The partnership responsible for services supporting children and young people with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND) has listened to families and is committed to making system-wide change. The partnership includes Devon County Council (DCC), NHS Devon and other delivery partners.
This transformation programme addresses the significant challenges that the local area faces, improves the experiences of children, young people and their families in Devon and will lead to the financial sustainability of Devon County Council.
The programme includes a focus on getting the right help early on, and in a timely way, so that children and young people are supported to attend their local schools as much as possible. There is also commitment to deliver a clear SEND strategy for Devon that will focus on every stage of a child’s life from early years right through to post-16 support and preparing for adulthood.
The purpose of the SEND transformation programme
The SEND transformation programme brings together:
- Actions in the Accelerated Progress Plan (APP) that aim to improve the four areas of weakness across the Partnership that were identified by Ofsted and the CQC.
- Actions required to improve the experiences of children and young people with SEND and their families with the education, health and care systems within Devon.
- Actions required to put Devon County Council’s spending on SEND on a sustainable footing so that the budget deficit – the gap between the budget allocated and the budget spent – is reduced.
How the transformation programme is being managed
The SEND transformation programme has seven key work strands, along with support for common work across all projects in the programme. You can read more about the work strands.
The overall programme is governed by the SEND Strategic Partnership Board, with other governance groups reporting to it. You can read more detail about the programme governance.
The Department for Education and NHS England are monitoring progress against the Accelerated Progress Plan.