“Delays and disruption” experienced by families with special needs children criticised by care watchdog, reports Simon Allin, Local Democracy Reporter

Special educational needs and disabilities (Send) services in Enfield need to improve as young people experience “inconsistent experiences and outcomes”, inspectors have warned.

Care watchdogs raised a series of concerns over the borough’s Send provision following a recent inspection, including out-of-date support plans, insufficient information sharing between professionals and “too long” waiting times for mental health services.

Enfield Council has pledged to continue improving the quality of Send support and to boost local provision so that more young people are cared for within the borough.

Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspected the borough’s Send services, which are overseen by Enfield Council and the North Central London Integrated Care Board (NCL ICB), in March this year.

In a report published on 2nd August, the watchdogs acknowledged that leaders were “ambitious to improve outcomes” and said children and young people with Send typically have their needs “identified promptly”.

But they also warned of “varied experiences” for young people with Send, with parents and carer representatives having “mixed views” about the impact of recent improvements.

The report says children, young people and their families sometimes experience “delays in or disruption to their needs being met as a result of insufficient or inefficient information sharing between professionals”.

It adds that “too many” children and young people rely on out-of-date education, health and care plans (EHCP) that “do not reflect their current support needs”.

Young people who need community therapy services do not always experience a smooth transition from children’s to adult services, the report says, while waiting times for speech and language therapy and children and adolescent mental health services are sometimes “too long”.

Some children “express anxiety about the transition to adult life” because they are not well prepared for their next steps in education and transfer to adults’ services, the report adds.

In addition, some children and young people with Send and their families are not always made aware of activities they can take part in.

The watchdogs called on the local Send partnership to boost information sharing, ensure EHCPs reflect current needs and improve the transition between children and adult health services.

Abdul Abdullahi, the council’s cabinet member for children’s services, said: “We are pleased to see that the strong leadership and partnership working in Enfield have been recognised. We also know [… ] that, as is always the case with children’s services, more can be done for continued improvement. We will continue to elevate the quality of our offering and consistency of support for all children and young people who come into contact with the Send service.

“One of the council’s priorities is to help children to thrive in the borough and to ensure all children can have the best start possible in life. All our special schools are judged by Ofsted to be good or outstanding and all our resource provisions and units for children with Send are in good or better schools.

“We are increasing our in-borough Send provision so we can care for our children and young people in a setting locally that is right for them. We will continue to improve and deliver the best possible outcomes for children and young people in Enfield.”

NCL ICB was also approached for comment.

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