changes in social care personnel “have had a negative impact” on responses and there has been “a muddled and inconsistent approach to the development of SEND strategy over time.”
This has “restricted opportunities for practitioners to learn from examples of good practice”.
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