Children and young people with special educational needs or disabilities (or both) often receive a number of different services. These can be provided by nurseries, schools or colleges and specialist therapists, as well as professionals in education, health and social care.
Under the Children and Families Act 2014, the government placed new duties on the local health, social and education services that provide for these children and young people. The Special Educational Needs Code of Practice was updated to reflect these new duties.
Dudley Special Education Needs & Disability Improvement Programme
Children and young people with special educational needs or disabilities (or both) often receive a number of different services. These can be provided by nurseries, schools or colleges and specialist therapists, as well as professionals in education, health and social care.
Under the Children and Families Act 2014, the government placed new duties on the local health, social and education services that provide for these children and young people. The Special Educational Needs Code of Practice was updated to reflect these new duties.
Improving the lives of children with special educational needs and disabilities in the Dudley borough
Joint CQC and Ofsted Inspection: January 2025
A recent inspection by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission has highlighted improvements in Dudley’s local SEND services but has said that inconsistent experiences and outcomes remain for some children. The local area partnership, comprising council, health, and local school services, must work together to make further improvements.
Between January 20 and January 24 2025 inspectors visited Dudley to assess its children’s and health services and what progress had been made within SEND (Special educational needs and disabilities) services since its last visit in 2022.
In the most recent visit, inspectors recognised that there is a strong, shared culture and ambition for children and young people with SEND across the borough. Leaders and officers who are responsible for developing strategies to increase the variety of SEND placements available were said to be highly regarded and that they knew where the remaining gaps were and how these could be addressed.
Inspectors found that practitioners from different services work well together, sharing information effectively, resulting in an efficient multi-disciplinary approach to providing services. The partnership work with the Dudley Parent Carer Forum (PCF) is strong, driving improvement through accurate, up-to-date parental feedback and constructive challenge.
There was acknowledgement of the system that identifies children or young people with SEND at risk of admission to mental health inpatient services, providing comprehensive key working support and smooth transitions between children’s and adults’ services. Also acknowledged is the Inclusive Pathways Service who are working effectively to support children at risk of exclusion and the support for children in care with SEND was also noted.
Inspectors recognised that most children and young people who need speech and language therapy, physiotherapy or occupational therapy receive effective help when they need it and there is effective support from designated practitioners in health, education and social care for those children and young people who are not in employment, education or training.
However, Inspectors found that more needs to be done to make progress. They have identified some areas for improvement including reducing waiting times access to mental health, neurodevelopmental diagnosis and access to wheelchair services. They also stated that partnership should improve the quality and oversight of the Education and Health Care Plans (EHCP) as well as ensuring that they reflect up to date views from children, young people and their families.
Whilst inspectors found that the SEND Information, Advice and Support Service (SENDIASS) supports a high number of parents , children and young people, they are now keen to see the local area working at pace to communicate and continually improve the Dudley SEND Local Offer, an online resource and statutory requirement, which has recently been re-launched on the council’s website www.dudley.gov.uk/localoffer
The next full area SEND inspection will be within approximately three years
The local Area published their post inspection action plan in April 2025.
Strategy, Road Map, SEND & AP Sufficiency Strategy and Self Assessment
Since the inspection Dudley has refreshed its SEND Strategy and published its sufficiency strategy which establishes Dudley Council’s commitment to meeting the rising demand for specialist educational provision while promoting inclusive practices in mainstream settings for the next 7 years. The strategy aligns with national priorities, focusing on early intervention, capacity building, and sustainable, high-quality education solutions.
You can also read about the progress of our improvement plan on our SEND local offer which is home to a self evaluation document (September 2024) as well as a SEND Improvement Programme Road Map which details all of the improvements we have made to the SEND system since 2019.
Managing the Improvement Programme
We have a well established governance arrangements to oversee and drive improvement.
The partnership, who are made up of made up of the council, Dudley CCG, Dudley Parent Carer Forum – , NHS, health providers, schools, colleges, employers, parents & carers and children and young people have worked together to clearly articulate what as a system Dudley is doing to improve our processes, support and ultimately bring about better outcomes for children and young people with SEND.
We are keen to keep you updated of developments and have committed to issuing regular programme briefing mail outs.
Dudley Local Offer
Dudley's Local Offer is a one stop resource of information and services available to children and young people (aged 0-25) with Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities (SEND), their parents, carers and families.
Dudley’s Local offer has been re-developed to make it easier for young people, with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) to access information and support services in the borough.
