SEND Report: Long Waits for CAMHS in Waltham Forest

Waltham Forest faces significant challenges in providing timely access to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), according to a recent inspection. The findings were discussed at the Children and Families Scrutiny Committee meeting on Tuesday 1 July 2025.

The Ofsted/CQC SEND Inspection, which took place between 27 January and 14 February 2025, highlighted that the local area partnership's arrangements lead to inconsistent experiences and outcomes for children and young people with SEND. The inspection found that a period of changing leadership and challenges with retaining staff had a negative impact on the experiences of children and young people with SEND and their families. One of the key areas identified for improvement was the waiting times for specialist health interventions, equipment, and pathways, including CAMHS.

While the inspection report acknowledges that teams can provide immediate support in urgent cases, it also notes that some children and young people wait too long for appointments for specialist intervention on mental health pathways, occupational therapy, and speech and language therapy services. The report highlights that Waiting times for specialist health interventions, equipment and pathways (Including CAMHS, Wheelchair waiting times, continence services) are too long. Specific waiting times for CAMHS and comparisons to national averages were not provided in the meeting information.

To address these issues, the Local Area SEND Improvement Plan includes specific actions to improve access to health services, including CAMHS:

• Allocating additional resources (NHS Send Investment) to reduce waiting times for specialist health services and recruiting additional clinical capacity (Action 6.01).
• Streamlining referral and diagnostic processes for neuro-developmental assessments and CAMHS treatment pathways (Action 6.02).

The 'shared ambition' for children with SEND will be translated into tangible improvements in CAMHS access and quality through the implementation of the Local Area SEND Improvement Plan. Priority Six of the plan, All children with SEND in Waltham Forest have timely access to health services, directly addresses this. Actions include embedding pre- and post-diagnostic support strategies, such as parent navigators and spectrum gaming.

The inspection report also pointed out several strengths within the Waltham Forest SEND provision, including a shared ambition for children with SEND across the area partnership, some high-quality inclusive settings, a strong multi-agency Family Hub offer, integrated neuro-diversity assessments, and good adult health transitions.

To address the areas needing improvement, a draft of the Local Area SEND Improvement Plan has been created, outlining six key priorities:

1. All children in Waltham Forest with SEND have their needs identified early and receive timely intervention, in a child-focused way.
2. Strong communication and co-production with children, young people, and their families.
3. All children have a high-quality outcome-focused education, health and care plans
4. All children attend a setting which improves education and life outcomes
5. All transitions prepare children and young people with SEND for their next life stages, including adulthood
6. All children with SEND in Waltham Forest have timely access to health services

The views of children and families with SEND are being incorporated into the development and implementation of the Local Area SEND Improvement Plan through several mechanisms, including co-production, engagement, the Parent Carer Forum, and feedback mechanisms. The plan emphasizes strong communication and co-production with children, young people, and their families (Priority Two). Action 2.01 involves developing and implementing a Co-production Charter and training program to ensure a shared understanding of co-production across the partnership. Action 2.02 aims to create and strengthen opportunities to ensure the voices of children, young people, their families, and carers are incorporated into decision-making, as demonstrated in individual EHCPs and Education Strategies. The plan was developed with partners of the SEND Strategic Board, including representatives from the Waltham Forest Parent Carer Forum. Needs assessments and EHCP reviews will be co-produced with youth, their parents and carers, and wider professionals (Action 2.05). A process will be established to seek feedback from parents of children with physical disabilities to ensure their experience of services is fully understood (Action 2.06).

The SEND Inspection Findings and SEND Improvement Plan report noted that Ofsted and the CQC have requested that the local area partnership update and publish its strategic plan based on the recommendations set out in the report.

The committee reviewed the draft Forward Plan for the 2025/26 municipal year, as detailed in The Scrutiny Report. The forward plan outlines the work programme for the committee, factoring in statutory reports, major decisions, themed reviews, and policy areas of interest.