Setting

Area SEND inspection of Bath and North East Somerset Local Area Partnership

p.1

Inspection dates: 15 to 19 June 2026 Dates of previous inspection: 18 to 22 March 2019

p.1

Inspection outcome

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.

p.1

Inspection outcome

The next full area SEND inspection will be within approximately 3 years.

p.1

Inspection outcome

Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) ask that the local area partnership updates and publishes its strategic plan based on the recommendations set out in this report.

p.1

Information about the local area partnership

Bath and North East Somerset Council and the NHS Integrated Care Board (ICB) cluster for Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon, Wiltshire, Dorset and Somerset (BSW, Dorset and Somerset ICB Cluster) are jointly responsible for the planning and commissioning of services for children and young people with SEND in Bath and North East Somerset (BANES).

p.1

Information about the local area partnership

There have been changes to the leadership of children’s services in BANES since the previous inspection. These include the appointments of the director of children’s services in August 2025 and the head of SEND in September 2023.

p.1

Information about the local area partnership

The BSW, Dorset and Somerset ICB Cluster is responsible for the commissioning of health services in BANES.

p.1

Information about the local area partnership

The local authority commissions two alternative provisions (AP) for children and young people who could be at risk of, or who have been, permanently excluded. The local authority commissions some unregistered AP for children and young people with SEND as part of bespoke packages for those educated otherwise than at school (EOTAS). Area SEND inspection report: Bath and North East Somerset Local Area Partnership 15 to 19 June 2026

p.1

What is it like to be a child or young person with SEND in this area?

Children and young people with SEND receive inconsistent experiences and support to meet their needs. While some receive effective help, variations in service delivery mean that experiences and outcomes differ. The partnership has identified many of the right priorities, but these are not yet translating into consistently positive experiences and outcomes for children, young people and their families.

p.2

What is it like to be a child or young person with SEND in this area?

The reach and influence of the parent carer forum (PCF) have grown in recent years. Leaders listen to and understand the lived experiences of parents and carers and set out to make necessary improvements. Multi-agency working across the partnership is effective. This has created a platform for improvements to take hold across education, health and social care. For example, local area leaders collaborated with the PCF and the local SEND information, advice and support service to develop a parent and carer participation strategy built on the principle that it is better to work together.

p.2

What is it like to be a child or young person with SEND in this area?

Children and young people with SEND generally achieve well, with many successfully sustaining placements in education, employment and training after leaving school. However, there is more to do to secure the best possible outcomes for all children and young people with SEND. The local area partnership recognises this and is working with schools to strengthen the quality and consistency of support available for children and young people receiving SEND Support. Nevertheless, improvements are at an early stage and not consistent. As a result, some children and young people with SEND are inhibited from succeeding. Suspensions for children and young people with SEND are frequent. Severe absence from school has become more common over time. Advice services for parents and carers are experiencing a rise in requests for support as families look for help, including alternatives to school.

p.2

What is it like to be a child or young person with SEND in this area?

There is a broad range of AP on offer in BANES, but children and young people are sometimes educated through a mix of part-time unregistered AP as a stopgap when the local area cannot find a suitable school place that can meet their needs. For some children and young people, this can result in a fragmented experience of education.

p.2

What is it like to be a child or young person with SEND in this area?

Children and young people’s experiences of primary care and mental health services are mixed. Reasonable adjustments by health practitioners and access to annual health checks help some children and young people, particularly those with a learning disability, to access personalised care. Effective systems to prioritise the right mental health service ensure that most of the most vulnerable children and young people are seen quickly. Nevertheless, too many children and young people with SEND wait too long for support from some services, including child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS), leading to increasing need, with limited support in place. Area SEND inspection report: Bath and North East Somerset Local Area Partnership 15 to 19 June 2026

p.2

3

Children and young people with complex medical conditions often benefit from early identification, coordinated care and timely input. For example, the ‘Therapy Boost Programme’ helps children aged 0 to 4 years to be cared for at home by their families and supports better continuity between hospital and community services. However, children and young people who need neurodevelopmental assessment, community paediatrics or specialist mental health support can wait too long for their needs to be fully understood.

p.3

3

Typically, children and young people with SEND receive the right help and support from early help practitioners who know them well. There is a broad offer of early help. Where partnership working is effective, children receive timely, practical and coordinated support from services that understand their circumstances. Young people in BANES are increasingly experiencing smoother transitions between social care support services as they become young adults.

p.3

3

However, some families wait too long for the right short break, including overnight provision, or home adaptations. For the children and young people identified as needing these services, this limits opportunities for safe and enriching experiences away from home and can delay improvements to their safety, independence and quality of life in their home.

p.3

3

Children and young people with SEND do not know enough about the activities they can access through the local offer to support their social life. There is a reliance on parents and carers finding and paying for opportunities. Young people with SEND are part of interview panels selecting local area leaders and are invited to share their experiences with education practitioners. However, education, health and care (EHC) plans and reviews do not consistently consider the individual experiences and aspirations of children and young people well enough.

p.3

What is the area partnership doing that is effective?

◼ Leaders across the partnership want the best for children and young people with SEND. They have clear plans to develop local sufficiency so that more children and young people can access specialist educational, residential and short breaks placements that they need. The partnership has supported an expansion of specially resourced provision for children with SEND in schools. This is helping some children and young people with SEND to receive effective support within their local community, in mainstream schools. The partnership is actively working on longer term sufficiency projects. ◼ There are clear pathways for children and young people with SEND moving between education services and providers. For example, young people without a school place following a permanent exclusion, those who move into the area, and those returning to school following a period of elective home education are allocated a school place

p.3

What is the area partnership doing that is effective?

quickly by the fair access panel. Area SEND inspection report: Bath and North East Somerset Local Area Partnership 15 to 19 June 2026

p.3

4

◼ The partnership convenes a network of leaders offering registered or unregistered AP in BANES. High expectations of providers are communicated through a robust quality assurance process. Increasingly, AP is used as an effective form of early intervention to help children and young people with SEND to have their needs fully identified and met. Increasing numbers of children and young people return to, and experience success in, mainstream schools. ◼ Physiotherapy, occupational therapy and speech and language therapy each demonstrate aspects of effective practice. The therapy offer includes early intervention, neonatal follow-up, sensory pathways and school-based support. Many children and young people with SEND are seen promptly by these services. ◼ Joint commissioning of early language support and targeted speech and language therapy is helping many children and young people to access support earlier. This has

p.4

4

provided early years practitioners with the expertise to support children early with identified gaps in their communication and language skills. Targeted support for young people accessing AP helps them to improve their use of language. ◼ The neurodevelopmental pathway prioritises risk well and provides effective navigation to the right healthcare services. Children and young people whose circumstances are becoming more concerning, or who are at greater risk, are identified and supported quickly and appropriately. Virtual assessment and support are available for some families while they wait. The paediatric neurodevelopmental service is flexible in its approach to the management of ADHD medication, including through general practitioners. This helps to identify and meet these children and young people’s needs effectively. ◼ Families benefit from a broad and well-embedded early help offer. Strategic partnership work, including data sharing and co-location of services in children’s

p.4

4

centres result in targeted and effective early support. The early help resource allocation panel ensures that most families receive timely, coordinated help. ◼ Practitioners in the ‘Connecting Families’ and disabled children’s teams know children well and build trusting relationships with children and families. Social care practitioners advocate effectively for families’ rights and entitlements. Direct payments help some children and young people to become more independent in their community through support that is tailored to meet their needs. ◼ The very few children and young people with SEND living in residential special schools are usually placed close to BANES. Leaders have established robust quality assurance arrangements that give them a clear line of sight into the quality of care and education that these children and young people receive. ◼ Leaders have increased the capacity of the social care transitions team, which has led

p.4

4

to more timely and impactful joint work for young people moving from children’s social care into adult services. As a result, children’s needs are understood more clearly when they move to adult services and provision, and plans are established to meet their needs well. Area SEND inspection report: Bath and North East Somerset Local Area Partnership 15 to 19 June 2026

p.4

What does the area partnership need to do better?

◼ The partnership’s vision for the support and provision that should be ordinarily available to children and young people with SEND is not consistently implemented across the local area. Although leaders have strengthened the graduated approach through the development and promotion of services, resources and interventions, the impact of this work is variable. Too many children and young people with SEND continue to experience poor attendance, suspension and placement instability. Improvements to early identification and support have not yet secured consistently positive outcomes across the local area. ◼ The time that children and young people, and their families, wait for initial EHC assessments and final plans is reducing. However, some parents and carers reported that EHC plans and annual reviews do not reflect their views accurately. Although there have been recent improvements for some, outcomes related to independent

p.5

What does the area partnership need to do better?

living do not consistently reflect children and young people’s aspirations for adulthood. Where their career plans are known, there can be drift and delay before firm decisions are made about educational programmes. This creates uncertainty for families and means that the time that children and young people spend in education is not always used to support their long-term goals. ◼ Work to improve the quality and impact of social care advice in EHC plans is not yet embedded. Practice is highly variable, ranging from detailed and child-centred inputs to some information-sharing pathways not being effective. Health contributions to EHC plans are more established but there are some inconsistencies. The speech and language therapy service has recently strengthened the quality of health advice provided. Nonetheless, practitioners in the 0 to 19 service do not routinely contribute to EHC plans. Furthermore, occupational therapy advice is not always easily

p.5

What does the area partnership need to do better?

identifiable in EHC plans. This limits how well children and young people’s EHC plans set out the nature and amount of health support to be provided. Although leaders are taking steps to address this, it is too early to see the impact of this work. ◼ Referral processes are not effective across all services. In occupational therapy, the quality of information included in referrals from education settings is weak. In community paediatrics the absence of a clearly defined learning disability pathway creates inconsistencies in how well needs are identified, especially for children and young people attending mainstream schools. These weaknesses reduce the effectiveness of early intervention and mean that support is not based on a full and timely understanding of children and young people’s needs. ◼ The effectiveness of the dynamic support register is limited by late identification and underdeveloped data systems. Oversight of care, education and treatment reviews

p.5

What does the area partnership need to do better?

(CETR) is not strong enough to ensure that leaders fully understand patterns in admission or use this information to improve services for the children and young people who need this support. ◼ Variability between providers, gaps in records and limited assurance about the impact of waits for video fluoroscopy mean leaders cannot be certain that all children and young people with dysphagia receive consistent and appropriate support. Area SEND inspection report: Bath and North East Somerset Local Area Partnership 15 to 19 June 2026

p.5

6

◼ The sufficiency of short breaks, including overnight breaks for children with complex health needs, does not meet the increasing number of requests for this support. This puts undue pressure on some families who need to coordinate their own help and support. Where this breaks down, families can find themselves in crisis. ◼ The limited capacity of occupational therapy in the disabled children’s team means that, while children with the most urgent needs are prioritised, waits for home adaptations remain too long. As a result, difficulties for families persist. For example, this can mean that families need to provide personal care, moving, handling and lifting without the right aids and adaptations to do this safely. This has a negative impact on children and young people’s needs being met and their independence improving. ◼ The frequency of some direct payment review meetings does not reflect the evolving

p.6

6

complexity of children’s and families’ circumstances. Attendance by key agencies at these meetings is inconsistent. This limits opportunities for partners to fully understand children’s changing needs and plan effectively. ◼ Leaders responsible for EOTAS typically have a detailed understanding of children and young people’s needs and preferences. However, limited specialist provision means that EOTAS packages are often shaped by what is available rather than what is most appropriate. As a result, some children and young people access multiple AP settings, including some unregistered providers. This can be on a part-time basis, with some children and young people not receiving any other education. These arrangements do not always support children and young people to achieve their long-term aspirations. ◼ There is more to do to strengthen the approach to a joint strategic analysis of data so that this captures the needs and experiences of children and young people with SEND

p.6

6

in BANES more effectively. The partnership does not yet have a sufficiently mature and shared understanding of current and future needs across the local area. While partners routinely collect and analyse information about children and young people with SEND, this intelligence is not consistently brought together to fully inform joint planning, commissioning and the evaluation of impact.

p.6

Areas for improvement

The partnership should further develop its understanding of the needs and views of children and young people with SEND, ensuring that decision-making is consistently informed by their views and helps them to realise their aspirations. As part of this, leaders should work at pace to implement improved systems to support the sharing and analysis of the information that they hold about children and young people with SEND across BANES. Partnership leaders should strengthen their oversight and strategic planning for children and young people with SEND requiring the following services, reducing the waiting times to receive specialist assessment, diagnosis and support: ▪ CAMHS ▪ neurodevelopmental pathways ▪ learning disability Area SEND inspection report: Bath and North East Somerset Local Area Partnership 15 to 19 June 2026

p.6

7

▪ video fluoroscopy Partnership leaders should provide quality assurance of CETRs so that they can better understand and respond to patterns in admission and improve services to enhance outcomes for children and young people.

p.7

7

The partnership should ensure that there is sufficient access to short breaks for families who need this and improve the impact of occupational therapy in the disabled children’s team. Leaders across the partnership should accelerate the implementation of their vision for the support and provision that is ordinarily available for children and young people with SEND at school, ensuring: ▪ consistent embedding of the graduated approach across schools ▪ the earliest possible identification of needs for children and young people with SEND ▪ a reduction in suspensions ▪ improved school attendance Area SEND inspection report: Bath and North East Somerset Local Area Partnership 15 to 19 June 2026

p.7

Local authority Integrated care board

Bath and North East Somerset Council NHS Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire ICB Jean Kelly, Director of Children’s Services Jonathan Higman, Chief Executive Officer https:www.bathnes.gov.uk/ https://bsw.icb.nhs.uk/ Keynsham Civic Centre Market Walk Keynsham Bristol BS31 1FS Jenner House Avon Way Langley Park Chippenham SN15 1GG

p.8

Information about this inspection

This inspection was carried out at the request of the Secretary of State for Education under section 20(1)(a) of the Children Act 2004.

p.8

Information about this inspection

The inspection was led by one of His Majesty’s Inspectors (HMI) from Ofsted, with a team of inspectors, including: two HMI from education and social care; a lead Children’s Services Inspector from the Care Quality Commission (CQC); and another Children’s Services Inspector from the CQC.

p.8

Ofsted Care Quality Commission

Lydia Pride, Ofsted HMI, lead inspector Harriet Doran, CQC lead inspector

p.8

Ofsted Care Quality Commission

Steve Bailey, Ofsted HMI Geraldine Bates, CQC inspector Anna Vrahimi, Ofsted HMI Area SEND inspection report: Bath and North East Somerset Local Area Partnership 15 to 19 June 2026

p.8

9

excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children’s social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for looked-after children, safeguarding and child protection.

p.9

9

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

p.9

9

You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government- licence/ , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

p.9

9

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

p.9

9

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

p.9