It’s almost been a year since Parent Carers spoke passionately at the Council Chambers about the issues in the borough about Special Educational Needs & Disabilities (SEND). All the 68 councillors committed to making Cheshire West and Chester a SEND inclusive borough. You can view the details of that motion, including watching the parents' carers speak and the motion being passed here:

We recently asked Cllr Adam Langan for an update on the progress made so far. He highlighted key developments, including significant investment in the SEND team, improvements in EHCP processing times, and the establishment of a new governance framework to strengthen partnerships. There is still work to do, but steps are being taken to drive meaningful change. Here is what he had to say…

“Last year we passed a full motion at Council to become a SEND inclusive borough. It was an ambitious motion that looked at lots of different aspects of society, not just education or health.

We have made considerable progress since this point however still face many challenges. I’ll always be completely blunt and honest with anyone I speak to, and I know that the difficulties in our SEND service are well versed and understood. Over the past six months we have hugely invested into roles within the SEND team in the Council and have now recruited for over 20 roles. The main objectives of this investment were to increase the rate at which we complete and finalise EHCP’s, improve communication with parents and better equip all schools to work in a more inclusive way for children with SEND.

We have also recently recruited additional senior capacity for a new Director of Education and Inclusion post which will enable us to keep driving forward the changes we need.

The impact of these new posts, even in these early days, as we continue permanent recruitment is well documented in our SEND improvement reporting to various boards and we have seen a significant decrease in numbers of outstanding Education Health Care Plans (EHCPS) of the 300 plus over 20 weeks in August we are now down to 41 – which is not where we would want it to be but is a significant improvement).

I know it’s been a difficult time for parents and schools, and I believe that working together in partnership will improve outcomes for your children.”

Support families who have children with SEND through the council’s existing SEND service, school communities, and Integrated Care Board (ICB) to improve working practices, increase resources to address the increased demand and create greater inclusion.

As above the Council have made significant investment in our Local Authority (LA) SEND services, and our ICB colleagues reported to the last Strategic Group work they are leading to improve, for instance, the neurodiversity pathway. This work will be ongoing and we will launch a new governance framework for SEND in March 2025 as we have agreed, as a partnership, to develop a Partnership Board that will be independently Chaired until at least March 2026. The Department for Education (DfE) lead for SEN and a senior representative for National Health Service England (NHSE) will sit on our new board. I believe we have the governance in place now to ensure we really drive effective partnership.

Find innovative ways to support those that work with SEND to fulfil their legal obligations as in the Children and Families Act 2014 and the SEND code of practice.

We are seeing improvements in compliance and whilst we have not specifically undertaken an audit, feedback on the quality of the assessments is positive. We are exploring innovations to support our teams and our partners in their work.

Encourage and enable greater opportunity for co-production with the Parent Carer Forum to create systems that are more user friendly for families.

The voice of our children, our parents and our carers is crucial to drive meaningful change. We remain committed to this – if there are any issues or things we can do that you can see differently please let me know, however I can assure you that as Chair Julie will be central to the change programme we are embarked on alongside and with our Independent Partnership Board Chair.

Work with employers, schools and the third sector to increase opportunities for as they prepare for adulthood.

The Skills and Employment team at the council have 3 projects that include working with young people with SEN (although some also work with older or non-SEN residents):

We have commissioned a tailored learning contract through our Adult Skills Fund with Emperia Training who work with people with autism and down syndrome learners to get them employability qualifications and support into work.

The Local Supported Employment team work with 18+ residents with SEN to help them gain employment. This includes training employers and working with them to ‘carve’ job roles to find the best fit for the individual and the employer. This team is due to become part of a new project called ‘Connect to Work’ from the Autumn and will be funded for up to 5 years from DWP.

The Fresh Start team has been working with young people 16+ from September 2024 to give structured, but completely bespoke, 1:1 guidance. Often this is towards employment, but sometimes it is to education with a specific outcome in mind. So far Fresh start has supported 142 young people in the borough, 37 of which were SEN, with 30 gaining work, 12 moving into education, 43 gaining qualifications and 8 into training (14 of the 37 with SEN have positive outcomes so far). Fresh Start is funded through UKSPF until March 2026, but due to its success further funding is being sought.

Public Libraries have hosted Supported Internships and volunteering for SEND young adults at multiple sites including Ellesmere Port, Lache and Storyhouse libraries. We regularly have work experience across the service from a variety of schools.

Create more SEND friendly environments in the community.

Education Library Service (ELS) loan sensory story bags and story sacks to schools, nurseries and home educators. Also have braille, large print, and dyslexia friendly books for loan. Host weekly visits from subscribing special schools on site running activities and storytimes. Also work with the Sensory Storyteller CIC for special sessions. Delivered staff training on how to engage with pupils, supporting them and encouraging them to interact in activities. ELS creating story garden to offer outdoor sensory experience for SEND schools who visit us and increase range of activities.

Public Libraries

Collections – we have dyslexia-friendly books in all libraries for children and are currently adding to the collection. We have ‘Reading Well for teens’ collections as part of the Reading Agencies Books on Prescription scheme which cover topics such as mental health and neurodiversity: Reading Well for teens - The Reading Agency. The BorrowBox eBook and eAudiobook app has accessible features to support use.

BookTrust – the BookTrust team distribute Bookstart Packs for children with additional needs aged 0-5 via libraries and early years partners.

Environment - we have autism friendly guides to our libraries on the webpages e.g. little-sutton-library-autism-friendly-guide. Some libraries have Makaton-friendly signage in their buildings; entrance, exit, toilet etc.

Activities - We use Makaton at some story and rhyme sessions which are inclusive and open to all. Many activities are non-prescriptive to allow for a range of learners and participation.

Archives

As the design, construction and fitting out of the new centres for Cheshire Archives progresses, the project team will continue to consult the Corporate Disability Access Forum and other access groups to ensure that accessibility needs are considered including SEND. The project team is also working with a specialist in SEND provision for schools to ensure that the future Archives learning programme is SEND friendly.

Museums

Currently offer a Saturday STEM club with SEND adjustments to accommodate a range of learners. Grosvenor Museum Roman Day: for the ‘handling’ session, we offer a ‘121 box’ of objects for children to explore with a 121 adult in a quieter space. Free holiday activities are non-prescriptive to allow for a range of learners and participation. A SEND loan box – Roman Myths and Legends, specifically designed for SEND learners. Recently done workshops in partnership with Live Cheshire and Radiate Arts. In the past have done ‘Quiet afternoons’ Last Friday in the month at Grosvenor Museum. 

Organise mandatory SEND training for all councillors.

This remains outstanding, however is something our future Director of Education, Inclusion and SEND will work to establish.

Support the cross-party call by the Local Government Association (LGA) for national SEND reform and increased funding.

We continue to lobby the government on this and Bridget Phillipson has made it clear SEND reform will be delivered in this parliament.

Work with the Department of Education and Ofsted to fully embed the recommendations from the high needs review and liaise with the LGA to institute a peer-led review into the service.

We are engaged with the DFE and Ofsted, we have had regular conversations with both about our journey. We are in the process of commissioning an LGA Peer Led review of the service, likely to take place in summer or autumn this year.

I know this is a lot of information and hopefully highlights to yourselves the level of work going into making our borough a more SEND inclusive one.

If you have any questions about any of the above or just want to give me your feedback of yours and your child’s experience, feel free to email me on Adam.langan@cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk

Thank you,

Adam

If you have any other questions, please email us at: contact.pcfcwac@gmail.com or call 07900 840867

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