Halton SEND Strategy 2021-2025 (revised February 2024)

Final Revised February 2024 following Local Area inspection

SEND Strategy 2021-2025

Revised February 2024

1. Foreword As a Halton SEND Partnership we strive to work collaboratively and in a co-productive way to make a real difference to the lives of children and young people that live in Halton. The Halton SEND Strategy 2021 – 2025 has focussed the areas of priority for the partnership. However, between 20th-24th November 2023, Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) undertook a joint area send inspection of the Halton partnership. The Local Area Partnership Report outcome published on 18th January 2024 identified widespread and/or systemic failings leading to significant concerns about the experiences and outcomes of children and young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), which the local area partnership must address urgently. Therefore, as a partnership we need to focus in the short to medium term on working to address the priority actions and development areas identified in the inspection report, all of which are aligned to our Halton SEND Strategy 2021 – 2025 Priority Areas. This interim refreshed SEND Strategy will provide strategic direction across SEND Services with the intention to coproduce a new Halton SEND Strategy with partners, children and young people, their family and carers which we aim to publish in Autumn 2024. 2. Introduction Halton is committed to ensuring inclusive education, health and social activities of children and young people aged 0-25 years. We expect that all services will work to enable all children and young people to develop, learn, participate and achieve their best possible outcomes. Children’s human rights are written down in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Uncrc) to protect children and young people’s rights around participation in society/their local community; protection from discrimination and exploitation; and provision covering their welfare e.g. education, healthcare etc. The Uncrc also says that all adults must do what is best for children and young people – this means that we all have a role to play to ensure that these rights are honoured. The Uncrc says that all children and young people have rights and should be supported to:

• live, develop, be well informed, included and can make their own choices; • be enabled to flourish and thrive for who they are as people as they grow up; • be heard, have their views respected and participate in society as anybody else; • have equal access, opportunities, be safe and not be discriminated against.

Final Revised February 2024 following Local Area inspection

3. Vision In Halton, the rights within the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Uncrc) will be at the heart of our practice. Halton SEND Strategic Partnership believes that every child and young person has a right to thrive, flourish and lead an ordinary life. This should be without being labelled or restricted, no matter what their disability or ability. We want every child and young person to:

• feel safe; valued; included and connected; • be given opportunities to be active and for physical and mental health; • be empowered to make choices that shape their lives with appropriate supportive relationships. 4. Principles This Strategy sets out the plans we will put in place over the next five years, so that we can drive forwards our vision, priorities, outcomes and performance indicators to improve our practice. To do this, we will need to: • have improved our culture, ethos and practice with better processes and communication for working better together; • ensure that children, young people and families have access to the right support, at the right time and at the right level to meet their needs; • pave the way for children and young people as they grow up to thrive and flourish in their future life; • offer inclusive education or learning opportunities in an appropriate setting serving their needs.

5. What do we mean by inclusive? Inclusion is like the golden thread that has a direct influence on all aspects of children, young people and families’ lives. Attending

Able to learn/train within environments which best meet their needs;

Engaged in the life of their local community with groups/organisations/services that have inclusive culture and values. Included

Voices are heard and they are involved in decisions about things in their life;

Opportunity to participate and engage as fully as possible in all aspects of their life;

Enabled and supported to participate in learning/training.

Achieving

Able to achieve their full potential;

Have access to a developmentally appropriate curriculum or training/learning that is tailored to meet their needs.

Supported

Their life is benefitted by the ethos, culture, teaching practices and relationships provided through groups, organisations, services and education settings;

They are supported to overcome setbacks and barriers in their life.

Final Revised February 2024 following Local Area inspection

6. Co-production Halton SEND Strategic Partnership membership reflects the voice of parents, carers, children and young people alongside the key partners responsible for commissioning/delivering SEND services, education, health and care provision across the local area. We ensure that children, young people and their families have equal opportunity to meaningfully participate in the decisions that affect them at individual, operational and strategic levels. We work together to understand the needs of local children, young people and their families, so that we can commission and provide services that are inclusive and supportive, whilst keeping children and young people at the heart of everything we do. Halton has co-produced our new SEND Strategy 2021-2025 which sets out our vision and strategic priorities to meet the needs of children and young people with SEND and enable them to thrive and prepare for adulthood. Halton Borough Council’s aim is to support the development and learning of children and young people, so they grow up feeling safe, secure, happy and healthy, and are ready to be Halton’s present and Halton’s future. The Children Services Directorate delivers Children and Family Service (Children Social Care) and Education, Inclusion and Provision including SEND services 0-25. The Directorate is committed to ensuring inclusive education, health and social activities of children and young people aged 0-25. The Council has a statutory role in the development of Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plans and the ongoing development of the Halton Local Offer. Their teams work collaboratively with parents, carers, children, young people and our key partners in delivering these responsibilities. Halton SEND Parent Carers Forum (Hspcf) is a voice for families who access services in Halton. The forum is run by and for families of children and young people aged 0-25 who have SEND. They work independently but in partnership with Local Authorities, service commissioners and providers, sharing knowledge and experience of families to help plan and develop the quality, range and accessibility of provision, creating better outcomes for families through participation and co-production. NHS C&M Icb has responsibility for planning and commissioning NHS services, including Primary Care, Dental, Pharmacy and Optometry services. NHS C&M Icb support NHS organisations and professionals in Halton to understand their statutory duties in relation to SEND, supporting the EHC plan process, and ensure there is health care provision, advice and support as specified within the EHC plan. They work in partnership with Halton Borough Council, Hspcf, other parent/carer groups and NHS health organisations across the Borough to improve outcomes for children and young people The Halton SEND Co-production Charter was launched at the Parent and Carer Forum in November 2022 following a number of coproduced workshops. 7. Our Priorities We believe the following priorities will help us to drive the work of Halton Children’s Trust to meet the needs of children and young people with SEND. Working Better Together By working better together needs are identified early and met at the right time, by services that are fully inclusive in practice and processes. Preparing for Adulthood We will maximise young people’s ability to thrive, be independent and reach their goals for adult life. Empowerment (Communication and Co-production) Professionals will work positively with children, young people and families to provide them with access to the information they need to build provision and services together. Inclusive Education for Cyp with SEND Children and young people can fulfil their potential supported by educational settings.

Final Revised February 2024 following Local Area inspection

8. Our Key Outcomes

Priority: Working Better Together How will we know we have achieved it?

• Families will have to repeat themselves less often “tell it once”. • Support will have been identified earlier for children and young people to have the “right support, at the right time and at the right level” which changes to meet their needed as they grow up.

Priority: Preparing for Adulthood

How will we know we have achieved it?

Young people will tell us they:

• Feel healthy and feel safe • Have job and control of their money • Feel valued, included, active and involved • Have a choice of housing • Have friends and a social life • Have intimate relationships Priority: Empowerment (Communication and Co-production)

How will we know we have achieved it?

• Children, young people and families tell us they feel in control, well supported and able to influence the system of support for their child/young person. • Children, young people and families tell us that they feel respected and that their voice is heard by services.

• Feedback from children, young people and families regularly sought and acted upon. • Children, young people and families tell us that we have provide them with easily accessible, jargon-free information that we have developed and produced together.

Priority: Inclusive Education for Cyp with SEND

How will we know we have achieved it?

• Pupils’ progress and achievement will be in line with their peers compared to statistical neighbours and national benchmarks. • More pupils with EHCPs educated within mainstream schools, with fewer pupils educated outside the Borough.

9. Who will be accountable for delivering this Strategy? The SEND Strategic Improvement Board is responsible for leading this strategy and accountable to the Health and Wellbeing Board for delivery and achievement of the priorities and outcomes over the next five years. Priority Groups will sit underneath the Send Strategic Improvement Board and will develop action plans to drive forwards the work within each priority which will outline the objectives, actions, timescales and a clear set of performance indicators that will be used to review and monitor progress. This has been revised in light of the Local Area Partnership Inspection (see Table 1 below). The need to establish improved feedback mechanisms from children, young people and families is a key element in being able to accurately measure the success of this Strategy.

Final Revised February 2024 following Local Area inspection

Table 1

Final Revised February 2024 following Local Area inspection

9.1 Working Better Together Priority By working better together needs are identified early and met at the right time, by services that are fully inclusive in practice and processes.

Working together, we will:

• Develop and monitor a set of creative and challenging outcomes measures to improve collective understanding about where we currently are in Halton delivering SEND services. • Review and improve the health pathways to reduce delays in diagnosis and ensure appropriate post-diagnostic support is available. • Improve awareness and use of learning disability annual health checks at 14 years+ and hospital passports with GPs and families to better support and meet the needs of young people. • Review, revise and further embed the SEND Joint Commissioning Framework to ensure services provided are good quality, accessible, inclusive and support children and young peoples’ right to lead a diverse and flourishing life. • Improve person centred practices and information sharing systems/protocols between education, health and social care services/partners to deliver a Halton “tell it once” approach so that families can avoid having to repeatedly provide the same information and enables more timely assessments for children and young people. • Support children and young people’s access to education/learning by implementing integrated arrangements for specialist equipment (through Halton’s Specialist Equipment Policy).

• Identify earlier the support needed by children and young people, so the “right support, at the right time and at the right level” is available and reviewed/monitored to address any changes needed as they grow up. • Ensure timely and appropriate access to additional support funding for early years settings and that the referral routes and processes are well understood.

Final Revised February 2024 following Local Area inspection

9.2 Preparing for Adulthood (PfA) Priority We will maximise young people’s ability to thrive, be independent and reach their goals for adult life. Note: These objectives flow from actions already taken through the PfA ‘vision’ or work to do that was identified as part of the existing PfA action plan.

Health Education and Employment Community Inclusion Independent Living

Working together we will:

• Improve awareness and equip children, young people and families to be empowered, confident and capable to make decisions about their life and manage their own health needs. • Improve communication links between professionals and families, provide clear information for families relating to services. • Provide better health transition processes and support to meet the needs of children and young people to access schools/settings is effectively sourced and delivered e.g. post-diagnosis support, Speech and Language Therapy, Occupational Therapy. • Promote and encourage children, young people and families around leading a healthy lifestyle. This includes physical, emotional and mental health.

Working together we will: • Have a clear education pathway that includes a range and flexibility of Key Stage 4 and 5 provision. • Have in a place a clear pathway to employment that provides a wide range of opportunities through education that includes work experience, supported employment, and further development of supported internships and supported apprenticeships that lead to paid work and a career.

• Improving awareness and better planning for seamless transition to their next phase of education and employment.

• Raise awareness about positive inclusion to support increased opportunities for young people with SEND for employment with local employers.

• Improve the timing, delivery, communication and support within educational settings for children and young people to access specialist careers support, advice and guidance to ensure they have a good transition to education, employment and training.

Working together we will:

• Promote a SEND friendly Borough with inclusive communities by working together with the business and voluntary sector communities to improve social inclusion for young people with SEND. • Strengthen the support provided to children and young people to develop the skills they need as they grow up e.g. increase their independence, travel training, involvement in their local community, employability and future aspirations. • Ensure that children and young people have access to robust information, advice, support and guidance that meets their needs which enables seamless transitions e.g. between schools/settings, services and children to adults. • Support, nurture and encourage children and young people to develop their circle of friends and relationships with others as they grow up.

Working together we will:

• Ensure that professionals understand the needs of children and young people, so they can access person centred support/services which help focus their strengths and links with social and community networks. • Increase the use of assistive technology and equipment to support independence. • Ensure that vulnerable young people including those with SEND have access to universal and targeted youth services, support that recognises their vulnerability to exploitation and improves their education of areas such as, illegal substances, social media, healthy relationships etc • Ensure Halton Housing Strategy reflects the needs of young people with SEND for sufficient provision of appropriate accommodation and care to support independent living, ensuring that we are planning for their future need. • Providing support to carers to ensure they can continue in their role, whilst accessing education, employment and leisure services. • Improve person centred processes including better information sharing systems between education, health and social care services/partners.

Final Revised February 2024 following Local Area inspection

9.3 Empowerment Priority (Communication and Co-production) Professionals will work positively with families and provide them with access to the information they need to build provision and services together.

Working together, we will:

• Develop a Co-production Charter with children, young people and parents/carers to set out our commitments and the value of parent/carer, child and young person’s voice. The Charter will have accountability at its heart and be supported by a programme of workforce development across the system. • Ensure that children, young people and their parents/carers are made aware of their right to access easy-read, jargon free, impartial information, advice and support. • Ensure high quality, accessible communication and support is available to children, young people and their parents/carers through regular updates and information sharing via the Local Offer, Halton Sendiass, Halton SEND Parent Carer Forum (Hspcf), SEND Strategic Partnership etc. • Further develop and maintain a co-produced accessible, accurate and comprehensive Local Offer. • Develop regular feedback processes for parents/carers, children and young people to understand how well we are doing and to inform improvements as needed.

• Maximise transparency of decisions, improve communication and accessibility of all our processes.

• Celebrate the achievements of our children and young people. • Strengthen and widen our engagement in working better together with children, young people and their parents/carers. • Increase the wider shared understanding of what we mean by ‘independence’ to enable young people to take measured risks e.g. increase the use of independent travel training. • Co-produce a workforce development toolkit that supports an inclusive culture, high standards and the fulfilment of everyone’s potential. • Ensure children and young people no longer feel: “Young people who have disabilities believe that there is a ‘them and us’ divide among their peers in Halton. They are appreciative of the initiatives which leaders support but want to see more being done at a strategic level” (quote taken from Local Area SEND Inspection 2017).

Final Revised February 2024 following Local Area inspection

9.4 Inclusive Education for Cyp with SEND Priority Children and young people can fulfil their potential supported by inclusive schools/settings.

Attending Included Achieving Supported

Working together we will:

• Improve access to inclusive mainstream provision for children and young people with SEND by better enabling schools to provide support. • Develop a SEND Sufficiency Strategy to ensure that Halton has sufficient, appropriate education provision to meet the needs of children and young people in the Borough.

• Improve attendance rates for children and young people in schools, by developing a clear understanding of non-attendance and ensuring that a full time offer is available to all.

• Improve schools’ confidence and understanding to deliver provision to children and young people with SEND, in order to increase access to mainstream education of children and young people with EHCPs.

Working together we will:

• Foster and support schools and settings to have nurturing and enabling environments to ensure that the individual needs of children and young people are well met and that they are fully included. • Ensure that inclusion funding for early years settings is accessible, timely and supports inclusion. • Have clear, easily understood processes and improved access to the required support for example, equipment, personal budgets etc. • Develop and maintain a range of outreach services to support children and young people to remain in mainstream education.

Working together we will:

• Improve the progress and attainment rates for children and young people at SEN Support and with EHCPs across all key stages. • Ensure that a rigorous system is in place and monitored in order to track the achievement of pupils at a local area level across all educational provision. • Ensure the Graduated Approach is used more effectively by schools/settings to improve inclusive practices, earlier identification and intervention for children and young people at SEN Support level. • Ensure that an alternative provision offer that meets the needs of Halton’s children and young people is developed (Sufficiency Strategy). • Ensure that every child has access to a developmentally appropriate and varied curriculum tailored to meet their needs. • Improve support within schools/settings for children and young people to access specialist careers support, advice and guidance.

Working together we will:

• Provide high quality individual support plans and EHCPs with clear and appropriate outcomes. • Improve the multi-agency engagement by all partners within the EHCP assessment and review process to ensure that assessed needs are based on a multi-agency approach/advice for education, health and social care support required by the child/young person to achieve positive outcomes.

• Maintain a range of training and support for parents and siblings that is accessible, well communicated.

• Ensure health and care needs assessments are undertaken as part of the EHC process to make plans more holistic.

• Ensure that the EHCP assessment and review process is clear, transparent, used, monitored and well understood across all agencies, partners and in particular with young people and families.

• Increase the access and availability of personal budgets.

• Provide better details of pathways to emotional health and well-being support for children and young people, which considers the specific needs of children and young people with SEND.

• Provide good wraparound pre, post and no support by appropriately trained staff for children, young people and their families. Ensuring that young people are supported to understand their own diagnosis.

Final Revised February 2024 following Local Area inspection

10. Inspection of Halton’s Arrangements for Children and Young People with SEND

10.1 Overview and Background- Local Area SEND Inspection:

A joint Ofsted/Care Quality Commission (CQC) area send inspection of the Halton Local Area Partnership took place between 20th to 24th November 2023. On 18th January 2024, the Director of Children’s Services for Halton Borough Council and the Chief Executive Officer of NHS Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care Board (C&M Icb) received the final Local Area Partnership inspection report. The report outcome was that there are widespread and/or systemic failings leading to significant concerns about the experiences and outcomes of children and young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), which the Local Area Partnership must address urgently. Since the inspection report, the Local Area Partnership has been working to address the priority actions and development areas. The completed Priority Action Plan was completed and submitted to Ofsted and the CQC on 5th March 2024. Also on 5th March, we published this refreshed SEND Strategy to reflect the inspection outcome and the immediate activity planned to follow the inspection and to provide strategic direction across SEND Services, whilst we undertake a more comprehensive redesign of the Halton SEND Strategy, scheduled for publication in September 2024.

10.2 Strategic Governance Arrangements and Structure

Work has been completed to review the strategic governance system for Halton Borough Council (Hbc) and NHS C&M Icb across both organisations (Page 5). This has also been aligned to SEND Strategic Improvement Board, which the government proposes as a statutory group from 2024, bringing with it a requirement for a Local Inclusion Plan. Partnerships will be expected to create evidence based local inclusion plans setting out how the needs of children and young people will be met in line with new National Standards. As discussed earlier this is an interim arrangement pending the coproduction of a new Halton SEND Strategy to be launched Autumn 2024.

10.3 Halton Local Area Inspection Outcomes

The inspection highlighted and gave recognition in a number of areas where the partnership was effective, and that children and young people benefitted from:

• An effective parent carer forum (Pcf) which is a respected and valued strategic partner. A new coproduction strategy has been co-created • Effective use of the views of children and young people to shape services • An effective school nursing service which is highly valued by many stakeholders • Effective preparation for adulthood in that disabled children and young people, including care leavers benefit from the support of the Transition Team. • Children and young people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (Adhd) have a well-supported transition to the adult Adhd service • Effective targeted support for older children and young people with SEND (14-19yrs) • Practitioners in Halton are person-centred and promote a flexible approach to working with children, young people, and their families. • Practitioners use innovative and creative ways to capture the voices of children and young people accurately. • Effective Clubs and activities to support children and young people with SEND to develop their interests and, in some cases, gain further qualifications, in which they feel welcomed and supported to access a range of community-based activities. • Effective recruitment and training of personal assistants within Early Help further supports children and young people’s integration into society. • Children and young people placed in local authority-commissioned Alternative provision receive suitable oversight, which helps to ensure that they are safe and have their needs met effectively in these placements

However, there were areas that were deemed to require Priority Action planning:

1. Leaders at Halton local authority and the NHS C&M Icb should cooperate at pace to improve the shared strategic oversight, governance, support and challenge to drive improvements to meet the needs of children and young people with SEND in Halton. 2. Leaders in the local authority, Icb and education, health and social care providers should improve the efficiency and quality of their information gathering and sharing processes to ensure that children’s and young people’s needs are understood accurately and met more swiftly and effectively through coordinated approaches. 3. Leaders across education, health and social care should improve the joint commissioning of services to ensure that children, young people and their families receive sufficient support to have their needs met effectively.

Final Revised February 2024 following Local Area inspection

4. Leaders across education, health and social care should urgently improve the early identification of needs and access to specialist health pathways including the neurodevelopmental assessment pathway and speech and language therapy and the support available while children and young people wait. 5. Leaders across education, health and social care should improve the timeliness of new EHC plans and updates to EHC plans following the annual review process, so that, if appropriate, children and young people receive an effective EHC plan within statutory time scales.

There were also identified 4 Areas for Improvement

• Improving the quality of assessment advice and planning across education, health and social care so that children and young people’s needs are better understood and met swiftly and effectively through coordinated approaches. • Strengthening processes for the quality assurance of EHC plans and use these to improve the quality of new and existing EHC plans • Ensuring that communication with stakeholders, including parents, carers children and young people is enhanced. This includes the communication about how leaders plan to develop systems and processes and communication between teams and services should be improved to better identify and meet children and young people’s needs. • Improving the pace and traction of the Alternative Provision strategy to ensure that it impacts positively on children and young people with SEND.

10.4 We have linked the Halton SEND Strategy 2021 – 2025 Strategic Ambitions, the Local Area Inspection Priority Actions and Improvement Actions to ensure alignment.

Our Strategic Ambitions Halton SEND Strategy 2021 - 2025

Linked Areas for Priority Action and Areas for Improvement

Working Better Together By working better together needs are identified early and met at the right time, by services that are fully inclusive in practice and processes

Priority Action 1 - Leaders should cooperate at pace to improve the shared strategic oversight, governance, support and challenge to drive improvements to meet the needs of children and young people with SEND in Halton. Improvement Area 1 - Leaders should improve the quality of assessment, advice and planning across education, health and social care so that children and young people’s needs are better understood and met swiftly and effectively through coordinated approaches.

Preparing for Adulthood We will maximise young people’s ability to thrive, be independent and reach their goals for adult life.

Priority Action 4 - Leaders should urgently improve the early identification of needs and access to specialist health pathways, including the neurodevelopmental assessment pathway and speech and language therapy and the support available, while children and young people wait. Empowerment (Communication and Co-production) Professionals will work positively with children, young people and families to provide them with access to the information they need to build provision and services together.

Priority Action 2 - Leaders should improve the efficiency and quality of their information gathering and sharing processes to ensure that children’s and young people’s needs are understood accurately and met more swiftly and effectively through coordinated approaches. Priority Action 3 - Leaders should improve the joint commissioning of services to ensure that children, young people and their families receive sufficient support to have their needs met effectively. Improvement Area 3 - Leaders should ensure that communication with stakeholders, including parents, carers, children and young people, is enhanced. This includes the communication about how leaders plan to develop systems and processes. This should focus on improving parents’ and carers’ trust in the system. Communication between teams and services should be improved to better identify and meet children and young people’s needs Inclusive Education for Cyp with SEND Children and young people can fulfil their potential supported by educational settings.

Priority Action 5 - Leaders should improve the timeliness of new EHC plans and updates to EHC plans following the annual review process, so that, if appropriate, children and young people receive an effective EHC plan within statutory timescales. Improvement Area 2 - Leaders across the partnership should strengthen processes for the quality assurance of EHC plans and use these to improve the quality of new and existing EHC plans. Improvement Area 4 - Leaders should improve the pace and traction of the AP strategy to ensure that it impacts positively on children and young people with SEND.

Final Revised February 2024 following Local Area inspection

10.5 Priority Action Plan Delivery and Methodology Co-production lies at the heart of our Priority Action Plan, and we were committed to involving parents/ carers and all key stakeholders in the development of each Priory Action Area. Each Priority Action Area was designed and drafted by a small working group, who will also participate in aspects of oversight and delivery. Leadership across each Priority Action Area is provided by a Senior Responsible Owner (Sro). The Sro is accountable to the Halton SEND Delivery Group and ultimately to the Halton SEND Strategic Improvement Board for setting out the key deliverables and outcomes. We have developed a SEND Strategic Improvement Plan to address the areas of priority action and improvement. 11. Links to other Key Projects

DfE Delivering Better Value Programme: Halton have been working on the Dbv bid since Spring term 2023. Understanding the local context of our services and improvement activity related to the Pap will support the process to build upon the work already done. Our Dbv grant application was submitted in December 2023 and then resubmitted with minor amendments in February 2024. We do not yet know if our bid has been successful, but are confident that if successful, Dbv workstreams will complement other improvement activity across SEND systems, including some Priority Improvement Areas identified in the inspection outcome. i.e. our Dbv workstreams have a heavy emphasis on early intervention and identification and the graduated response, which correspond to Priority Areas 4 and 5 in the inspection report.

Halton Transformation Plan: Work has been undertaken to align the Transformational Delivery Plan (Tdu) and the Priority Action Plan (Pap). Priority Action 7 (Tdu) around Joint Commissioning is currently aligned with Pap 3 also around Joint Commissioning. Priority Action 13 (Tdu) Sufficiency, Demand and Forecasting is also currently outlined in Pap 3 Joint Commissioning. Pa 15 (Tdu) is also aligned with Pap 2 which is an overview of SEND Ict and digital systems and how they can support transformation within the service. This is being reviewed as part of ongoing development of the Pap and opportunities for further alignment being identified. There is Tdu representation in relevant working groups to support ongoing alignment actions and milestones.

Halton SEND Sufficiency Strategy and High needs provision capital allocation: Phase one of our SEND Sufficiency Strategy identified a shortfall in specialist and resource base provision. We are in the final stage of completing Hnpca projects to build capacity in mainstream schools/settings. We have added over 100 Resource Base Places across the borough, which are either already open or scheduled to be open no later than September 2024.

12. Next Steps 12.1 The Halton SEND Strategic Improvement Board is responsible for overseeing the changes set out in this interim strategy and challenging senior officers where it is identified that progress has not be made in line with the timescales set out in the SEND Strategic Delivery Plan. 12.2 The Halton SEND Strategy 2021-25 (revised) will be launched at a Conference in April 2024 as an interim measure. 12.3 Planning for a refreshed Halton SEND Strategy 2025 – 2028 will commence with a timescale of Autumn 2024 for completion. 12.4 We are developing a Halton SEND Strategy Performance Information and Business Intelligence Dashboard to evidence delivery and outcomes for children and young people of Halton.

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