OFSTED and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) have published their final report following a revisit to Essex Education, Health and Care SEND services.

The report confirms that Essex is making sufficient progress to address the areas of weakness previously identified and that ongoing external monitoring is no longer required. 

The revisit, which took place between 17 and 19 May 2022, follows a previous inspection between 30 September and 4 October 2019.

Children, young people, parents and carers had an opportunity to share their views about SEND services in Essex during both visits, either via a meeting, phone call or online survey. These were considered as part of the evaluation and helped to inform the final report.

Key highlights from the report include:

• Better partnership working between health and education organisations, as well as increased oversight of joint SEND commissioning arrangements. 
• Improvements in the accurate identification of SEND for children and young people.
• Progress made in the co-production of Education Health and Care plans across health, social care and education.

Cllr Tony Ball, ECC’s Cabinet Member for Education Excellence, Lifelong Learning and Employability, said: “Ensuring that every child and young person in Essex can thrive remains at the heart of everything we do in Essex. We have made great strides to improve the areas of weakness previously identified and I am proud that this has been recognised. 

“This does not mean we will become complacent; we will continue to work hard to maintain and build on our progress. Thank you to all of the teams and partners who work so tirelessly to support children and their families in Essex.”

The full report is available here: https://files.ofsted.gov.uk/v1/file/50189491