Background
In March 2023 the Southend-on-Sea Local Area Partnership was subject to a focussed Area SEND inspection from Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
The inspection found that “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”.
In July 2023 the partnership produced and published single strategic action plan in response to the inspection outcome which focussed on 6 recommendations. The action plan set out the local area's plans to jointly deliver its priorities and improvements against these recommendations.
In October 2024 we produced a summary on the first year of delivery of the strategic area action plan, showing the key activity, impact and priorities for 2024-25.
These pages provide an update on Year 2 activity up to July 2025 and confirms the current priorities for 2025-26.
Over the autumn of 2025 and into early 2026 the area will be updating the SEND Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (SEND JSNA) and its self-evaluation to further assess the current arrangements and the impact for children and young people with SEND in Southend.