Dudley SEND Strategy Refresh 2025/29: Breaking Barriers, Building Futures
Children first and at the heart of all we do
Dudley SEND Strategy Refresh 2025/29
‘Breaking barriers, building futures’
Introduction
As a partnership, the Local Authority (LA), Integrated Care Board (Icb) and Dudley Parent Carer Forum (Dpcf) have committed to a Strategy that identifies our strengths and our pathway for improvement. This strategy has been informed and tested by the school’s sector and voluntary sector representatives through a number of local engagement sessions that have sought to gather feedback and views from across the partnership.
In Dudley we want to ensure that every child with special needs achieves their full potential, and we help them to achieve positive outcomes with improved and enriched lives.
There are several good services and support locally for children and young people with SEND in Dudley and their families. There is a good range of public and privately funded resources for Dudley children and young people with SEND. Parents and carers of children and young people with SEND in Dudley benefit from an extremely active and engaged Parent Carer Forum, as well as advocacy, advice and support from outstanding independent, voluntary, community and charity sector organisations.
However, like many local areas, Dudley faces several challenges which need to be addressed in the coming years in order to improve outcomes for children and young people with SEND. The needs of children and young people are changing and increasing in the context of sustained pressures on public finances. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to be felt in terms of additional pressures on funding for local public services and dramatic shifts in the way that services are provided, which present further challenges for improving outcomes for children and young people with SEND.
Over the years, pressures on funding for SEND support have increased significantly. Increases in demand and the challenge of meeting needs locally has driven increases in placements for children and young people outside Dudley, which has put additional pressure on available funding. Although investments have been made in strengthening local provision (including expansion of Specialist Resource Base provision in the Borough) and further investments are set to follow in the coming years, costs of placements in the Independent and Non-Maintained Sector and with travel assistance for children and young people with SEND accessing education in and out of the borough are significant and unsustainable at their current rate.
Strategic partners across Dudley are committed to putting children and young people at the heart of everything they do. The signatories to this document are committed to improving outcomes for children and young people with SEND over the next three years, and this Strategy sets out how this will be achieved.
We are Child Friendly Dudley where we understand that all partners and people need to work together to create an environment where children can flourish. Our ambition has been to harness the passion and commitment of our staff, to streamline our structure as well as our process. In this way, we release capacity to work alongside families, to improve their experience of our services.
Karen Graham, Director of Children’s Services
Cllr David Stanley, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services
Claire Powers & Jenny Jones, Co-Chairs, Dudley Parent Carer Forum
Sally Roberts, Chief Nursing Officer & Deputy Chief Executive Officer (Black Country Integrated Care Board)
Dudley SEND Strategy Refresh 2025/29 ‘Breaking barriers, building futures’
The Dudley vision and underlying principles
Our vision is:
To ensure that every child with special needs achieves their full potential and we help them to achieve positive outcomes with improved and enriched lives.
This will be underpinned by the following underlying principles and values across the Dudley Local Area SEND Partnership made up of the Council, Dudley Icb, Dudley Parent Carer Forum, NHS Health providers, schools, colleges, employees, parents and carers and children and young people. We will embed the following SEND principles into the business-as-usual operations environment:
1. Our SEND children and young people are at the heart of all our improvement
2. SEND Improvements are a Dudley Partnership wide responsibility
3. Co-creating genuine partnerships between parent carers, children, young people and practitioners, ensuring this Co-Production is the default start position for all initiatives
4. Having in place an effective SEND system across the whole partnership
5. Continue to ensure that we use our data effectively to inform decision making
6. Embed the quality and effectiveness of Ordinarily Available Inclusive Provision (Oaip)
7. Providing our SEND children and young people with the right help at the right time with the right support using the graduated model
8. Delivering a financially sustainable SEND System which meets all children and young people’s needs
As a partnership, we guarantee that we will work with the following values:
• We will do what we say
• Move with purpose and energy
• We will listen to all children, young people and their families
• As a partnership we will strive to work together to be the best we can
• Together, we will ensure that every child achieves their potential, and we will help them to achieve positive outcomes and improved lives.
Dudley SEND Strategy Refresh 2025/29 ‘Breaking barriers, building futures’
Our journey
In 2019, Dudley received a Written Statement of Action (Wsoa) which identified 14 areas which needed significant improvement. Regular monitoring visits and review took place alongside developmental work which led to 8 of those having made sufficient progress by the Ofsted revisit in January 2022. An Accelerated Progress Plan was then in place for the remaining 6 areas, leading to a further area being completed during 2024. Alongside this development, Dudley has also been part of the Delivering Better Value program since 2023, as one of 55 Local Authorities with significant high needs overspend.
As we move into 2025 the App and the Dbv are coming to a close. Following a recent reinspection in January 2025 by Ofsted and CQC, inspectors recognised that there is a strong, shared culture and ambition for children and young people with SEND across the borough. A copy of the Post SEND Inspection Action Plan can be found here: Dudley Local Area SEND Inspection Report Jan 2025.
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. A copy of our Post SEND Inspection Action Plan can be found here: Dudley SEND Local Offer/sendinspection
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
Since the original SEND strategy was written, Dudley has embarked on a significant journey towards developing the Local offer to children and families leading to improvement in outcomes for children. Dudley now has a clear coproduced Oaip offer (launched September 2024) and a redesigned Specialist Teaching Service (CIPS-launched September 2024) to support at the earliest point of identification of need (SEN Support) as part of a graduated approach.
Dudley SEND Strategy Refresh 2025/29 ‘Breaking barriers, building futures’
We take pride in the fact that all this work has been co-designed with partner agencies and parents and carers across the borough.
The Graduated Model of Provision and Support has been developed over the last 4 years and not only includes a growth in physical provision but also in the support offered to schools to ensure as many children as possible thrive within their most local mainstream schools. The Ordinarily Available Inclusive Provision Framework document was co-produced by all key stakeholders and presented to schools as a working document in September 2024. The guidance is designed as a practical tool for schools, education settings, and their partner agencies. It provides strategies and suggestions to support children and young people.
Additionally, it serves as an information resource for parents, carers, and young people, helping them understand how educational provisions are made for those with additional needs. We are further developing this work outside of the original scope as feedback is telling us how helpful it is so will now include other areas such as Social Care.
Alongside this comprehensive document a new and improved Send Network has been developed; both an online and physical network of support for all SEND Leaders in Dudley schools offering support, guidance and training for all key professionals supporting Cyp with SEND in our schools. In addition to the development of support services in Dudley (such as Cips and the SEND and Additional Needs Officers team); a workforce development program is underway through various pilots, workshops and conference style events which will meet the growing demand for more in depth understanding of complex needs within our mainstream schools
Dudley’s approach to coproduction with parent carers has developed significantly, ensuring that coproduction is at the heart of its approach. This has been supported using the 4 Cornerstones to Coproduction ethos which has been embraced throughout the partnership and will continue to be at the heart of all we do, to listen to children and families.
By using this collaborative approach, the development of local provision has improved significantly, with the completion of a SEND sufficiency Strategy, supported by the creation of bases within mainstream schools and the beginning of a satellite approach to support capacity building of specialist provision and enhancing inclusion within mainstream. Further development is identified in this area as part of the Sufficiency Strategy’s 7-year plan.
SEN2 Snapshot in January of each year
Dudley England England Average LA1
Black Country Average2 2019 1,926 353,995 2,329 1,945 2020 2,340 390,109 2,567 2,151 2021 2,730 430,697 2,834 2,501 2022 3,035 473,255 3,114 2,794 2023 3,366 517,026 3,401 3,142 2024 3,628 575,963 3,764 3,652 % Increase in caseload 2019-2024 88% 62% 61% 87%
• 3628 children and young people who have an EHC plan (maintained by Dudley Mbc January 2024) DfE SEN2
• 2553 EHC plans for children and young people who attend a school within Dudley LA https:// explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/special-educational-needs-in- england/2023-24?subjectId=cf208578-2aa2-43d5-7f09-08dc74d49ccd
• 6853 children and young people with SEN Support (aged 0-18) January 2024 DfE School / Independent census that attend a school in Dudley LA
Dudley SEND Strategy Refresh 2025/29 ‘Breaking barriers, building futures’
Coproduction & collaboration journey
Co-production is a particular and empowering way of working, it is about working in equal partnership with others to plan and produce something that benefits all concerned. It recognises that both service recipients and service providers have a vital contribution to make in improving services.
Dudley is committed to embedding a culture of co-productive working which is based on the Four Cornerstones Approach following a series of workshops delivered to multiple Dudley agencies, parents and carers and education settings by Genuine Partnerships.
Multiple partners have worked in partnership to co-design a Co-production Charter for Dudley, along with Success Measures, supporting resources and promotional materials. This charter aligns with Dudley’s underlying principles of putting children and young people at the heart of everything we do in recognition that we strive to develop a Child Friendly Dudley.
The launch and promotion of the Co-production Charter is in the early phase, but it aims to improve communication and collaborative working between the people who deliver the services and those that use them, to ensure they are efficient and effective. By working in a co-productive way, the voices and contributions of all stakeholders will be used to shape the development and delivery of services and processes.
Dudley SEND Strategy Refresh 2025/29 ‘Breaking barriers, building futures’
Child Friendly Dudley & Growing up in Dudley
The concept of “Child Friendly Cities and Communities” has been promoted for many years. As the world’s leading organisation working for children and their rights, Unicef has developed a programme of activity that supports and challenges government, at all levels, to uphold and actively promote children’s rights.
The Unicef UK child friendly cities and communities programme is based upon the principle that:
“Every child has the right to grow up in an environment where they feel safe to play, learn and grow. A place where they have access to public services and where their voice is heard and matters.”
Child Friendly Dudley is not about doing something entirely new but creating a framework that brings together many existing strands of positive activity with an enhanced focus on children e.g. around volunteering, apprenticeships, social value, healthy lifestyles, a skilled future workforce etc.
A framework that provides an enhanced borough- wide focus on improving outcomes for children and young people will offer significant support to the improvement journeys currently in place across Children’s Social Care and SEND.
It will also ensure that we place children and young people at the heart of a strong economy, focusing on young people achieving and attaining in education and training, developing into productive adults living and working in Dudley.
Growing Up in Dudley was commissioned by Dudley Council and delivered by Frame and Yello Brick. Frame is a social research organisation using creative, inclusive, and participatory methods to address health and social inequalities.
Growing Up in Dudley provides a vivid snapshot of life in Dudley, drawing on the perspectives of parents, carers, children and young people. These true stories collectively depict the community’s strengths, challenges and long–term needs.
Growing up in Dudley specific priority actions for SEND:
Supporting SEND families: Families with SEND children need more streamlined and clearer communication between various systems. They need easier access to information and more support around seeking a diagnosis and getting practical support. Parents of SEND children need better mental health support. They also want more visibility and say in the design of services that affect their families.
Dudley SEND Strategy Refresh 2025/29 ‘Breaking barriers, building futures’
Self-evaluation framework (Sef) & strategic priorities
Over the course of the last 6 months the following strategic priorities have been derived. There have been a number of multi-agency working groups that have considered the Sef, current data analysis, Growing Up in Dudley, the Pcf survey and more recently our Ofsted and CQC inspection outcome. These have been brought together to determine our partnership wide priorities for the next four years.
1. Continue to grow capacity and improve practice
• We will embed the Early Notification of SEND form and pathway for Dudley health services across the system
• We will establish and implement a sufficiency plan (planning cycle) that ensures children and young people have the right local educational provision for the next 5 years and beyond
• We will embed and regularly review our Ordinarily Available Inclusive Provision (Oaip). We have codesigned our Specialist Services and delivery models to increase capacity and meet needs within settings.
• We will ensure our communication is relevant, accessible, comprehensive, timely and easy to understand
• We will respond to Ofsted feedback from our most recent inspection and prioritise actions for improvement
2. Deliver an efficient, effective and well managed SEND system
• We will have mechanisms in place to hear families’ experiences and voices (to include Pcf Surveys & learning from complaints)
• We will involve children and young people in providing feedback on the design and delivery of services and improve our systems and processes going forward using this feedback.
• We will embed a comprehensive Qa framework across education, health and care services to ensure the quality of Ehcna’s, annual reviews and the child’s journey through multiple services.
• We will establish the Pfa Pathway to ensure there are a range of options available for children and young people within Dudley. This information will be accessible and widely promoted.
• We will design, develop and implement a SEND partnership wide data dashboard to monitor and evaluate the impact of our SEND improvement work.
• We will ensure an optimum number of young people have good employment/community involvement and are living their best lives
Dudley SEND Strategy Refresh 2025/29 ‘Breaking barriers, building futures’
3. Ensure coproduction is at the heart of all our planning and delivery to improve the experiences of children, young people and their families
• We will embed 4 Cornerstones coproduction model and the codesigned coproduction charter across the partnership.
• We will continue to gather and analyse feedback from new Ehcna’s and Annual Reviews and implement service improvements based on this feedback.
• We will empower parents and carers to participate in decision making through engagement with the Dudley Pcf and other local parent/carer networks.
• We will investigate and explore with children and young people how we establish effective co- production to improve experiences and outcomes for children and young people.
• We will support all settings in Dudley to achieve the highest levels of coproduction and will develop a way of rewarding those who achieve this in Dudley
4. Measuring success/ key performance indicators (Kpi’s)
• Continued monitoring of the submission of Early notification form to ensure identification of need is supported as soon as possible
• Percentage of children with an EHCP in Mainstream/State Special/Independent Schools
• Percentage of available provision as compared to our statistical neighbours
• Number of children on the priority placement list (DfE definition)
• Pcf annual survey feedback (or develop a coproduced partnership SEND Survey)
• Feedback from multi agency Case Tracking Audits (numbers complete and the quality)
• Destination Eet data to be compared to statistical neighbours.
• Following launch of the charter, the number of schools wanting to have a charter
• Satisfaction survey will be conducted after every new EHC
• Percentage of schools having active SEND parent carer groups
A copy of our SEND Sef can be found here: Dudley Local Area SEND Self Evaluation (September 2024)
Dudley SEND Strategy Refresh 2025/29 ‘Breaking barriers, building futures’
Delivery and governance
The SEND strategy is underpinned by 3 principles:
SEND Governance Structure
The below structure is how the Local Area Partnership will deliver priorities from the SEND Strategy.
Dudley SEND Strategy Refresh 2025/29 ‘Breaking barriers, building futures’
We will monitor and evaluate our data on a regular basis at the SEND Improvement Steering Group (Sisg) & SEND Strategic Partnership Board (Sspb), and have developed a SEND Data Dashboard and a range of Key Performance Indicators (Kpi) to support us in doing so.
Our SEND & AP Improvement Plan will be the overarching plan for all our SEND Priorities and include the specific actions that have been identified within our Post SEND Inspection Action Plan.
Specific workstream leads will be identified for each priority action to drive forward our improvement work and identify our opportunities and challenges over the next 4 years. The SEND Strategy will also link closely with the SEND and AP Sufficiency Plan and the revised Early Help Strategy.
Partnership feedback will play a vital role in the delivery of this strategy and as co-production forms part of all the work that we are doing across the partnership this should instil a high level of confidence in all of our partners that their thoughts and views are being listened to and acted upon.
Dudley SEND Strategy Refresh 2025/29 ‘Breaking barriers, building futures’
Glossary Of Acronyms
Dudley SEND Strategy Refresh 2025/29 ‘Breaking barriers, building futures’
AP - Alternative provision
App – Accelerated Progress Plan
Cfd - Child Friendly Dudley
Cips – Communication and Interaction, Physical and Sensory Service
Cyp - Children & Young People
CQC – Care Quality Commission
Dbv – Delivering Better Value
DfE – Department for Education
Dicb – Dudley Integrated Care Board
Dpcf – Dudley Parent Carer Forum
Eet – Education, Employment & Training
EHCP - Education, Health and Care Plan
EHC - Education, Health and Care
Ehcna - Education, Health and Care Needs Assessment
Kpi – Key Performance Indicator
LA - Local Authority
Oaip - Ordinarily Available Inclusive Provision
OFSTED – Office for Standards in Education
Pcf - Parent Carer Forum
Pfa - Preparing for Adulthood
Qa – Quality Assurance
SEND - Special educational needs and / or disability.
Sef – Self Evaluation Framework
SEN - Special educational needs
SEN2 – SEND 2 data return
Sendiass – Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Information and Advice Support Service
Sisg – SEND Improvement Steering Group
Sspb – SEND Strategic Partnership Board
Unicef – United Nations Children’s Fund.
Wsoa – Written Statement of Action
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