London Borough of Tower Hamlets: Area SEND full inspection

Local area partnership report

Area SEND inspection of Tower Hamlets Local Area Partnership

Inspection dates: 23 to 27 June 2025

Dates of previous inspection: 28 June to 2 July 2021

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 Care Quality Commission 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

The London Borough of Tower Hamlets and North East London Integrated Care Board (Icb) are responsible for the planning and commissioning of services for children and young people with SEND in Tower Hamlets.

The commissioning of health services changed across England in 2022. On 1 July 2022, North East London Icb became responsible for the commissioning of health services in Tower Hamlets.

The London Borough of Tower Hamlets commissions two providers to deliver alternative provision (AP) for children or young people. This includes for those who have been permanently excluded and those who are new arrivals to the United Kingdom and new to learning English. The local authority commissioning also includes placements in one provider for children or young people whose medical needs prevent them from attending mainstream school.

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What is it like to be a child or young person with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) in this area?

There have been many improvements since the local area’s last inspection. However, the overall experiences of children and young people with SEND in Tower Hamlets are inconsistent.

Children and young people with SEND are genuinely noticed and valued in Tower Hamlets. Their views are heard in all sorts of different ways. One of these ways includes the ‘Our Time’ youth forum. The forum attends events across the UK representing children and young people with SEND. An upcoming project involves the forum working with leaders to improve the ‘young people’s zone’ on the local offer online. Another example includes opportunities for children and young people to influence the work of child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS), such as developing transition pathways for young people moving on to adult services.

Children and young people who attend local authority commissioned AP are well supported. A high proportion are successfully reintegrated back into mainstream school. Leaders know that for some children and young people, their needs are being identified only once they make the move to AP. Leaders are taking action to address this. This includes through the work of the behaviour and attendance support service where practitioners help schools to identify and meet the needs of children and young people at the earliest opportunity.

While some children and young people wait too long to receive their education, health and care (EHC) plan, just over half now consistently receive their plans within the expected time frame. The quality of EHC plans is improving. However, there is still more to do to ensure that more children and young people benefit from a high-quality EHC plan than is the case now. Currently, some plans are significantly out of date and/or do not include accurate information, particularly in relation to health and care needs and provision. There is also variability as to how well children and young people’s preparation for adulthood (PfA) is coordinated through EHC plans and annual review processes.

Across all phases of education, children and young people typically achieve very well. Practitioners across the partnership work successfully together to support children and young people to attend school. They make sure that they carefully monitor the known use of any part-time timetables.

Many children and young people benefit from ‘Young Work Path’, which provides tailored careers advice and guidance. This helps to ensure that they remain in education, employment and/or training (Eet). Other young people significantly benefit from pathways into employment, such as SEND apprenticeships and supported internships. However, those young people who are age 19 or above do not currently receive the timely and effective guidance that they need. Some then remain out of Eet for too long.

While waiting times for children and young people to receive a neurodevelopment

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assessment are reducing, they are still too long. The range of support that is made available to help families while waiting for these assessments is improving. Those accepted on to the waiting list for an assessment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder benefit from an initial screening, and helpful advice is subsequently given to schools and families.

Children and young people with complex health and care needs are supported effectively through the dynamic support register. Practitioners work proactively to meet the needs of children and young people, alongside the wider needs of their family. Additionally, close working between practitioners helps avoid family breakdown and nurtures children and young people back into education.

Children in the early years receive effective support from practitioners who work well together to share information and collaborate. There is a comprehensive offer for speech and language therapy for children in the early years. Their needs are identified quickly, with positive support and guidance provided to families through initiatives such as ‘Little Talkers’ sessions. The range of early identification and intervention services effectively prevents the needs of children and young people from escalating. However, for children of compulsory school age, their speech and language needs are not fully met in a consistent and timely way due to the current commissioning arrangements.

What is the area partnership doing that is effective?

◼ Leaders and practitioners across the partnership are highly ambitious for children and

young people and their families. Leaders across the partnership have worked effectively with stakeholders and each other to create the local area’s ‘SEND and Inclusion Strategy 2024-29’ and the ‘Tower Hamlets Inclusion Framework’. Approaches to joint commissioning are well embedded. Leaders have strengthened governance of the strategy, for example through the work of the SEND improvement board. Key performance information is used to evaluate services and hold leaders to account for the impact of their work. While leaders’ ambitions are not fully realised, they have a firm handle on what is working well and where improvements are needed. They have successfully addressed the significant weaknesses identified at the last inspection.

◼ The parent carer forum (Pcf) speak positively about their working relationship with

the local authority. Parents’ and carers’ views are considered in a variety of strategic and operational ways. For example, the Pcf gives direct feedback at the SEND improvement board. Parents directly influence the SEND and inclusion agenda in the local area, including in the commissioning of services. Where parents are unhappy with the support for their children, leaders reflect on where things have not worked well and look to learn from these cases and make improvements. The SEND information, advice and support service is well known and highly regarded.

◼ Children, young people and families receive prompt and timely identification and

support with their care needs, including where early help is required. Practitioners and agencies know the range of services that are available and make appropriate referrals when required. Other services that are part of the ‘core’ social care offer

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include a befriending service that is highly valued by families. Children with complex care needs receive beneficial support from practitioners who know them well and form positive working relationships with children, young people and their families. Practitioners assess individual needs and circumstances and go on to develop effective support plans.

◼ Babies and children benefit from a comprehensive delivery of the healthy child

programme. For those families where there might be additional vulnerability, effective support is made available to help identify and meet needs. Health visiting teams work closely with the family hubs to help make sure that families receive the assistance that they need, for example in relation to toileting and sleep.

◼ All schools have access to a school nurse. Specialist school nurses ensure that there is

a coordinated approach to support children and young people with complex health needs. Other children and young people can access general practitioner (Gp) appointments at a local ‘Spotlight’ centre where evening appointments are available, alongside the help of a social prescriber.

◼ Children and young people and their families receive timely support from the

physiotherapy and occupational therapy services. Therapists carry out joint assessments and contribute quality advice for EHC plans. They also offer a comprehensive range of parent workshops, both online and face-to-face. This helps to ensure that parents receive appropriate advice that they can use to support their child at home.

◼ Children and young people can access a range of support for their emotional, mental

health and well-being. For those children who are referred into CAMHS, a risk assessment process ensures that children and young people are signposted to the most appropriate service. When a referral is accepted, CAMHS practitioners provide guidance in a timely way. For those who need urgent support, a crisis team is readily available.

◼ Leaders across the partnership actively work with stakeholders to invest in a range of

projects that facilitates multi-agency working and helps manage the significant rise in the number of children and young people with SEND. This includes supporting the outreach work of specialist schools and AP, as well as increasing the number of spaces available in resourced provision in the borough.

◼ The outreach work, for example, from specialist provision is making a significant

difference in helping mainstream schools meet the complex educational needs of children and young people up to key stage 4. In Tower Hamlets, children and young people are less likely to be excluded from school when compared with the national average.

◼ Vulnerable children and young people, such as those known to the youth justice

service, those looked after or those living out of borough and/or in residential special schools, are also well-supported. Practitioners work well with families to help children make a smooth transition to their residential school. Children settle in quickly and go on to achieve well. Overall, leaders’ commissioning and oversight of residential special schools is coordinated effectively.

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What does the area partnership need to do better?

◼ The partnership lacks a coordinated approach to diagnosing young people with a

learning disability. Some young people from age 14 are not being identified by their Gp as being eligible for the learning disability annual health check. This means that for some children and young people, their current needs are not accurately identified. Once they reach adulthood, the lack of a diagnosis prevents them from being able to access certain services and benefits that they might need in later life.

◼ There are weaknesses in the partnership’s approach to PfA. EHC plans and annual

reviews are not used consistently well to support each young person’s aspirations and their wider health and/or social care needs as they move through to adulthood. Practitioners carry out community learning disability eligibility assessments too late. The late completion of these assessments increases the risk of young people feeling anxiety and uncertainty about their future.

◼ The post-16 and post-19 education in-borough offer for young people with more

complex educational needs is too limited and does not meet the needs of some young people well.

◼ Some parents remain dissatisfied with the work of the local area partnership. For

example, they have concerns that relate to the timeliness and quality of EHC planning, communication and information-sharing across the partnership.

◼ Leaders know that more needs to be done to consistently improve the timeliness of

issuing EHC plans and amended EHC plans. While leaders have recently introduced a new and robust quality assurance framework for plans, the current quality of EHC plans is too variable. Too many of the plans for older young people are out-of-date.

◼ There are inconsistencies in information-sharing across the partnership. Examples of

this include health practitioners not receiving draft or finalised EHC plans. Some families are not being successfully signposted to the services and sources of help that they need.

◼ Too few parents or young people have heard of or have accessed the local offer.

Some practitioners also told us that they need more training and guidance to better understand the SEND of those children and young people that they work with.

◼ Collectively, gaps in timeliness, information-sharing and staff expertise means that

children and young people sometimes do not benefit from receiving the right support at the right time. Leaders’ oversight of the provision for those children and young people who receive an education other than at school is not as robust as other aspects of their work, such as for those who are electively home educated.

◼ Some children and young people wait too long to receive the equipment that they

need to support their day-to-day lives. Leaders are aware of this and are currently working with the lead commissioner to identify possible solutions. Some children and their families continue to live in housing that does not meet their health and/or care needs.

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Areas for improvement

Areas for improvement Leaders across the partnership should further improve important aspects of their work that relates to EHC planning. They should particularly focus on ensuring that:

▪ PfA outcomes across education, health and social care are more effectively

planned from Year 9 onwards

▪ EHC plans accurately reflect children and young people’s health and social care

needs and provision

▪ the range of health practitioners who support children and young people can

routinely access EHC plans to inform their work

▪ amended EHC plans are issued in a consistently timely way

▪ older young people with outdated EHC plans are prioritised. Leaders across the partnership should improve their PfA support for young people. They should focus on:

▪ ensuring that there is a consistent approach to diagnosing young people with a learning disability to accurately reflect their needs and enable a well-planned transition to adult services

▪ improving the in-borough educational offer for post-16 and post-19 young people with more complex educational needs

▪ starting community learning disability assessment and planning much earlier so that young people are better prepared for adulthood

▪ providing more effective support for young people aged 19 and over to ensure that they avoid becoming out of Eet. Leaders across the partnership should:

▪ strengthen their oversight of the quality of provision for children and young people who are educated other than at school

▪ further develop the knowledge and expertise of staff so that they can support families more effectively, including improving the accessibility and signposting of sources of help from within the local offer. Leaders across the partnership should accelerate their work to:

▪ reduce children and young people’s waiting times for neurodevelopmental assessment

▪ ensure that the commissioning arrangements of speech and language therapy for children of compulsory school age enables their needs to be met in a consistent and timely way.

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Local area partnership details

Local authority Integrated care board Tower Hamlets Local Authority

North East London Integrated Care Board

Steve Reddy, Corporate Director Children’s Services

Zina Etheridge, Chief Executive Officer

www.towerhamlets.gov.uk

www.northeastlondon.icb.nhs.uk 160 Whitechapel Road London E1 1BJ

NHS North East London 4th Floor – Unex Tower 5 Station Street London E15 1DA 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: two HMI/Ofsted Inspectors 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 Sam Hainey, Ofsted HMI Lead inspector Lea Pickerill, CQC Lead inspector Sarah Canto, Ofsted HMI Eva Mannan, CQC inspector Esther Brooks, Ofsted Inspector

Area SEND inspection report: Tower Hamlets Local Area Partnership 23 to 27 June 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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