Ofsted (Office for Standards in Education) and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspect how local areas work together to support children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These inspections look at how effectively education, health and care services work together to identify needs, provide support and improve outcomes for children and young people with SEND aged 0 to 25. The inspectors focus on the experiences and outcomes of children, young people and their families, and on how well local partners work together to improve services. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The inspection covers the whole Local Area Partnership, including the local authority, health services and other partners responsible for planning, commissioning and delivering SEND services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Devon’s last Joint Local Area SEND Inspection under the previous framework took place in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2023, Ofsted and the CQC introduced a new Area SEND Inspection Framework. The framework was reviewed following feedback gathered through Ofsted’s Big Listen and updated in June 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The framework includes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The inspection findings and outcomes will be published.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Inspection findings are published and may include recommendations to help local area partnerships further improve services and support for children and young people with SEND.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Local area partnerships are not told in advance when an inspection will happen. We are anticipating we will be inspected in the autumn term 2026.<\/p>\n
The inspection starts when Ofsted and the CQC formally notify the Local Area Partnership. This notification is usually made on a Monday morning. The inspection process then takes place over the following three weeks.<\/p>\n
As soon as we receive notification, we will:<\/p>\n
Inspectors will consider how well local services work together to support children and young people with SEND.<\/p>\n
They will look at:<\/p>\n
Inspectors also consider whether local partners are meeting their legal responsibilities and taking action to improve services where needed.<\/p>\n
The new inspection handbook<\/a> explains in more detail how this will be considered during inspections.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/li> Children, young people, parents and carers play an important role in the inspection process.<\/p>\n During the first week, inspectors gather information from the Local Area Partnership and invite feedback from children, young people and families.<\/p>\n Ofsted and the CQC will provide surveys for:<\/p>\n The surveys ask about people’s experiences of SEND services and support in Devon.<\/p>\n We will share details of how to access the surveys as soon as the inspection is announced. Information will also be made available in accessible formats where needed.<\/p>\n Inspectors review the information they have received and plan their inspection activities.<\/p>\n They may arrange discussions with stakeholder groups and representatives from across education, health, social care and the voluntary sector.<\/p>\n Inspectors select a small number of children and young people to help them understand individual experiences in more detail.<\/p>\n These are known as “tracking meetings”.<\/p>\n If your child or young person is selected, a professional will contact you to explain the process and ask whether you would like to take part.<\/p>\n This gives inspectors an opportunity to hear directly about your experiences and the support your child or young person receives.<\/p>\n Inspectors visit Devon and meet with a range of people, including:<\/p>\n These discussions help inspectors understand what is working well and where improvements may still be needed.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/li> Following the inspection, Ofsted and the CQC will publish a report. The report will identify one of three outcomes.<\/p>\n The local area partnership\u2019s SEND arrangements typically lead to positive experiences and outcomes for children and young people with SEND. The local area partnership is taking action where improvements are needed.<\/p>\n What happens next:<\/p>\n The local area partnership\u2019s arrangements lead to inconsistent experiences and outcomes for children and young people with SEND. The local area partnership must work jointly to make improvements.<\/p>\n What happens next:<\/p>\n There are widespread and\/or systemic failings leading to significant concerns about the experiences and outcomes of children and young people with SEND, which the local area partnership must address urgently.<\/p>\n What happens next:<\/p>\n What to expect when there is a SEND Area Inspection in Devon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2988,"featured_media":0,"parent":74647,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"class_list":["post-75560","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-09-20 07:32:27","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/children-families-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/75560","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/children-families-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/children-families-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/children-families-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2988"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/children-families-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75560"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/children-families-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/75560\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":75832,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/children-families-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/75560\/revisions\/75832"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/children-families-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/74647"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.devon.gov.uk\/children-families-education\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Week one<\/h3>\n
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Week two<\/h3>\n
Tracking meetings<\/h4>\n
Week three<\/h3>\n
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Outcome one<\/h3>\n
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Outcome two<\/h3>\n
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Outcome three<\/h3>\n
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Information for young people about the SEND Inspections<\/h3>\n
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Information for parents and carers<\/h3>\n
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SEND national guidance<\/h3>\n
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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"