Update no 679 26th September 2025

A mandate for change: Speech and Language UK launches alternative White Paper to fix SEND system

The charity’s Alternative White Paper proposals include:

• Putting speech, language and communication at the heart of schooling.  
• Investing in universal and targeted support from early years to secondary.  
• Training every teacher, TA and early-years professional to spot needs, adapt lessons and use tools such as AAC. 
• Reforming behaviour and attendance so children are not penalised for communication difficulties. 
• Building enough high-quality, resourced provision with national standards that include, not segregate.  
• Guaranteeing specialist access for every school, expand special-school places for complex SLC needs and curb profiteering so public money reaches children.  
• Protecting families’ rights with enforceable entitlements — whatever happens to EHCPs—plus free advocacy and transparent delivery plans from schools, councils and the NHS. 

Details

Ofsted states: “When inspections of state-funded schools begin in November, Ofsted has agreed to prioritise schools that volunteer for inspection. Routine inspections will be introduced on or after 1 December, depending on the number of schools that volunteer. There will be no routine inspections during the week before Christmas, to allow for inspector training.”
There are a range of supporting documents, including: 

– a schools inspection toolkit and operating guide for inspectors and a guide for schools

Headlines

The Law Commission has completed its review of disabled children’s social care law and published its final report. The recommendations in the report provide a comprehensive set of reforms to disabled children’s social care law.

The reforms recommended represent the most substantial change to this area of law since the Children Act 1989.

The objective of the recommendations is to make the law clearer, simpler and fairer. Taken together, the reforms should provide a more modern legal framework, better suited to meeting the specific needs of disabled children and their families.

Family court backlogs: children and families let down amid lack of urgency from government

The Public Accounts Committee has published a report on its inquiry into improving family court services for children in England and Wales. The Committee received written evidence from various professionals, legal representative bodies and voluntary sector organisations. Key issues highlighted include: children and families are experiencing long delays when waiting for family courts to resolve their cases; there is poor accountability for service improvement and overall performance in the family justice system; and there are inefficiencies in systems and processes that worsen experiences and outcomes for children and families. The Committee is calling on the government to set out how they plan to reduce delays and take steps to improve efficiency in family justice systems and processes.

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The Alliance for Youth Justice (AYJ) has published a briefing looking at the criminal justice response to exploited young people as they transition to adulthood in England and Wales. The briefing drew on an evidence review, a consultation session with professionals and meetings with practitioners. Issues highlighted include: safeguarding and support often ends at 18-years-old for young people who have been criminally exploited;  and a lack of transitional safeguarding and support for young people who are more vulnerable to criminal exploitation, such as those with care experience, special educational needs and disabilities, and Black and mixed heritage children, risks further criminalising young people from these groups. The briefing calls for safeguarding and support for criminally exploited young people to extend beyond 18; a cross-governmental taskforce to tackle criminal exploitation; and more support for police, prosecutors and courts to recognise young adults’ continued vulnerability.

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For JTAI inspections after April 2022, there are now 6 themes available:

• Joint inspections of the response to children who are victims of domestic abuse (17 January 2025) (DA)
• Joint targeted area inspections of the multi-agency response to serious youth violence (22 September 2023) (SYV)
• Joint targeted area inspection of the multi-agency response to children and families who need help (7 October 2022) (H&P)
• Joint targeted area inspection of the multi-agency response to the criminal exploitation of children (28 March 2022) (CE)
• Joint targeted area inspection of the multi-agency response to identification of initial need and risk (5 April 2024) (INR)
• Joint targeted area inspections of the multi-agency response to child sexual abuse in the family environment (10 September 2025) (CSA

Details

This guidance is statutory for local authorities in England and is intended to help them fulfil their legal duty under section 436A of the Education Act 1996 to make arrangements to identify, as far as it is possible to do so, children missing education (CME).

This guidance is also statutory for academy trusts, governing bodies, management committees and proprietors who must have regard to it as part of their efforts to promote the welfare of children.

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Councils have worked tirelessly with partners to reduce under-18 conception rates, improve outcomes for young parents, and tackle the inequalities that underpin early pregnancy. This guide sets out the evidence, challenges and opportunities for councils to continue leading the way.

This guide updates the LGA’s last briefing for councillors which was published in 2018

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The cost of a single place in a residential children’s care home in England has nearlydoubled in five years to an average £318,000 a year, with private firms racking up huge profits as a result of market failure, according to the public spending watchdog.

The £3bn children’s homes market, which is increasingly dominated by private firms, some funded by private equity, is “dysfunctional” and too often fails to deliver a good service for youngsters or value for money, a National Audit Office (NAO) report said. In the most extreme instances – likely to involve children with complex needs who require 24-hour supervision by multiple staff – councils had been charged up to £63,000 a week (£3.3m a year) for a single placement, the NAO said. 

Headlines

The report concludes that the current SEND system is fragmented and failing many children and families. Meaningful reform hinges on focused investment in early intervention, skilled professionals, clear accountability, and aligned funding and policy.. It calls for action are:

• A system overhaul
• Significant funding reform
• Workforce investment
• Early intervention focus
• Accountability and oversight
• Escalation and resolution
• Rebuilding trust

The workshop will:

Hear the emerging findings from two studies which aim to better understand how outcome frameworks for care leaving services can better reflect what care leavers themselves say is important. 

Work with care-experienced group facilitators to help refine a set of recommendations for policy and practice

Webinar details

The sessions will provide the opportunity to hear from the Foundations team who developed the Practice Guide and the Parent Carer who led the Anna Freud’s Parent Advisory Group and who was also part of the Foundations’ advisory group for this Practice Guide. There will be space to: 

• Hear more about how this Guide’s Recommendations can support commissioning and de-commissioning cycles by using the best available evidence alongside local population and organisational data, professional knowledge and lived experience. 
• Consider how the Key Principles can build on the work already going on in local areas to bring about whole-system culture change. 
• Reflect on how parenting support can improve a range of outcomes for disabled children and young people and their parent carers.
• Use the guide’s Reflective Tool. 
• Ask questions and hear from colleagues working across the country.

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On behalf of the SESLIP QA network, Kent Analytics has been research CSC QA processes and practices across the region.

This event will be an opportunity for QA leads and staff to participate in the co-design of new improved procedures based on the research findings.

Details

The prospectus introduces our dedicated Targeted Support Core Team, which includes experienced, ex-local authority leaders, who have worked at director, assistant director and principal programme manager levels,

The core team’s practice is enhanced by collaboration with Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) from across the full range of children’s services.

A bespoke package will be agreed at scoping stage.

For more information, or to become involved as a subject matter expert, contact Claire@clairewoodcockconsulting.com

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The new regional improvement plan has 47 projects and a budget of just under £2m.

The plan incorporates our delivery plan for DfE’s RIIA grant of £1.6m to SESLIP for the current year