CHILDREN and young people in Leicester who have special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are benefiting from a strong multi-agency approach which supports their needs effectively, according to a recent Ofsted inspection of the partnership which delivers services.
The inspection of the partnership – which includes Leicester City Council, Leicestershire NHS Partnership Trust and NHS Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Integrated Care Board (ICB) – took place in September 2025.
Published on 20 November, the inspection report states that children and young people with SEND and their families are central to the work of Leicester’s local area partnership. It also highlights that there is a strong culture of collaboration, with shared ambition to secure the best possible outcomes for children and young people.
However, it finds that despite recent positive developments, experiences are inconsistent because many of these changes are still embedding and have yet to fully deliver the intended impact and fully realise partnership leaders’ strong ambitions.
Inspectors found that the plans in place were strong, but more time was needed to deliver the actions and to evidence the impact on children, young people and families.
The finding means the local area partnership must produce an action plan that sets out how improvements will be achieved.
Laurence Mackie-Jones, Leicester City Council’s strategic director of social care and education said: “It’s good that inspectors have recognised the way agencies are working closely together in Leicester to get the best possible outcomes for children and young people with SEND.
“I’m also pleased that they have acknowledged the city council’s expansion of specialist provision in mainstream schools and the targeted support being provided through our family hubs.
“Of course, our efforts are in the face of the increasingly concerning national picture and lack of adequate funding being made available to councils and other agencies to cope with rising need,” he added.
“We would agree that there is more work to be done to ensure the improvements we have made in recent months are fully bedded in, but I am confident our partnership is on track to achieve this.”
Maria Laffan, chief nursing officer and executive lead for SEND for the Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland ICB, said: “We welcome the Ofsted report and are pleased that inspectors recognised the importance we place on the whole family’s involvement in SEND services, to ensure that we always hear the voice of our children and young people in the development of our services.
“Whilst we recognise the positive outcomes that we have achieved, we are also mindful that improvements need to be made against a number of challenges. We will now closely examine the report’s recommendations and continue to work in collaboration across our local health and social care system to produce an action plan to address the areas identified for further improvement.
“Our strong partnership working which has developed between the agencies, has placed us in an excellent position to continue to improve our SEND provision, and we remain committed to working with our partners to deliver the best outcomes for children, young people and their families.”
Samantha Leak, executive director of community health services and interim executive director of families, young people, children, learning disabilities and autism services at LPT, said: “We are proud of our strong partnership working and shared ambition to meet the best possible outcomes for children and young people with SEND. We welcome the good practice highlighted in the report around our school nursing service, our young people’s forums, and our multi-agency working to support children and young people with additional mental health needs.
“We know there is more to do, and we will continue to work on this together. For example, in partnership with education, local authority and health visiting colleagues, and with parents and families across LLR, our Speech and Language Therapy Service is now leading a pathfinder programme called Early Language Support for Every Child (ELSEC). The programme has already been impactful in reducing the numbers of children being added to local Speech and Language Therapy waiting lists, so that NHS specialist Speech and Language Therapy Services can be used appropriately for the children identified with more complex needs.”
Ofsted found that areas of effective work being carried out by the partnership include:
- Establishing a robust approach to improving pupil attendance which is having a positive impact across the area, and supported by well-developed partnerships with schools
- Support given to disabled children by adult social care workers, as they transition into adulthood. Assessments are detailed and thorough, with young people and their parents actively involved in the process
- The strong multi-agency support for children and young people with a diagnosis of a learning disability or autism who are at risk of placement breakdown or hospital admission due to mental health needs
- The early support provided by the school nursing service to children and young people with SEND, with nurses identifying emerging needs and delivering early support with social, emotional and mental health needs
Areas where inspectors found the partnership could do better include:
- Despite leaders’ sufficiency planning, there remains a shortfall in specialist education provision, which means some children and young people face delays in accessing placements that meet their needs
- The quality of the written outcomes in EHC plans is inconsistent. Outcomes typically do not contain sufficient detail.
- Children and young people who require neurodevelopmental assessment face significant delay, and despite leaders’ efforts to reduce waiting times, service capacity across health partners remains insufficient to meet the level of need
- Speech and language therapy services contribute to EHC plans by making recommendations for support, but due to capacity pressures in the service, some of these are not being delivered.
Ofsted recommends that a number of actions should be taken to make the required improvements. The partnership must now produce an action plan setting out how it will do this, to be provided to Ofsted in December.
The full report is available on the Ofsted website here: 50291443