Improvements in several areas of Cambridgeshire’s services for children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) have been recognised by national inspectors in a report published today (13 May 2025).
Cambridgeshire County Council and the NHS Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Integrated Care Board (ICB), as part of the Cambridgeshire Area SEND Partnership, are jointly responsible for the planning and commissioning of services for children and young people with SEND in the county.
Following the inspection that took place in January 2025, the partnership has been given the middle rating of three possible outcomes by the inspectors from Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
The inspectors’ report highlights several areas of good practice, including: ‘A clear and coherent strategy to support children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) in Cambridgeshire is already starting to see some positive impacts.
‘Recent leadership appointments have created more stability, after some changes due to reorganisation of how the local authority manages and delivers its SEND services. This creates the capacity to improve provision.’
The report also highlighted the strong relationships across the partnership with the children and young people who are supported: ‘Across the area, many professionals work effectively to meet children and young people’s needs successfully. Many children and young people with SEND praise the support they receive from staff in schools. Health, wheelchair and equipment services provide timely support. Occupational therapy and physiotherapy services are comprehensive and effective, with professionals going above and beyond to meet needs.’
Inspectors also found that: ‘Children and young people often have their health needs promptly assessed and supported. For example, the healthy child programme and health visits identify needs early on, including antenatally. Waiting times for many health services are appropriate.’
The report also included a positive endorsement for ‘Inclusion for All’, the council’s partnership plan to drive better outcomes for all children and young people, for focusing on the key priority areas for improvement. Taking this approach ensures the partnership identifies and meets individual needs earlier, enables children to stay in mainstream education and creates a more financially sustainable system where all children can thrive and feel they belong, are wanted and cared about.
The report makes five recommendations for improvement:
- The local area partnership should work together to improve the timeliness and quality of the statutory Education Health and Care (EHC) plan processes so that children and young people with SEND get the right support at the right time. This should include a particular focus on:
- improving the timeliness of EHC plan needs assessments and annual reviews;
- improving the quality of EHC plans;
- amending EHC plans appropriately after annual review.
- The local area partnership should improve access to, and reduce waiting times for, specialist mental health pathways and neurodevelopmental assessments. Leaders should ensure that children and young people and their families consistently receive effective communication and support while waiting for neurodevelopmental assessments.
- The local area partnership should develop better opportunities for co-production with children and young people with SEND, so their voices and views are more fully included in the design of support and services.
- The local area partnership should improve the support for children and young people with SEND as they prepare for adulthood, especially in mainstream schools.
- The local area partnership should improve how it communicates its offer, so that schools, services and families know about and understand what the area seeks to provide. This will mean those who work most closely with children and young people with SEND will be better able to help them access the support available.
This feedback and the priority actions identified will drive the work of the partnership to improve the experiences and outcomes for all children and young people with SEND in Cambridgeshire.
Martin Purbrick, Executive Director for Children, Education and Families at Cambridgeshire County Council, said that “ensuring children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities get the best possible education, health and social care support is the top priority for our partnerships”, and he acknowledged that there is more work to be done across the partners.
"We take the findings of the Area SEND inspection very seriously and are fully committed to making the necessary improvements. We will continue to work closely with our partners, particularly parent carers, to ensure that all children in Cambridgeshire can achieve their best possible outcomes.
“We are taking positive steps to improve the timeliness and quality of our EHCP provision. We have already invested £500k to manage the increased demand for EHC Plans and the Council has approved a further £920k annual investment in February this year, which will increase the capacity of our frontline services.
“We have a very strong parent carer forum delivered by Pinpoint, and we all recognise that more work must take place to engage with harder to reach groups. The families of children and young people with SEND are often not aware of the full range of support services we offer. We're working with our partners to improve accessibility to information, including making greater use of technology.”
Carol Anderson, Chief Nurse at NHS Cambridgeshire & Peterborough, said: “We welcome the recommendations made by inspectors and are working closely with partner organisations as well as parents, carers, children and young people to improve and modernise services so they better meet the needs of local people.
“Improving access and reducing waiting times for children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities is a top priority within our Integrated Care System. We are moving towards a truly needs-led model, shaped by the experiences and voices of families, where children and young people receive the right support at the right time—in school, at home, and in the community.
“To lead this work, we are establishing a new Children and Young People, Learning Disability Autism Strategic Board which focuses on reducing waiting times and strengthening the support families receive while waiting.”
Sarah Conboy, Chief Executive of Pinpoint which runs Cambridgeshire’s parent carer forum, added: "Pinpoint were pleased to be able to help so many parent carers have their voices heard during the inspection visit and welcome the planned parent carer co-operation that will take place as post-inspection actions are implemented."
The next full area SEND inspection will be within three years.
You can read the report in full at 50276860.
