Wirral Slammed For Failing Special Needs Children

Families across Wirral have welcomed an order for the council to improve its services for special needs education after a sluggish response to an Ofsted report three years ago.

The government has issued a Notice of Improvement due to the poor progress in addressing issues like parental communications and improving processes for issuing Education and Health Care plans.

The reprimand comes at a time when councils are being forced to look at budget cuts for childrens’ services.

Cllr Paul Stuart, leader of the council, said “I accept and acknowledge this move from the Department for Education to issue an improvement notice. Since the inspection in 2021 where several failings were noted, our work to improve these areas has been slow and we need to do much, much more. While I am disappointed in the lack of progress, I welcome the notice and as a result officers have already set up an improvement board, which had their first meeting recently.

“The board will meet regularly, chaired by the Chief Executive of the Council. Membership of the board will include myself as well as Chief Executives from Education, Health and Care services and other key institutions in the SEND sector.

“The board has an important job to do and will remain focused on delivering the best provision for children and young people with SEND.”

Delays and problems have beset the service. Matilda Madonodo, from Leasowe, mother of a child with special needs, said “We still don’t know where Kate will be going to college in September as she needs funding and they keep putting off a decision.

“Perhaps this notice will actually produce some action and reduce the stress we have been under for months. They had a deadline of March 31 and have failed to meet it. It demonstrates the most needy children are being failed.”

The council will implement policies to improve communications with parents, increase satisfaction and improve relations between all local stakeholders.

The Department for Education (DfE) published the improvement notice to Wirral Council, as a result of poor progress across the Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) sector in the borough, following an OFSTED and CQC inspection in September 2021.

The notice sets out areas of significant concern identified across SEND services in Wirral and advises the Council and members of Wirral SEND Partnership on specific improvements which must be made by October 2025.

Elizabeth Hartley, Director for Children, Families and Education at Wirral Council said:

“Since the 2021 inspection we have made lots of changes in SEND support and started many new projects as a direct result. But these changes, while not insignificant, have not been enough and we’re still not in the place we need to be with our SEND offer for families. As a recently appointed director, I take this notice extremely seriously and, along with my colleagues across the partnership, am committed to turning things around as quickly as possible