Redbridge Council is implementing a comprehensive SEND improvement plan in response to findings from a recent Ofsted report. Councillor Dudridge, Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, described the council's reaction to the suboptimal report as swift, ambitious, and collective, focusing on addressing identified structural issues. She clarified that while the critique was structural, it did not include direct criticism of safeguarding or children's wellbeing.

The Ofsted report highlighted that most of the critique is structural, very important structures and ones that we need to get right, but structure nonetheless. Crucially, there was no criticism directly of safeguarding or anything directly around children's wellbeing as an individual.

The council has allocated necessary funds for the SEND improvement plan, a move facilitated by prudent financial management. This initiative is a collaborative effort between children's services and health services, with the latter managing considerably larger budgets via the NHS.

Significant progress has been made in improving Education, Health, and Care Plan (EHCP) timings. The report notes, We've seen some improvements on ECHP timings, not as quickly as we would like, and it has plateaued in some ways. But we are bringing in additional staff members, hopefully, to approve that. The council has recruited senior officers to address backlogs and delays in this area. Data management and review processes have also seen substantial improvements. We've made significant improvements in data because data came through loud and clear about how we organise data, how we review data, and how we liaise with families about data. Both children's data and health data. So both ends of that spectrum didn't do particularly well in that respect, the meeting notes stated.

A renewed focus on co-production and rebuilding relationships with parent groups, including the EPT (Every Parent Matters), is also underway.

Cheryl Eyre, Interim Director of SEND, outlined the detailed plan being developed to address service and system issues. We are currently drafting a very detailed granular plan to address the service issues and systems... And that encompasses only EHCPs and that SEN case team. It encompasses the work of the educational psychologists, our specialist teachers, elements into social care, elements into therapies and there are a few health issues as well, Eyre stated.

Redbridge is also preparing a local area plan in response to the government's SEND white paper, which proposes reforms expected to take effect over the next three to ten years. The government's pledge of £1.8 billion for SEND through the white paper is viewed as an opportunity.

Workforce challenges, particularly in recruiting educational psychologists, were also discussed. Redbridge currently employs 27 educational psychologists, equivalent to 8.2 full-time roles, serving 78 schools. Everyone will tell you there's a challenge. And I'm not denying there's a challenge in recruitment. But the first stage for us is making sure our teams are efficient. They're working well. But we are utilizing them to the very best. Before then we start bringing in extra staff, the meeting notes explained. The council is prioritizing the efficiency and effective utilization of existing teams before considering further recruitment.

In terms of funding, the council is committed to advocating for fairer funding for SEND services. While acknowledging funding disparities with other boroughs, the focus remains on strategic allocation of available funds. There is a disparity, but I also think it's a question of how we spend the money as well, once we've received it, the meeting discussed. The council's strategy for advocating for fairer funding includes campaigning for more money for the borough and working with a DfE financial advisor to examine the high needs block and SEND funding allocation. The council aims to get its house in order, make sure we're really tight on that funding to be considered for funding to clear deficits and for future years. The need for health partners to contribute funding is also highlighted, stating, we need health to come to the table with funding as well.