Leicester City Council: Area SEND full inspection
Local area partnership report
Area SEND inspection of Leicester Local Area Partnership
Inspection dates: 22 to 26 September 2025
Dates of previous inspection: 14 to 16 November 2022
Inspection outcome
The local area partnership’s arrangements lead to inconsistent experiences and outcomes for children and young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). The local area partnership must work jointly to make improvements. The next full area SEND inspection will be within approximately three years. Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) ask that the local area partnership updates and publishes its strategic plan based on the recommendations set out in this report.
Information about the local area partnership
Leicester City Council and NHS Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Integrated Care Board (Icb) are jointly responsible for the planning and commissioning of services for children and young people with SEND in Leicester.
There have been several changes to the senior leadership of Leicester’s SEND services since the previous inspection. These include the appointment of a new strategic director of social care and education, director of SEND and education, two heads of SEND services, a dedicated programme manager and a new position of SEND inclusion transformation manager. The commissioning of health services changed across England in 2022. On 1 July 2022, NHS Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Icb became responsible for the commissioning of health services in Leicester.
The local authority commissions two alternative provisions (AP) to provide education for children or young people, including those who cannot attend school due to social, emotional, mental health and medical needs, or for those who are at risk of or have been permanently excluded. The local authority does not commission any other AP.
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What is it like to be a child or young person with SEND in this area?
Children and young people with SEND and their families are central to the work of Leicester’s local area partnership. There is a strong culture of collaboration, with shared ambition to secure the best possible outcomes for children and young people. However, despite recent positive developments, experiences are inconsistent. This is because many of these changes are still embedding and have yet to fully deliver the intended impact, and therefore fully realise partnership leaders’ strong ambitions.
Leaders have a clear understanding of the diverse needs of children and young people with SEND. Strategic planning has resulted in strengthening the graduated response, expanding specialist provision in mainstream schools, and developing additional AP. These approaches help children remain in their communities with their friends and prioritise specialist places for those children and young people who require this support.
Children and young people in Leicester who have SEND are being supported through a strong multi-agency approach, which supports their needs effectively. Family hubs and key workers provide accessible, targeted support, including for families from ethnic minority communities. This targeted support enables children and young people with SEND to access the help they need in a timely and effective manner.
Many children and young people with SEND have their needs assessed in a timely way and their needs are generally identified accurately. However, outcomes in education, health and care (EHC) plans are often too vague. This makes it difficult to measure progress or tailor support effectively. Leaders have introduced quality assurance processes, but these are not having a consistently positive impact. Annual reviews do not always lead to timely updates, which can disadvantage children and young people, especially during transitions. Families and professionals do not always have access to clear, up-to-date information, limiting their ability to secure the right support at the right time. Leaders are improving oversight in this area, but this is not as effective as it should be.
Some children and young people with SEND have their needs identified accurately and assessed in a timely and effective way. For example, the speech and language therapy service identifies need early and prioritises children with the highest clinical requirements. However, waits for speech and language therapy are long for many children and young people. The local area partnership has plans in place to address this, with positive impact already being seen. Additionally, children and young people who require neurodevelopmental assessment face significant delay. They have an initial assessment wait and then a further wait for full diagnostic assessment.
Children with SEND are mostly well supported in the early years. Settings work closely with families and multi-agency partners to identify needs early, particularly around communication and interaction. Support is timely and effective, ensuring that most children are well prepared for their transition to primary school.
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Many children and young people with SEND are well prepared for their next steps in education. This includes some strong provision for supported internships and an additional offer from the virtual school to young people with SEND in care and care leavers to access qualifications and support transitions to college. However, others are not as well prepared and express anxiety about the transition to adult life. Additionally, too many young people with SEND are not in education, employment or training.
Children and young people, alongside the parent carer forum (Pcf), are increasingly involved in shaping services and support. Their input has influenced improvements in transition to adulthood, policy development, staff training and communication. Forums such as the Young People’s Council, Youth Advisory Board and Big Mouth Forum give children and young people with SEND a voice in decision-making. This collaborative approach is helping to build a more inclusive and responsive SEND system.
Many children and young people with SEND benefit from a wide range of leisure and social activities. Those with complex care needs receive one-to-one support from early help workers to access these opportunities. The Pcf plays a key role in signposting families to support and services, including through well-attended ‘Local Offer Live’ events.
What is the area partnership doing that is effective?
◼ Leaders have established a robust multi-agency approach to improving attendance.
This collaborative work is having a demonstrable positive impact on pupil attendance across the area. Attendance is further supported by well-developed inclusion partnerships with schools. These partnerships are underpinned by a well-embedded graduated approach across education settings.
◼ Disabled children are well-supported by adult social workers as they transition into
adulthood. Assessments are detailed and thorough, with young people and their parents actively involved in the process. Strong and flexible multi-agency working ensures that, for most young people, the support they receive is responsive and tailored to their independence needs.
◼ The dynamic support pathway helps children and young people with a diagnosis of a
learning disability or autism who are at risk of placement breakdown or hospital admission due to mental health needs. Strong multi-agency working and meaningful family involvement underpin the approach, with parental participation essential to planning. Key workers support families and professionals to navigate services, ensuring the family voice informs timely and appropriate support.
◼ Gp practices sampled during the inspection show a clear commitment to improving
access for children and young people with learning difficulties and autism. Reasonable adjustments and learning disability champions are helping to reduce barriers and promote more inclusive healthcare experiences.
◼ The school nursing service provides effective early support for children and young
people with SEND. Using digital tools and drop-in clinics, nurses identify emerging needs and deliver early intervention across social, emotional and mental health
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pathways. They work closely with families and schools to ensure timely and appropriate support. The speech and language therapy service identifies need early and prioritises children with the highest clinical requirements. Practitioners act swiftly, ensuring timely referrals to health services such as paediatrics.
◼ Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) offer a range of pathways to
support children and young people with SEND. CAMHS also prioritises transition planning for young people aged 16 and over, particularly those with neurodiverse needs, to support a smoother move into adult services. However, for most children, waiting times from assessment to treatment remain long in both CAMHS and speech and language therapy. There are some mitigations in place for those awaiting intervention. This means that practitioners have some assurance that these children’s and young people’s needs do not escalate while waiting and they can be triaged to get appropriate help if required.
◼ The Designated Clinical Officer, as part of the wider Icb SEND team, plays an active
role in EHC plan processes, tribunals and quality assurance. The team supports schools through initiatives and the development of integrated health plans, helping to ensure health needs are identified early and addressed effectively, including assessing how health impacts on children’s and young people’s rates of attendance in education.
What does the area partnership need to do better?
◼ Despite leaders’ sufficiency planning, there remains a shortfall in specialist education
provision. As a result, some children and young people face delays in accessing placements that meet their needs, with a small minority not currently in education while they wait. Support is in place to mitigate the impact of this shortfall, but the lack of suitable provision continues to present challenges.
◼ The quality of the written outcomes in EHC plans is inconsistent. Outcomes typically
do not contain sufficient detail. Consequently, much of the advice held in EHC plans does not support professionals, or children and young people and their families, to understand the outcomes they should be working towards.
◼ Delays in updating EHC plans following annual reviews mean that some professionals
do not have access to current information about children’s and young people’s needs. This limits their ability to provide effective support. Although leaders are aware of the issue and have plans to improve the timeliness and quality of EHC plans following annual reviews, these changes have not yet had an impact.
◼ Some children and young people with SEND are well prepared for their next steps in
education and for transfer to adult services, when required. However, too many young people with SEND are still not in sustained education, employment or training. EHC plans do not consistently prepare young people well for the transition to post-16 provision. Strategic planning to improve this is underway but remains at an early stage. As a result, post-16 outcomes for young people with SEND continue to be a concern across the area.
◼ Children and young people who require neurodevelopmental assessment face
significant delay. They have an initial assessment wait and then a further wait for full
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diagnostic assessment. Although families are signposted to the local offer for parenting support and other services, many do not benefit from a coordinated and inclusive offer that meets their needs at the point of entry to services. As a result, children and young people are left without the timely support they need, and families often feel unsupported while they wait. Despite leaders’ efforts to reduce waiting times, current service capacity across health partners remains insufficient to meet the level of need in the area.
◼ Speech and language therapy services contribute to EHC plans by making
recommendations for support. However, due to capacity pressures in the service, some of these recommended interventions are not being delivered. This is affecting children’s access to appropriate treatment and may be compromising their health and developmental outcomes.
◼ The tone management offer from paediatrics is under review. This means that
currently children have to travel out of county to be seen. Health leaders have told us that they know this and are exploring local solutions to meet need in the future.
◼ Disabled children receiving early help support benefit from regular reviews of their
plan and intervention from an early help worker. Not all partner agencies are involved in early help plans so for some disabled children their education and health needs were not always progressed, resulting in delays in needs being met. Disabled children receiving support from social workers are visited regularly. Assessments provide detailed information about children’s needs. However, some children’s plans remain too adult focused, and children’s voices are not always present.
◼ Disabled children and young people who require short breaks wait too long for
assessment and support which can place significant strain on families.
◼ Disabled young people living in out of area residential special schools were visited and
being prepared well by the preparing for adulthood team, with clear moving on plans. The young people did not always benefit from timely visits from disabled children’s social workers and commissioners’ oversight was not sufficiently strong.
Areas for improvement
Areas for improvement Leaders should strengthen quality assurance processes so that all professionals have access to accurate and current information reflecting the needs of children and young people. Leaders need to ensure that children’s and young people’s EHC plans are updated promptly following annual reviews and improve the quality of the outcomes in EHC plans. Education leaders should continue to improve the sufficiency of appropriate educational provision to meet the needs of children and young people with SEND. Leaders across the partnership should expedite their recovery plans to improve the timeliness and coordination of assessment and diagnostic pathways for neurodevelopmental conditions. The local area partnership should also strengthen their offer to children waiting for neurodevelopmental assessments, to ensure that children, young people and their families receive appropriate support while waiting.
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The local area partnership should ensure that their strategic approach to transition enables children and young people to receive the right help and support they need in preparation for adulthood. This should include a particular focus on ensuring that:
◼ consideration is given as to how to meet the child’s or young person’s
preparation for adulthood outcomes across education, health and social care; and
◼ increasing numbers of children and young people with SEND are supported to
access sustained education, employment or training post-16. The local area partnership should improve the quality of disabled children’s plans when they receive support from early help or statutory social care services. This should include information to reflect the support provided by multi-agency partners.
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Local area partnership details
Local authority Integrated care board Leicester City Council Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Integrated Care Board Laurence Mackie-Jones, Strategic Director, Social Care and Education
Toby Sanders, Ceo for the Icb (interim)
www.leicester.gov.uk www.leicesterleicestershireandrutland.icb.nhs.uk 115 Charles Street, Leicester LE1 1FZ Room G30, Pen Lloyd Building, County Hall, Glenfield, Leicester LE3 8TB Information about this inspection
This inspection was carried out at the request of the Secretary of State for Education under section 20(1)(a) of the Children Act 2004.
The inspection was led by one of His Majesty’s Inspectors (HMI) from Ofsted, with a team of inspectors, including: three HMI from education and social care; a lead Children’s Services Inspector from the Care Quality Commission (CQC); and another Children’s Services Inspector from the CQC.
Inspection team
Ofsted Care Quality Commission Anne Maingay, Ofsted HMI, lead inspector Claire Mason, CQC lead inspector Simon Hollingsworth, Ofsted HMI Lea Decker, CQC inspector Dave Gilkerson, Ofsted HMI Nick Bennison, Ofsted HMI
Area SEND inspection report: Leicester Local Area Partnership 22 to 26 September 2025 8
The Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted) regulates and inspects to achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children’s social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for looked-after children, safeguarding and child protection.
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