Committee publication · Correspondence · 24 June 2025
Letter from Adam Sproston HMI, Ofsted and Lucy Harte, Deputy Director, Multi-agency Operations, Care Quality Commission on Joint local area SEND inspections, dated 12.06.25
From: Education Committee
Inquiry: Solving the SEND Crisis
Summary
Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission provide the Education Committee with detailed information on joint local area SEND inspections, responding to their May 2025 evidence session. The letter describes the inspection framework, shares findings from a June 2025 review that gathered feedback from children, families, and local area partnerships, and outlines committed improvements including better mechanisms for children and families to feedback and clearer accountability for improvement actions.
Key findings
- Area SEND inspections evaluate experiences and outcomes of children and young people with SEND aged 0–25 and partnership working across health, social care, education, and families; findings inform DfE and NHS England support decisions.
- June 2025 Area SEND review found positive feedback on the current framework's supportive approach and focus on child/family voices, but identified strong desire from stakeholders for more opportunities to share experiences with inspectors.
- Strategic co-production with parents, carers, and families is a key feature in positive inspection reports; examples include parent-informed school place planning, child-friendly hospital spaces, and direct payment pathways created through family consultation.
- High-quality EHC plans depend on multi-agency partnership working; inspectors emphasize that plans must accurately reflect child needs, capture child/family voice, include measurable targets, plan for transition, and be overseen for breadth of needs.
- Inspecting against outcomes rather than statutory compliance alone is essential; some areas meet 20-week statutory timescales but produce poor-quality plans lacking up-to-date health and care advice, limiting effectiveness.
Tone
ProceduralTopics
Key actors
Adam Sproston, Lucy Harte, Helen Hayes MP, Ofsted, Care Quality Commission (CQC), Department for Education (DfE), NHS England, Education Select Committee
Notable line
“If the framework was restricted to statutory compliance, local areas could, for example, issue poor quality EHC plans without up to date health and care advice in order to meet statutory timescales.”
Key Quotes
“… our local area SEND inspections evaluate the experiences and outcomes of children and young people with SEND aged 0-25 and how well members of a local area partnership work together.”
“Many across the sector reported that it is a more supportive process than the previous framework and its focus on the experiences and views of children, young people and their families was highlighted as a particularly positive change.”
“… co-production with parents and carers was a golden thread which weaved through new initiatives and service redesign. Leaders also listened to and valued the views of parents, carers, children and young people.”
“… some areas that have high compliance with the 20-week statutory EHC plan needs assessment process have been found to produce plans that are of a poor quality and do not accurately reflect the needs of the child or young person.”
“As at 12 May 2025, we have received a total of 81,719 survey responses from 66 area SEND inspections carried out since January”
Source · parliament.uk record ↗