Ofsted and the CQC gave Southend's SEND partnership the same verdict as 2023: inconsistent outcomes. Children still wait too long for assessments.

Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission have published their inspection of Southend’s SEND partnership, and the verdict is word for word the one they gave in 2023.

Both reports carry the same sentence: “The local area partnership’s arrangements lead to inconsistent experiences and outcomes for children and young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). The local area partnership must work jointly to make improvements.”

That is the middle of the three outcomes an area SEND inspection can reach. It carries no monitoring inspection and no priority action plan, which the bottom outcome would, and the next full inspection follows in about three years (Ofsted area SEND framework and handbook).

Inspectors were in Southend from 15 to 19 June 2026, and the report was published on 3 September (Ofsted and CQC area SEND inspection report).

The previous inspection ran from 6 to 10 March 2023 and reached the identical outcome (2023 report).

The three area SEND inspection outcomes and where Southend sits Three possible outcomes. Top: arrangements typically lead to positive experiences and outcomes, full inspection within about five years. Middle: arrangements lead to inconsistent experiences and outcomes, full inspection within about three years. This is Southend’s outcome in both 2023 and 2026. Bottom: widespread or systemic failings, which brings a priority action plan and a monitoring inspection at around 18 months. The three inspection outcomes, and where Southend sits Source: Ofsted area SEND inspections framework and handbook, and the Southend reports of 2023 and 2026

1. Typically positive experiences and outcomes Engagement meetings. Next full inspection usually within about 5 years.

2. Inconsistent experiences and outcomes The partnership must work jointly to make improvements. Next full inspection usually within about 3 years. Southend 2023 Southend 2026

3. Widespread or systemic failings Priority action plan, plus a monitoring inspection at around 18 months.

Graphic by Southend Today

What inspectors said is working

The report is not a blanket criticism, and several findings are specific enough to matter to families:

  • EHC plans are issued on time. The number of education, health and care plans issued within statutory timescales is above the national rate.
  • Early years support is strong. Most children with SEND get “highly appropriate” support before school, with a focus on communication and language.
  • Early help and social care respond quickly, with timely assessments and coordinated services. Children in care with SEND attend school well and are supported by the virtual school.
  • Mental health services triage promptly, and a new tics and Tourette’s pathway is helping earlier identification.
  • Young people are shaping the system. The parent carer forum, Southend SEND Independent Forum, co-produced the SEND and alternative provision strategy, and more young people with SEND now sit on the youth council.

What inspectors said is not

The list of failings is longer, and several items would be recognisable to any parent who has been through the process:

  • Children wait too long for neurodevelopmental assessments and for reviews with their paediatrician. Mental health pathways lack clarity for children with needs relating to neurodiversity. Inspectors wrote that some children “reach crisis point without effective, prompt help”.
  • EHC plans are not updated promptly after annual reviews and do not always reflect a child’s current needs. Health and social care outcomes in the plans are “often too vague to measure progress effectively”, and not all practitioners contribute to reviews.
  • Children can be labelled too quickly. Inspectors found some professionals do not routinely explore the reasons behind a child’s behaviour, so needs get put down to social, emotional and mental health when they relate to neurodiversity.
  • Schools vary. Some meet needs well and others do not, and the partnership has no agreed strategy to tackle high absence, suspension and exclusion rates for children with SEND. Inspectors recorded a rise in requests for education otherwise than at school and in families choosing home education, and parents raising “rising concerns about school-based anxiety”.
  • Post-16 falls away. Preparation for adulthood does not start early enough, careers advice “often comes too late”, and “too many young people with SEND are not in education, employment or training by age 17”.
  • There is no commissioned autism support service in adult mental health, so young adults who do not meet adult social care thresholds fall into a gap.
  • Health staffing has not improved. Health leaders “have been unable to strengthen workforce capacity across several services”, leaving practitioners with large and complex caseloads.
  • Residential placements are not routinely monitored. Children in residential special schools do not consistently get additional oversight visits, though a post has recently been filled to address it.
  • Short breaks are scarce, particularly local and residential provision, which inspectors said limits family life and community access.

What repeats from 2023

Two of the four formal areas for improvement echo the last inspection.

In 2023 inspectors told the partnership to improve joint working on the co-production of EHC plans and annual reviews. In 2026 they have told it to strengthen the quality of EHC plans and accelerate work on the timeliness and quality of annual reviews.

In 2023 they told it to evaluate the quality and impact of services more effectively. In 2026 they wrote that “leaders do not evaluate the impact of their work in a consistent way”.

Inspectors did also record that there has been “significant positive activity”, and that many improvements are recent and have not had time to take effect. The partnership has been substantially rebuilt in between: the report notes a significant increase in staff and a restructure of the council’s SEND team, and that NHS Essex ICB only came into being on 1 April 2026, replacing the two predecessor boards.

The four things the partnership has been told to do

  1. Put earlier, well-planned transitions in place for young people preparing for adulthood.
  2. Strengthen the quality of EHC plans and speed up annual reviews, including specific and measurable outcomes from all partners.
  3. Work with schools to apply the graduated approach consistently, and cut the risk of absence, suspension and exclusion for children with SEND in mainstream schools.
  4. Health leaders must accelerate neurodevelopmental and mental health transformation so neurodivergent children with moderate mental health needs get timely specialist support.

Ofsted and the CQC have asked the partnership to update and publish its strategic plan in response.

What the council and the NHS say

Cllr Mandy O’Connor, cabinet member for children and SEND, said the council welcomed the report and the recognition of “considerable progress made across Southend’s SEND partnership since the previous inspection”, and added: “Importantly, the report is equally clear about where we must do more. We fully acknowledge the areas identified for improvement and are committed to addressing them at pace alongside our NHS and education partners.”

Tom Abell, chief executive of NHS Essex ICB, said the board was “pleased the CQC has recognised the partnership has been proactive in addressing some of the challenges”, and that it is “already making progress in areas including waiting times for assessments” (Southend-on-Sea City Council).

The council says a refreshed strategic improvement plan will be co-produced and published in line with national requirements. It has not given a date for that.

What it means for you

  • If your child is waiting for a neurodevelopmental assessment, the report confirms in writing that the wait is too long. That is now a documented inspection finding you can cite, not just a shared experience.
  • If your child has an EHC plan, the annual review is the weak point inspectors identified. Check that the plan issued after a review reflects the needs discussed at it, and that health and social care outcomes are specific enough to measure.
  • If your child is 14 or over, preparation for adulthood is the area inspectors were most critical of. Ask what the plan is well before Year 11.
  • The report is public and readable in about twenty minutes. It is the single most useful document a Southend SEND parent can have when arguing a case.
  • The partnership’s refreshed improvement plan is due to be published. When it appears, it should answer the four points above.

Sources