The Ofsted/CQC inspectors are about half-way through their monitoring inspection of the Hertfordshire Local Area SEND Partnership – this post provides a quick update.
Thank you very much to everyone who shared their views in last week’s poll. We had a huge response. The results are further down.
What’s happened so far?
The first two weeks of the inspection are focused on data gathering. As part of this, HPCI met with inspectors last week.
This visit is not a full SEND inspection. This means that the inspectors are only looking at whether the local partnership has taken effective action against the two priority areas that were highlighted in the 2023 report. These relate to improving their data dashboard, and looking at partnership, governance and quality assurance.
At our meeting we told the inspectors about how parent carer representation has been embedded in the new improvement work and how HPCI has represented the voice of parent carers and families with SEND. We have seen a lot of work go into improving the internal processes that were highlighted.
We also told inspectors that families are not yet consistently seeing improvement in their day-to-day experiences.
This was made very clear by the 460 people who responded to our poll which asked: “Do you think that the local area partnership’s SEND arrangements have improved experiences and outcomes for children and young people with SEND over the last two years?”. Most respondents have not seen an improvement – you can see the results below.
What next?
Next week, the inspectors will visit Hertfordshire. They will talk to leaders across the partnership and HPCI will be involved in a number of their meetings. They will also be meeting with head teachers, front-line staff in social care and health, as well as some young people.
They will be talking to a small number of families whose child’s EHCP has been randomly selected, but that there will not be a general parent carer survey, given the narrow focus of the visit.
The inspectors will be in Hertfordshire until Wednesday 22 October. They will then decide whether they think Hertfordshire has taken effective or ineffective action against each of the priority areas.
Their findings will be published in a letter on the Ofsted website and the Local Offer. We will let you know as soon as this is out – it is likely to be a few weeks after inspection.
If you are interested in further details, the process Ofsted/CQC follow can be found here.
Anything else?
We know that families’ main concern is getting the system working correctly to meet the needs of their children. Alongside our involvement in the monitoring inspection, HPCI continues to be engaged across a whole range of improvement work. In the last 10 days we have attended meetings covering mental health, autism, social care, 16+ education, EHC Needs Assessments, SEND Partnership Board, Educational Psychology, and more.
We will shortly be launching our 2025 annual survey, so watch out for more details. It’s another way in which you can share your views and experiences. The survey results are important and used by HPCI year-round in our work with education, health & social care teams.
Don’t forget, if you have any quick feedback to share on any SEND service in Hertfordshire, you can always use our feedback form.
