One minute guide: Area SEND (special educational needs and disabilities) inspections

What are joint area SEND inspections

In January 2023, OfSTED and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) introduced a framework for the inspection of local area arrangements for children and young people aged 0-25 with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). 

These inspections provide an independent evaluation of the effectiveness of the local area partnership’s arrangements for children and young people with SEND aged to 25, including the commissioning and oversight of alternative provision, and recommend improvements.

SEND inspections have three possible outcomes:

1. The local area partnership's SEND arrangements typically lead to positive experiences and outcomes for children and young people with SEND. The local area partnership is taking action where improvements are needed.
2. The local area partnership’s arrangements lead to inconsistent experiences and outcomes for children and young people with SEND. The local area partnership must work jointly to make improvements. 
3. There are widespread and/or systemic failings leading to significant concerns about the experiences and outcomes of children and young people with SEND, which the local area partnership must address urgently.

Each local area will be inspected again within five years, with the frequency of re-inspection depending on the inspection outcome. Local areas are also subject to thematic visits and an annual engagement meeting.

What is inspected

The inspection evaluates how well local partners across education, health, and social care work together to improve the experiences and outcomes of children and young people with SEND. It scrutinises the education, health and social care services provided by the local authority (LA; Leeds City Council) and local Integrated Care Board (ICB). Inspectors also conduct visits at a range of local education, health, and social care settings and services. These settings are not judged as individual institutions; instead, the focus is on their contribution to wider partnership arrangements.

Children and young people in the scope of the inspection are those who live in Leeds and: 

• access Early Support (or have accessed it in the previous 12 months)
• have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) (or have had one in the previous 12 months)
• access alternative provision (or have accessed it in the previous 12 months).

All education, health, and social care settings and services supporting these children and young people are in the scope of the inspection – including services commissioned by the LA and/ or ICB and services outside of Leeds. This includes mainstream, alternative and specialist schools and education settings; and universal, targeted, and specialist health and social care settings/ services. Early help services are a particular focus for inspectors. 

Inspectors will use evaluation criteria to judge the effectiveness of local arrangements, as set out in part one of the SEND inspection handbook. They will also consider the Children and Families Act 2014 and the SEND Code of Practice 2015 in their evaluation.

What happens during an inspection

The inspection process takes three weeks. Inspectors work remotely, holding meetings ‘virtually’, in the first two weeks. They work on site, in-person in the third week. Main activities for the partnership include:

• providing inspectors with data and information about the local partnership
• distributing surveys which inspectors use to enable children and young people with SEND, their parents and carers, and local practitioners to have a voice in the inspection 
• tracking: in-depth audit of records about a sample of children and young people with SEND, and detailed analysis of their experiences and outcomes – inspectors will meet with the child or young person, their parents/ carers, and the practitioners who work with them
• visits: inspectors will visit a range of mainstream, alternative, and specialist education settings and universal, targeted and specialist health and social care settings. They will also visit services responsible for oversight and decision-making in the local SEND system.

How this will affect practitioners, managers and leaders in Leeds

If you work with children and young people with SEND, in any capacity, you could be asked to:

• provide data and/or information about a child or young person you work closely with
• provide information about the service you lead, manage, or work in 
• attend a meeting with inspectors to discuss a child or young person you work with

You may need to support a visit from inspectors, if you lead or practice in:

• an education, health or social care setting working directly with children and young people with SEND
• a service responsible for oversight and decision-making related to children and young people with SEND

We also encourage all practitioners to complete the survey provided by inspectors, which will be shared widely once Leeds is notified of an inspection. Responses are anonymous and only inspectors will see them. 

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