Nottingham Local SEND Reform Plan 2026

Classification: Official

The Local SEND Reform Plan

March 2026

Contents

1. Introduction 3

Document Overview 3

The Local SEND Reform Plan 4

2. Laying the Foundation for Reform 6

The Experts at Hand Offer 7

Embedding the Experts at Hand Offer Within a Broader Reform Strategy 11

Strengthening Effective Partnerships and Practice 13

Governance 17

Funding 18

Structure of the Local SEND Reform Plan 20

3. Submission, Review, and Monitoring Process 21

Submission 21

Review 22

Monitoring 22

High Needs Stability Grant 24

4. Questions 24

Annex A: Local SEND Reform Plan 25

Executive Summary 28

Section 1 – Vision and Goals 29

Section 2 – Strategy 33

Section 3 – Monitoring and Evaluation 75

Section 4 – Governance 77

Section 5 – Central Government Support 81

Annex B - Supporting Documents 82

Annex C – Risk Matrix 83

1. Introduction

Document Overview

This document is designed to support local area partnerships develop a Local SEND Reform Plan with most sections pertaining to the local area partnership as a whole, in particular, local authorities (LAs) and Integrated Care Boards (ICBs), multi- academy trusts (MATs) and schools. Sections that pertain solely to local authorities are clearly marked Local Authorities.

While this document addresses local area partnerships, the government’s expectation is that the local authority is the system ‘convener’; taking the lead to bring together all system partners and ensure they work together to develop and deliver the Local SEND Reform Plan. Similarly, the government has clear expectations on all system partners to proactively respond to the local authority’s leadership, ensuring they commit resources and fulfil their responsibilities in the partnership. Central government will actively engage where system partners are not responding to the local authority’s leadership.

The document contains the following:

1. The Local SEND Reform Plan Guidance

Overview and a practical guide to help local area partnerships complete the plan.

• Local SEND Reform Plan Template – Annex A

The delivery plan that local area partnerships are expected to complete and return to the Department for Education and NHS England by 19 June 2026.

3. Supporting Documents – Annex B

A list of key resources and references including links to relevant policy documents, tools, and guidance referenced throughout.

The Local SEND Reform Plan

The 0-25 SEND system has been under significant and prolonged pressure, resulting in a system that is failing too many children and young people. Local services are overstretched, some children’s needs are escalating unnecessarily to crisis point, and financial pressures have become unsustainable. Yet within this challenging landscape, many local area partnerships have demonstrated determination and leadership - working very hard to improve their local services and often developing compelling and innovative approaches to meet the needs of children and young people with SEND. The government is committed to collaborating with local area partnerships to build on and scale what is working well.

We recognise that system-wide reform and investment is needed to deliver an inclusive and sustainable system that stands the test of time. However, realising this vision will only be possible if every local area takes full responsibility for driving significant improvement in the sustainable delivery of local services. It is imperative that all local areas begin this essential work through robust action plans that demonstrate clear ownership, ambition and accountability. This step change in the delivery of local services cannot be optional; it is a critical expectation of all local area partnerships.

As set out in the Schools White Paper, the government will reform the current SEND system, building on ongoing work to create a system that’s rooted in inclusion, where every child and young person receives high-quality support early on and can thrive in their local early years setting, school or college. The government’s plan is to ensure opportunity for all by delivering an excellent, inclusive education for every child with a world class education and highly trained workforce. This will be based on an inclusive mainstream education system, with professional support for children and young people that need it, and improved, efficient and effective local delivery, as detailed below.

• Inclusive mainstream system: most children and young people with SEND

will be supported to achieve and thrive in mainstream education settings through high-quality teaching, inclusive practice, and targeted support.

Settings will be equipped to create the right environments, and multidisciplinary professional support services will be commissioned at a group level to address needs efficiently.

• Specialist support for children that need it: Specialist settings will continue

to play a vital role for children and young people who require a substantially different curriculum or highly individualised approaches that cannot be delivered in mainstream educational settings.

• Efficient and effective local delivery: investment in and improvement of

local services, including health, care, and wider workforces and resources, will support the delivery of joined-up, place-based provision. Local authorities will work with Integrated Care Boards to commission multi-disciplinary professional support across early years settings, schools and post-16 providers, taking a whole school approach at group level, so children and young people can access the help they need. Improvement of local services eases the pressure on home to school transport, ensuring fewer children and young people with SEND need to travel a long way from home to attend a school or setting. Local authorities will work with all settings to plan and deliver the right physical spaces in mainstream nurseries, schools and colleges.

Delivering lasting change will take collective commitment and sustained effort from all of us; government, local authorities, health partners, early years, MATs, schools and colleges; working together with parents and carers to build the inclusive system our children and young people deserve.

The Local SEND Reform Plan is the key delivery and accountability vehicle for this collaborative commitment, with expectations that it is revised annually as proposed reform is rolled out. We recognise that delivery of the plan will be within the current statutory framework, as such, local area partnerships will not be required to implement any policy that is being consulted on or that will require legislative change.

This first iteration is about building on existing foundations and putting in place the groundwork for reform. It aims to:

• Support central government to understand how the SEND system is being

transformed nationally, understand how investment funding is being used to achieve reform priorities, identify innovative practice that can be disseminated and scaled up, and identify where additional support may be required.

• Support local areas - local authorities, health partners, early years, MATs,

schools and further education - to develop and deliver a clear pathway toward an inclusive and sustainable local SEND system that identifies and supports needs early, meets needs within the local area, is fair, effective and shared; building on existing work and tailored to the unique context of the local area.

• Support local authorities to unlock investment funding and access support for

historic and accruing deficits.

The Local SEND Reform Plan provides a framework that partnerships can use to establish a baseline for their local system and metrics against which transformation progress can be tracked.

The government, working alongside local area leadership, will use the plans - and the insights from regular progress reviews - to understand delivery, support decision‑making on investment funding and access to the High Needs Stability Grant, and reflect progress on target metrics. The Department for Education, in particular, will use the plans - incorporating the data returns, local partnership maturity assessments and core local reform plan – to establish a baseline and ongoing monitoring of local area performance.

Throughout this process, DfE officials, health regional leads, SEND and financial advisers will support local area colleagues with access to tailored guidance and emerging insights to help shape and strengthen their plans. The Local Government Association (Lga) will also provide additional system leadership and transformation support through the children’s and SEND improvement advisers.

2. Laying the Foundation for Reform

A central focus of this first iteration of the Local SEND Reform Plan is the introduction of the Experts at Hand (Eah) Offer and a strengthened approach to ensuring there are sufficient high needs places within mainstream settings, alongside a continued strengthening of effective partnerships and practice. Together, these initiatives aim to build a more inclusive and sustainable SEND system by ensuring mainstream settings, supported by collaborative and maturing partnerships, are equipped with both the right infrastructure and the specialist expertise needed to meet the needs of children and young people with SEND.

The Experts at Hand Offer

The Experts at Hand Offer is a core pillar of the SEND reform programme, designed to strengthen the capability of mainstream education settings to meet the needs of children and young people with SEND more effectively and inclusively.

Local areas should provide a defined route for mainstream education settings to access specialist support, including from a range of experts with specialisms in education & health, such as in, educational psychology, speech and language therapy, and occupational therapy, as well as through outreach from specialist settings. By adding support to shift to increased group-based models and whole setting advice and support, health and education professionals can deliver evidence- based support and intervention with greater impact and value, ensuring, where possible, needs do not escalate. This not only makes better use of a limited workforce but also reduces dependence on costly, individualised provision. There will continue to be children and young people with complex needs that will require individualised and tailored support to meet their needs.

We know that strong practice and effective joint working already exist in many local areas where settings are supported to strengthen inclusive practice. We are keen to ensure that local areas are building on these as they develop and scale up their offer.

Local area partnerships (Local Authorities, ICBs, and system partners including settings) are expected to build their Experts at Hand Offer so that it becomes an ongoing and embedded element of the SEND system.

In order to achieve this, as well as to support a more effective SEND system overall, we need:

• To maintain access and referrals for those children who need specialist

referral pathways identified at triage based on educational and clinical need.

• Better joint working across ICBs, LAs, and local system partners including

education settings, Best Start Family Hubs, Parent Carer Forums (PCFs), health providers and children and young people.

• More effective joint commissioning between LAs and ICBs, including strategic

planning and co-production with children, young people and families and local partners.

• A strong universal offer and fluid layers of support which can be accessed

from day one, one of which should include an offer of support for mainstream education settings giving them access to universal and targeted support from services across health and education – the new ‘Experts at Hand’ offer.

The aim of this offer is for mainstream early years settings, MATs, mainstream schools and further education providers to improve across the following areas:

• Understanding the needs of children and young people in their setting.
• Putting structures in place to build relationships and co-production with the

parent/carer community.

• Strengthening the baseline level of capacity of settings and staff to meet

commonly occurring SEND needs.

• Reviewing practice regularly to ensure current approaches are the most

suitable.

• Improving knowledge of when and how to draw down additional expertise

when required.

This model allows for more efficient deployment of multidisciplinary professionals, promotes broader skill development across settings, and supports a more dynamic and sustainable workforce. It also puts a stronger focus on collaboration between health professionals and education settings, enhancing the role of health professionals in education and enabling them to focus on strategic support to schools and settings as well as system-wide impact.

The offer is designed to build capability within mainstream settings through joint working, empowering education staff to identify and meet a wider range of needs and enabling more children and young people to thrive in inclusive environments; and is expected to be jointly owned and resourced by the Local Authority and Integrated Care Board.

Local areas should consider how they will develop this offer to ensure there is support and appropriate provision across early years, primary, secondary, and further education settings. This should include developing effective models and partnerships for supporting young people with SEND who access further education in a different local area.

Local areas1 have flexibility in how they commission or employ the multidisciplinary workforce required to deliver the offer. They are encouraged to explore, alongside other options, deployment through special schools and colleges, alternative provision schools, Neighbourhood Health Services, Best Start Family Hubs2, and Multi- disciplinary Family Help Teams. Local areas will need to work with neighbouring local area partnerships and representatives of the further education sector to consider how best to deliver this service to all colleges and other post-16 providers their young people attend – including those out of their area.

Local systems are expected to begin building this offer using allocated investment funding as a core focus of their delivery in the first year, with the aim of having all Experts at Hand offers established and operational as the new reforms are introduced.

Guidance relating to the Experts at Hand offer is due to be published in Spring 2026.

Core minimum requirements

Experts at Hand Offer Local area partnerships will be expected to clearly and succinctly set out in their plan:

• The delivery approach for this offer and the rationale for why the outlined

approach is optimal for the local area. This will include setting out if delivery will be local authority-led, contracted to the Icb, in partnership with another area or through an external partner, and setting out the role of Best Start Family Hubs. Where delivery involves an Icb or external partner, please specify the partnership vehicle (such as an Sla or Mou) and how performance will be assured.

1 Local areas who have been involved in Elsec and Pins can use the structures they have in place and the learning they have gained to support the design of their offer. 2 New guidance to be published 23 March 2026.

• A summary of the partnership approach to agreeing an optimal delivery

model including how all system partners were engaged and how the approach was informed by needs-based data.

• How the Eah funding will enhance existing routes to access specialist input,

and how the delivery model will be integrated with other services or offers funded separately.

• Proposal to collaboratively recommission alternative provision to align with

the 3-tier model and best practice identified through Alternative Provision Specialist Taskforces (Apst) models.

• Where alternative provision capacity is constrained, whether the LA will

contract provision, partner regionally, or share expertise and the route chosen.

• Proposals for commissioning outreach from high-quality specialist providers,

where appropriate.

• Proposal for timely access to health and education professionals (e.g., in

educational psychology, occupational therapy and speech and language therapy) for early years, schools and colleges based on assessed local need.

• A detailed year 1 implementation plan, including recruitment approach and

success metrics (e.g. coverage, scale of support available), and a high-level plan for years 2–3.

• A proposed governance and accountability arrangement, as part of the

Local Area Partnership Board, including oversight routes, budgets and funding arrangements, reporting cadence and escalation processes. This should include a single, named LA-based Sro to drive improvement and reform.

• Clear expectations for joint governance, monitoring and shared

accountability across education and health partners.

• Proposed approach to settings accessing support which ensures support is

not disproportionately accessed by the most proactive schools and settings and includes out of area mainstream further education settings attended by local young people with SEND.

Embedding the Experts at Hand Offer Within a Broader

Reform Strategy

Local Authorities

While the Experts at Hand Offer will be a key building block to reform, it is not sufficient on its own to deliver the scale of change required for SEND. Local authorities are encouraged to continue to take a strategic approach to place planning and capital investment to ensure inclusive provision is available and accessible. Guidance relating to inclusion bases (formerly SEN units, resourced provision and pupil support units – Su/Rp/PSUs) is due to be published in Spring

2026.

To support this, we expect that local authorities will:

Set out how High Needs capital funding will be used to invest in new places and adaptations to the physical environment so that needs of children and young people with SEND are met in alignment with the reform aims of

mainstream inclusion.

Use capital investment to improve the inclusivity of provision in all settings, considering a range of interventions that could better support children and young people with SEND through the physical environment, working with professionals who can advise and support e.g. special school/alternative provision practitioners, Occupational Therapists, Speech and Language Therapists, specialist nurses, mental health practitioners and support workers.

Identify where inclusion bases (formerly Su/Rp/PSUs) in mainstream schools or nurseries, or specialist provision in colleges, currently exist, where

additional capacity is needed, and how this varies across planning areas.

Engage proactively with early years providers, schools, multi-academy trusts and further education providers as well as health providers, to co-develop strategies for enabling more children and young people with SEND to access mainstream education.

Engage with parent carer forums and children and young people forums to co- produce strategies that work for children and families.

• Ensure that decisions about the location and type of new SEND provision

explicitly consider the proximity to where children and young people live and the implications for transport, recognising this may not always be possible when commissioning SEND provision in large, further education colleges.

Ensure that all sufficiency and capital investment decisions include an assessment of transport impact, with a focus on reducing long-distance travel and increasing access to local, inclusive settings.

Core minimum requirements

Sufficiency and Place Planning Local area partnerships will be expected to clearly and succinctly set out in their plan:

• A summary of local sufficiency pressures and how planned place growth

addresses demand trends, including EHCP drivers and opportunities to meet need through capacity in mainstream settings.

• How the planned increases in capacity across setting types will reduce

reliance on special schools, especially out-of-area placements and independent specialist provision.

• How collaboration between LAs and MATs could be strengthened to identify

suitable sites and jointly plan the development of inclusion bases.

• Assurance that proposed inclusion bases in early years settings, schools,

and colleges would reflect local demographic need, maintaining high quality standards and clear expectations on type of provision.

• How existing school premises are factored in when planning new inclusion

bases, including opportunities created by falling rolls.

• Detailed plans to meet need for specialist places, by increasing capacity in

mainstream settings through inclusion bases, and to improve the suitability of the physical environment. This should set out how the investment would align with local need and reduce future pressure. Where plans propose use of high needs capital to create additional special school places, this should clearly explain why need cannot be met in mainstream, including how the investment would align with local need and reduce future pressure.

• Proposals for flexibility to accommodate rurality and local variation, ensuring

provision remains viable and context appropriate.

• Evidence that an impact assessment of travel arrangements has been

carried out for any capital, inclusion base or special school expansion proposal, demonstrating expected changes to travel distances, journey times, and reliance on out of area placements. Including any explicit travel related mitigations.

Strengthening Effective Partnerships and Practice

Effective collaboration across all system partners, including local authorities, ICBs, health provider organisations, Parent Carer Forums, Best Start Family Hubs, early years settings, mainstream and specialist schools, further education, dioceses, multi- academy trusts (MATs), parents carers, and children and young people with SEND, is essential to delivering meaningful transformation.

A transformed system that works for children and families must include co- production, collaborative partnership working and stakeholder engagement. Strong relationships at system and setting level are central to this.

The success of this transformation depends on shared ownership of decision-making, design and delivery of the local offer, and responsibility by all system partners, particularly local authorities, Integrated Care Boards and education settings.

The department is clear that MATs and schools have clear responsibilities in the development and active deployment of a strong universal offer of support to children and young people with SEND in their settings. They are expected to proactively collaborate with their system partners, including local authorities and ICBs, drawing on up-to-date understanding of the needs of children and young people in their settings to deliver consistent and robust support, particularly for the most commonly occurring and growing areas of need.

In the long term, MATs and schools will work together to pool some funding from their Inclusion Share for a more collaborative, efficient system to meet needs across their group and allow for better sharing of expertise and resources across an area. Local school groupings will need to be actively engaged with the local authority and Integrated Care Board. We will look to local authorities and their partners to shape the formation of groupings in their areas and have an oversight role for these groups. In designing local systems, local authorities, MATs, schools and other system partners should start to consider how they might integrate school groups into the bigger picture, to work closely with their Experts at Hand and wider reform offer to provide a comprehensive SEND system.

We would like to work with school and local authority partners to understand how these groups are best structured while we move long-term to a system where all schools are part of strong groups. Guidance relating to school groups and pooled funding will be published in due course.

Core minimum requirements

Local area partnerships will be expected to clearly and succinctly set out in their plan: Effective Practice - Universal Offer

• Proposal to co-develop, and regularly refresh, a partnership-wide universal

offer agreement with schools, MATs, early years settings and post-16 providers which will be underpinned by up-to-date, needs-based data and signed off by the local authority, Icb, Mat and school representatives and Parent Carer Forum (Pcf). The agreed universal offer should draw on approaches that will be set out in the National Inclusion Standards.

• Evidence of the processes and mechanism through which MATs and PCFs

are engaged in the development of the universal offer.

• How early intervention services will be strengthened, with enhanced

mainstream support to prevent escalation of need.

• How a strengthened universal offer will support mainstream settings to meet

the most commonly occurring and growing areas of need. This should include how well evidenced early intervention approaches focused on speech and language (e.g. ELSEC3/NELI4), autism spectrum disorder (Asd) and social, emotional and mental health difficulties (Semh), could be deployed.

3 Early Language Support for Every Child 4 Nuffield Early Language Intervention

• How a strengthened universal offer and group level specialist support will

reduce escalation into out-of-area placements with significant travel- assistance requirements.

Early Years (plans should align with LA Best Start in Life plans)

• Proposal for assessing sufficiency of current level of childcare provision for

0–5s, detailing: (a) availability of early years places; (b) availability of specialist SEND early years places; and (c) any local gaps for children with complex and emerging needs and plan to address these including the role of wider partners such as Best Start Family Hubs.

• Proposal to improve early years identification and intervention strategies,

including the role of Best Start Family Hubs.

• Proposal to strengthen transitions from early years to primary school,

ensuring effective information flow and timely specialist input.

Post-16

• Proposal to strengthen pathways to adulthood, supporting young people to

access education, training, employment and supported internships.

• A clarification of pathways into and out of post-16 settings, informed by

consistent information flow and timely, effective specialist support.

Effective Partnerships

• Evidence of effective, shared, partnership leadership and governance

across all system partners, with clear and mutually understood accountability arrangements.

• Evidence of formal representation from early years, schools, MATs and

further education on partnership boards, with appropriate links to Schools Forums to support coherent engagement across all settings.

• Proposal to underpin partnership working with shared, high-quality data,

including joint dashboards and use of a partnership maturity matrix to assess effectiveness.

• How proposed/agreed mechanisms for engaging all schools, early years

providers and post-16 providers (including out of area mainstream colleges accessed by local young people with SEND) would support collective responsibility for inclusive practice.

• Proposal to strengthen dispute resolution and decision-making processes so

system partners can address issues early and consistently, supported by transparent escalation routes.

• A single named Sro who is part of the leadership team, to provide

operational leadership and drive reform across the partnership. The Sro should be a senior local authority official.

Effective Co-production Practices

• Proposal to strengthen co-production arrangements so that parent carer

forums are properly resourced and consistently engaged in shaping decision making.

• How the voice of children and young people is captured directly and

distinctly from parent voice, with clear evidence of how their views influence decisions.

• How Sendiass will be used to support parents carers with high quality,

independent information and guidance, and how the local area will address variability in service quality where it exists, with reference to the minimum Sendiass service standards. Please include proposed mitigation to any parental concerns about the perceived independence of Sendiass within mediation processes.

• Proposal to adopt a minimum co-production benchmark (based on Nhse

guidance) and self-assess against it in year one, identifying improvement actions where needed.

Mediation

• A description of local mediation and dispute resolution arrangements,

demonstrating how they incorporate the voices of parents and children and young people.

• Proposal to maintain metrics for timeliness, resolution rates and

effectiveness to support monitoring and accountability.

Governance

The Local SEND Reform Plan should be a local area partnership plan. The local authority, as the system convener, has an oversight role over the process of preparing, submitting and delivering the overall Local SEND Reform Plan with active participation from all system partners.

Governance arrangement is expected to include active representation from all key partners, including ICBs, PCFs, MATs and schools, with clear roles and accountability. Where local area partnerships involve multiple education partners – including those not always located within their area such as further education colleges – or may commission therapy services from different health providers, they should agree how those institutions/providers can be represented and have a fair voice in decision making.

The local area partnership should agree a single, named Senior Responsible Officer (Sro) for the Local SEND Reform Plan and local area transformation who will be responsible for overseeing SEND improvement and reform for the area. The Sro should be a senior local authority official and part of the local area partnership leadership.

The Local SEND Reform Plan should be discussed, agreed, and signed off at the relevant SEND Governance Board. As a minimum, the plan should be formally signed off by the Local Authority Chief Executive (Ceo), the Integrated Care Board (Icb) Chief Executive, the Local Authority Director of Children’s Services (Dcs), the Integrated Care Board NHS Place Director, and the Local Authority Chief Financial Officer (Cfo/Section 151 Officer), reflecting the joint statutory responsibilities for SEND across the system.

We expect your Local SEND Reform plan to be aligned with other local strategic plans you are currently developing, including your Best Start local plan. Both plans sit firmly within the government’s ambition to improve child development and health outcomes, and to create a more inclusive, high-quality system of support for all children and young people with SEND. Together, they should provide a coherent local approach to raising outcomes for children, young people and families.

Funding

To deliver our ambition for an inclusive and sustainable SEND system, the Department has secured targeted funding through the Spending Review. Some of this funding will be delivered directly to LAs and ICBs, other funding streams will be delivered to settings and will need to be considered when developing plans.

LA and Icb Funding

to embed inclusive practice into everyday provision, reducing the need for individual applications or formal diagnoses.

Local areas should consider how these funding streams will be used strategically and effectively to support reform priorities, build capacity, and ensure priority outcomes are realised.

Other Inclusion Funding

We are also investing in mainstream settings to ensure that they are able to meet the needs of more children with SEND effectively.

Structure of the Local SEND Reform Plan

The Plan is structured into five key sections:

• Vision – What the local area partnership is trying to achieve

The vision and goals for your local system in line with the national vision set out in the Schools White Paper.

• Strategy – How the local area partnership plans to achieve it

Where the local system expects to be in the next 3 years, its theory of change, roadmap for the next 3 years and delivery plan for the first year.

• Monitoring and Evaluation – How the local area partnership will know

delivery is on track The processes for tracking progress against milestones and outcomes and reporting to decision-makers.

• Governance – What action the local area partnership will take to stay on track

The governance and processes for monitoring progress and taking action to ensure delivery remains on track.

• Central Government Support – How we can help the local area partnership

An opportunity to identify practical support from central government that will help you deliver your plan.

The Local SEND Reform Plan is set out in Annex A.

3. Submission, Review, and Monitoring Process

Submission

Local areas are expected to submit the first iteration of their Local SEND Reform

Plan by Friday, June 19, 2026.

A month prior to final local leadership sign-off and formal submission of Local SEND Reform Plans; SEND and financial advisers will be available to review a final draft of local area plans to flag any significant gaps or concerns, and together with health regional leads and DfE officials, will offer intensive support if they believe a plan is at risk of not meeting the minimum quality threshold. Local area partnerships will then have an opportunity to action these concerns prior to formal submission to the department.

Local area leadership are encouraged to self-assess their plans using the Local SEND Reform Plan Quality Assessment Framework prior to sign-off and submission.

Further guidance on the submission and review process will be shared closer to the submission date.

Review

DfE and NHS England will use the plans to help identify effective, innovative practice and barriers, and identify how to effectively target support through the period of transformation.

The government will use the Local SEND Reform Plan Quality Assessment Framework to assess the quality of plans and facilitate access to the High Needs Stability Grant for local authorities.

The department will apply a consistent multi-tier assessment and moderation process to ensure that the review and assessment of plans is rigorous, consistent and fair.

DfE officials, health regional SEND leads, SEND and financial advisers will support local area partnerships in reviewing the plans using the Local SEND Reform Plan Quality Assessment Framework in the first tier.

Assessment tiers will include Regional Directors and independent senior civil servants from across the department. A SEND Delivery Board chaired by Regions Group Director-General, Tim Coulson, with DfE non-executive directors, DfE Performance and Risk Committee members and Sir Kevan Collins, the Secretary of State’s delivery advisor in attendance will sign off final ratings and agree recommendations to the Secretary of State.

The Secretary of State will make the final decision to approve or not to approve a plan with assessment outcomes will be communicated in September

Monitoring

DfE Officials, health regional SEND leads, SEND and financial advisers will support local areas to develop iterative reform plans and, together with the local area leadership, jointly monitor the implementation of plans as reforms are rolled out.

The purpose of the joint monitoring is to: i. provide assurance that funding is spent in line with reform priorities and that local area partnerships are working together to co-design and implement key changes to local service delivery, including changes to roles and responsibilities; and ii. provide assurance that the implementation of reforms is delivering the anticipated changes and outcomes, by rebalancing the system towards early intervention, inclusive education, and sustainable local services.

DfE officials, health regional SEND leads, SEND and financial advisers will join quarterly review meetings with local area partnerships (utilising existing governance forums) to understand implementation progress and provide appropriate support and challenge as needed. Where applicable, these review meetings will be consolidated with other engagement or monitoring meetings from DfE or health regional SEND leads.

Local area leadership and officials are expected to discuss progress against the plan, including:

• Progress against key metrics
• Whether key milestones are on track to be achieved
• Whether risks are being effectively mitigated
• Identifying effective and innovative practice that can be shared; and
• Identifying where additional support may be needed or barriers unblocked.

Local area partnerships are required to provide quarterly data returns to DfE against the selected metrics outlined in the accompanying data template. DfE will, in turn, provide quarterly data reports with visualised analysis and benchmarking that will support local delivery, monitoring, and evaluation.

DfE officials and health regional SEND leads will use these data returns and discussions at review meetings, alongside submission of this Local SEND Reform Plan and the Local Partnership Maturity Assessment, as well as Area SEND inspection reports, to assess performance and delivery at the local level. These assessments and this ongoing monitoring will ensure that support and engagement is best allocated and targeted throughout this period of reform.

High Needs Stability Grant

The government will address long standing SEND financial pressures by covering 90% of local authorities’ High Needs-related Dsg deficits accrued up to the end of 2025–26 through the High Needs Stability Grant. This grant will be paid subject to each local authority securing the Secretary of State for Education’s approval of their local area’s Local SEND Reform Plan. Payments will be made in Autumn 2026 for local authorities whose plans are approved. Local authorities whose plans do not meet the threshold for approval will be required to revise their plans to ensure they meet the required threshold, with appropriate support. Local authorities whose plans are subsequently approved will receive the grant payment in Spring 2027. Local authorities will not receive any payments until successful approval of their local area’s Local SEND Reform Plan.

Review and payment timeline outlined below.

4. Questions

For any questions relating to this document or the Local SEND Reform Plan more widely, please get in touch with your DfE SEND Lead or contact Implementationsupport.SEND@education.gov.uk

Annex A: Local SEND Reform Plan

Developing a Local SEND Reform Plan is an important first step for local areas to set out how they will lay the foundation for reform, and design an approach tailored to their local context. A shared plan which focuses on co-designing the local approach as system partners and with children, young people and families will help foster collective responsibility for delivering the reforms.

It is critical that all system partners, including health, education and childcare settings, work together to design and deliver the Local SEND Reform Plan, under the local authority’s leadership. It is also crucial that representative family carers e.g. the local Parent Carer Forum, are involved in the development of the plan.

The expectation is that this plan is discussed, agreed, and signed off at your relevant SEND Governance Board. As a minimum, the plan must be formally signed off by the Local Authority Chief Executive (Ceo), the Integrated Care Board (Icb) Chief Executive, the Local Authority Director of Children’s Service (Dcs), the Integrated Care Board NHS Place Director, and the Local Authority Chief Financial Officer (Cfo/Section 151 Officer). We encourage other colleagues and partners who have contributed to also review and sign-off the plan, particularly early years, school, college and trust leaders.

Name of Local Authority: Nottingham City Council

Name of Integrated Care Board: Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Integrated Care Board Local SEND Reform Plan Sro: Claire Bale, Director of Education

Signatories

Role Name Signature Email contact Date

Chief Executive

Sajeeda

Nottingham City

Sajeeda.rose@nottinghamcitycouncil.gov.uk 19/06/2026

Rose

Council (Ncc)

Corporate

Director Finance

and Resources

Stuart Fair

Stuart.Fair@nottinghamcitycouncil.gov.uk 19/06/2026

(S251 Officer)

Ncc

Corporate

Director Children

Sarah

& Education

Sarah.Nardone@nottinghamcitycouncil.gov.uk 18/06/2026

Nardone

Services (Dcs)

Ncc

Chief Executive

Nottingham and

Amanda

Nottinghamshire

amanda.sullivan7@nhs.net 18/06/2026

Sullivan

Integrated Care

Board (N&Nicb)

Executive

Rosa.waddingham@nhs.net

Director of

Rosa

18/06/2026

Quality (Nursing)

Waddingham

N&Nicb)

Chief Executive

beverleyf@rainbowpcf.org.uk

Officer Rainbow

Beverley

18/06/2026

Frost

Parent Carer

Forum

Executive Summary

A brief summary of your local system ‘change story’ – your local context, where you are now, where you want to get to in the next 3 years, how you know you are succeeding and how you will know you have achieved your vision for the next 3 years. Please include a brief qualitative summary. This summary should also include your assessment of current and forecast performance against the headline metrics.

Please structure your ‘change story’ using the following aims:

• Build a 0-25 system where children and young people receive support to achieve and thrive through (a) more inclusive settings and
• stronger local partnerships
• Improve capacity and capability of the mainstream and specialist workforce to identify and meet need
• Improve confidence of children, families, and stakeholders in reform and readiness of the system
• Stabilise finances and improve value for money

Section 1 – Vision and Goals Nottingham City’s Local SEND Reform Plan outlines a three-year journey to transform the local SEND system from one under significant pressure to inclusive and sustainable model where children and young people with SEND receive timely support and thrive in their local communities. The city serves a population with high deprivation and complex needs. Most children with SEND have been supported in mainstream settings via High Level Needs (Hln) funding rather than requiring Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs), giving the city an EHCP rate of around 3% – lower than the ~5.3% national average. However, since 2020 demand for EHCPs has surged by over 50%, straining local assessment processes, filling special school places and increasing reliance on costly out-of-area placements and transport. These pressures pushed Nottingham’s High Needs Block into deficit in 2023/24. Nottingham City’s SEND Partnership have co-produced a reform programme aligned to their SEND Inclusion and Alternative Provision Strategy (2025–2028) and High Needs Recovery Plan (2026–2030). The plan focuses on earlier identification and intervention, stronger mainstream inclusion, workforce development, increased local specialist capacity, and financial sustainability. Our vision is that by 2028, Nottingham will have an inclusive system where children and young people with SEND receive help promptly in local settings, families have greater confidence, and services work together to meet needs at the earliest opportunity. By boosting mainstream inclusion, strengthening the multi-agency workforce and partnering with families, the programme will reduce escalation of need, so more children achieve and thrive closer to home. The Experts at Hand Offer, is central to our reform programme, it will give mainstream early years settings, schools and colleges quick access to specialist support without requiring a diagnosis or EHCP. A multidisciplinary team of educational psychologists, speech and language therapists, occupational therapists and specialist teachers will provide on-demand advice, coaching and outreach to mainstream settings across early years, schools and further education. Embedding specialist expertise alongside educators, will strengthen inclusive practice and the graduated approach, helping more children and young people to succeed without needing formal plans or placements outside the city. See attachment no.6.Local Delivery Plan… with visuals re Expert at Hand The partnership will measure progress over the three years, tracking clear outcome measures including better attendance, higher inclusion in mainstream settings (with fewer exclusions), improved EHCP timeliness, increased parental confidence (e.g. fewer complaints and tribunals), improved preparation for adulthood outcomes, and reduced reliance on out-of-area placements and transport. Annual monitoring of these metrics – with year-on-year improvement expected – will ensure the reforms remain on track. We will create a financially sustainable system as a core objective, implemented through the High Needs Recovery Plan, by reducing reliance on expensive independent placements, expanding local provision and investing in early intervention. Nottingham expects to stabilise the high needs budget by 2028 while improving outcomes and value for money. A balanced budget will underpin a more effective and inclusive SEND system that delivers better outcomes within available resources.

• What the local area partnership is trying to achieve?

Please set out your goals for your local system. These should be clear, aligned to the vision set out in the Schools White Paper, small in number and measurable. These goals should include clear reference to:

• Outcomes for children
• Confidence of parents, carers and young people in the system
• Management of finances to secure value for money

Our Goals (2026-2029) 1: Improve outcomes, participation and inclusion for children and young people with SEND

• Higher levels of attendance, participation and achievement for children and young people with SEND.
• Fewer suspensions, permanent exclusions and cases of elective home education arising from unmet need.
• More children and young people with SEND successfully supported in mainstream and local provision, close to home.

2: Deliver earlier identification and more effective support

• Greater access to timely support through the Graduated Response and Experts at Hand offer.
• Stronger capacity and confidence within mainstream settings to meet needs without escalation.
• Lower demand for crisis intervention, statutory assessment and high-cost specialist provision.

3: Strengthen confidence, partnership working and co-production

• Children, young people and families have greater confidence in the SEND system.
• Stronger co-production, communication and transparency across education, health and care services.
• Fewer complaints, disputes and tribunals because of earlier resolution and clearer pathways.

4: Deliver a sustainable and financially resilient SEND system

• Greater local sufficiency through the expansion of inclusive mainstream, specialist and post-16 provision.
• Less reliance on independent and out-of-area placements.
• Progress against High Needs Recovery Plan milestones and better value for money through investment in early intervention and local provision.

Section 2 – Strategy

• Where the local area partnership expects to be in the next 3 years

A description of what your local system would look like in the next 3 years in line with the national vision set out in the Schools White Paper and set within the context of where you are starting from as a local system.

In particular, as commissioning system partners, you should reflect on and agree what your fully fledged Experts At Hand Offer model should be and how this will be deployed via mainstream settings and providers (including those not based in your area – e.g. further education colleges attended by your young people) to build their capacity as well as identify and meet the needs of children and young people earlier and without the need for a statutory assessment for Education, Health and Care.

To help you fully consider the scope and scale of change required, you may find it useful to structure your response using these 4 building blocks of an inclusive system, reflecting on what is working well in your system, what you are most worried about, what needs to change, and how the enablers will help you achieve your 3 year vision.

When summarising where your local area partnership currently is, please include an assessment of where you are in reference to the core minimum requirements above and how you bridge the gap, making reference to and attaching additional documents that provide underlying evidence for your summary.

This includes a new primary AP base and 30 additional on-site AP places for Key Stage 4 pupils at the city’s AP Academy.

The local SEND and Inclusion offer includes the INclude Service, Educational Psychology Service, and specialist teaching teams for autism, early years SEND, sensory needs, learning support, and physical/Pmld outreach.

These services provide training, consultation, assessment, transition support and outreach to schools, early years providers and families.

Current specialist capacity includes 5 maintained specialist schools/academies providing 668 places, 7 specialist bases in mainstream schools, and 2 well-established deaf provision bases.

Schools also access specialist teachers for deaf and visually impaired pupils, alongside a citywide physical disability outreach service led by a Pmld specialist school.

Further planned growth includes 206 specialist school places, 130 AP places and 100 specialist base places.

Although Nottingham remains below the national average in use of independent non-maintained specialist schools, demand is increasing where local sufficiency cannot meet need; to improve value for money, the local authority is entering a block contract with a local independent specialist school.

secondary inclusion bases, quality assure existing provision, and support adaptations for neurodiversity, Semh and sensory needs.

A minority of children and young people require special school, AP, or Special Resource placements because their needs cannot be met safely or consistently in mainstream, even with strong inclusive practice, adaptations, inclusion bases, and outreach. The cohorts most likely to need specialist provision are those with the most complex autism and other neurodivergent needs, including Slcn; severe learning difficulties and Pmld; and a growing group with Semh needs, particularly those at risk of or subject to exclusion. For these cohorts, the level of need—including sensory sensitivities, communication barriers, therapeutic requirements, and risk of dysregulation or harm—cannot be consistently or safely met through mainstream inclusion bases or environmental adjustments alone, even where high- quality provision exists, due to limitations in staffing ratios, specialist expertise, and the inherent demands of mainstream settings. These children may need a substantially different curriculum, highly individualised programmes, intensive therapeutic support, specialist staffing ratios, or a secure and structured environment. Therefore, a joint approach of both specialist, Alternative Provision and Specialist Resource Provision expansion is still required in Nottingham.

The Experts at Hand offer will deploy EPs, SLTs and

other therapies through Family Hub-aligned clusters of schools and early years settings, building workforce capability to meet need earlier and more effectively in mainstream provision. See attachment no.6.Local Delivery Plan… with visuals re Expert at Hand

Dedicated Ep and Specialist Teacher for Fe will upskill staff to improve SEND, Semh and curriculum access, while ensuring the voice of children and young people with SEND informs post-16 course design and delivery.

Using the Balanced System®, we will identify the city’s speech, language and communication needs and deliver universal and targeted interventions, including with seldom heard communities, to strengthen the impact of the Slt offer across settings for children and young people aged 0–19.

We will define what schools, early years settings and families need from Ot, Slt and Ep support, and deliver this through Family Hub-aligned clusters and Best Start in Life, upskilling staff and empowering families to support children earlier and more confidently.

Continuous feedback will be used to monitor impact and flex delivery so that support is provided at the right time and at the right level of intensity, helping to strengthen inclusion, increase attendance and reduce exclusions.

Co-production across the partnership will ensure children, young people, families, settings and services help shape delivery and review arrangements,

supporting sustainable system change.

The current Governance of the partnership is through a Partnership Assurance and Inclusion (delivery) group (Paig) which feeds into the SEND Executive Leadership Group (Selg). Partners from across the system (including Rainbow Pcf) sit on both. These groups need embedding and strengthening and greater social care involvement.

The partnership has recruited an independent chair for Selg to bring additional rigour and challenge at this level of Governance.

Since 2021 Asend inspection, flux in leadership and now Icb restructure create obstacles for embedding governance and coproduction across the partnership.

Coproduction is happening, the Key Working team in our Children with disabilities team do this well. The Icb has a coproduction strategy.

‘Genuine Partnerships’ was launched in 2019 but is yet to develop traction as a vehicle for coproduction across the system.

Rainbow Pcf are co-chairs of a workstream to create a partnership Coproduction Charter.

The Sendiass service for Nottingham City is commissioned by Nottingham City Council Economic Development Service, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Icb (and Nottinghamshire County Council). It is run by an organisation called Futures. As such it does not sit in Children Education Services Directorate, the Council or the Icb so is truly arm’s length and independent.

Nottingham City is a partner in an East Midlands regional mediation contract which includes 10 local authorities and is managed via Lincolnshire County Council. Through this arrangement, the Council procures Global Mediation to deliver an independent,

A Coproduction charter will have been launched in year two to ensure there is clarity on the expectations of partners across the system on how and when coproduction happens.

In year 1, with Rainbow Pcf as co-chairs we will build on the peer review outcomes and use the Cornerstones Approach which is a robust in-depth self-evaluation and development tool to support action planning aiming to embed a cornerstones culture across the partnership. Services schools and setting will be able to measure success using the success measures tool. We will use the working together in Partnership to restore trust tool to support repairing trust issues. Quality indicators and framework will be used to evaluate our progress. We will ensure this is reviewed annually and published on the Local Offer as part of “you said We did” feedback.

The partnership through Paig and Selg will provide clear, joint leadership and governance

Paig will through high support and high challenge, ensure continuous improvement to services to improve the experiences and outcomes for children and young people with SEND or who require AP.

They will champion the vision that every child and young person is heard, healthy, feels safe and feels they belong, are valued and prepared for their future.

Selg will challenge Paig and partners to ensure

3. System leadership, local partnership

collaboration and co-production

compliant mediation and dispute resolution service in line with the Children and Families Act 2014 and SEND Regulations. A single co-ordinated procurement approach supports families who move between East Midlands Authorities. As part of the contract Global Mediation provide SEN Casework Training to all 10 local authorities.

Post 16 internships are supported by a joint Nottingham City and Nottinghamshire County Council adviser. Futures offer advice on post 16 pathways and Nottingham City Economic development have a Project Manager to lead on supporting routes to employment. This is an area that needs development and a sufficiency audit.

improvements are timely and impactful, they will listen to parent carer, child and young person voice to ensure positive changes are felt in the lived experience of families.

Selg will monitor risks and issues across the partnership to ensure improvement plans stay on track to deliver benefits for families.

Selg will feed back how lived experience has shaped change - ‘You said we did.’

Sendiass delivered by Futures will continue to provide free, impartial and confidential information, advice and support to parents, carers and young people across the SEND pathway, including early advice, EHCP processes, disagreement resolution, mediation and tribunal support where needed.

Access to Sendiass will be strengthened through clearer routes via the Local Offer, Family Hubs, schools, early years settings, colleges and statutory SEND communications.

Service quality, accessibility and independence will be reviewed against the Sendiass minimum standards, including confidentiality, impartiality, workforce capability, timeliness and user feedback.

To reinforce independence in mediation, families will be told clearly that Sendiass is separate from local authority decision-making and signposted to independent mediation and other support.

Feedback on Sendiass quality, accessibility and perceived independence will be reviewed through the Dispute Resolution Group and reported to Paig/Selg

to support service improvement, accountability and monitoring.

Nottingham City will improve support for families in mediation and dispute resolution through a dedicated Dispute Resolution Group, with oversight from Paig and Selg.

Families will receive early signposting to independent advice and guidance via Sendiass, as well as to the commissioned mediation service when disputes relate to statutory SEND decisions.

Before mediation begins, parents, carers and young people will be given straightforward information about the process, their rights, the support available, and how their views will be heard.

The views of children and young people will be gathered separately from those of parents and carers, using age-appropriate discussion, advocacy, or support from a trusted adult where helpful.

Information from mediation, complaints, disagreements and tribunals will be reviewed on a regular basis to identify patterns, strengthen communication, and help resolve issues sooner.

From 2026/27, the partnership will incorporate mediation and dispute resolution measures into the SEND Reform dashboard.

Reporting will cover key indicators such as mediation volumes, the elapsed time between request and meeting, the proportion of cases concluded without progressing to tribunal, tribunal escalation rates, common themes, repeated concerns, and

improvement actions arising from this learning.

Feedback will also be gathered from parents and carers and, where relevant, from children and young people, to assess whether mediation and dispute resolution arrangements are accessible, fair and helpful.

The Dispute Resolution Group will consider this information on a termly basis and escalate patterns, risks and recommended actions to Paig and Selg.

This will ensure that insights from mediation and dispute resolution are used to strengthen practice, improve communication and support earlier resolution of issues across the local area partnership.

Post 16 and preparation for adult will have created strengthened pathways into employment, supported internships, independence and community participation, including arrangements for out of area Fe placements.

We have developed an Oap toolkit that is being piloted in schools and will be launched to all schools in the Autumn Term.

Specialist Teams deliver SENCo Networks and a SENCo Conference to work in partnership with schools to develop an inclusive culture which is paying dividends in increased inclusion bases and reductions in exclusions.

Ep traded offer is used by 83% of schools

An Inclusion Charter will create a shared understanding of inclusive practice in Nottingham City. With regular events to discuss the shared understanding of inclusion and best practice having impact in the city.

Learning from PINs and our Key Work Service we will encourage peer to peer support working with Rainbow Parent Carer Forum to build positive relationships to support change across the system.

The Youth Assembly for children in SEND will grow and feed young Person voice into Paig and Selg and become a partner to coproduce policy and service changes/design with.

4. Encouraging inclusive culture and

behaviours

Enablers

Communications and the Local Offer. The Local Offer needs to be a supportive tool and source of information for families and professionals. We recognise this needs work and plan to develop this as an enabler for communication of the vision, values and work of the Nottingham City SEND partnership and their SEND Reform Plans.

We have useful data, which is used well in particular teams e.g. Includes use of Exclusion data, but need this to be the case across the system.

Further develop the SEND data dashboard/Vital Signs to consistently provide Paig and Selg with data to understand and pre-empt challenges.

The Local Offer will be an inviting space of the web, where families can find the information, they need to identify the right support at the right time, making clear the graduated response and pathways for assessment.

Data will be consistently shared with Paig and Selg and used by teams to inform planning and delivery.

Qualitative and quantitative data will be used as

intelligence to measure impact and drive further improvements. So lived experience and data combine to provide a holistic picture.

Investigate alternative Case Management Systems, current capability versus alternatives in delivering accurate integrated data, to support sharing information in the best interests of children and using data to support business intelligence.

The Speech and Language Advanced Practitioner will be in post (contracted from Nottinghamshire Healthcare Trust). This will be a system-level specialist role, providing strategic clinical leadership across the partnership to ensure speech, language and communication expertise is embedded into our multi-agency support offer to ensure children’s speech and language needs are identified and met early. This senior practitioner will support the design of the Experts at Hand service relating to speech and language with strong clinical insight and lead cross- sector collaboration to develop the speech and language therapy workforce, working with universities to ensure growth in numbers of Speech and Language Therapists.

Baseline (outline the baseline for your success measures reflecting where you are now – these should be drawn from the metrics in the data template) Improve attendance of pupils in all maintained schools (mainstream and special) with SEN 2024-2025 88.2%, 2025-2026 (as at 27/5/26) 87.1% Reduce spending on Iss places 2024-2025 £4,988,000, 2025-2026 £6,588,000 Increase no. of children supported by Education Psychologists in maintained provision 2024-2025 400, 2025-26 440 Reduce Permanent Exclusions 2024-2025 142, 2025-2026 113 (as at 11.06.2026)

Target Metrics (outline the target metrics that will demonstrate you have achieved the vision summarized above – these should be drawn from the metrics in the data template) Improve attendance of pupils in all maintained schools (mainstream and special) with SEN 2026-2027 88%, 2027-2028 89% Reduce spending on Iss places 2026-2027 £6,588,000, 2027-2028 £7,626,973 Increase no. of children supported by Education Psychologists in maintained provision 2026-2027 1400, 2027-2028 2800 Reduce Permanent Exclusions 2026-2027 85, 2027-2028 74

Success measures

Drawing on metrics from the accompanying data

template E.g.

Improve attendance of pupils in all maintained schools (mainstream and special) with SEN Reduce reliance on independent special school places Mainstream settings with increased access to Education Psychologists/SaLT/Ot Reduced Neet rates for SEND Yp at age 16 Reduce the number of requests for Specialist Placement from Parents/schools. Figures below are % of EHCP requesting special school at phase transfer 2026-2027 68%, 2027-2028 65% Reduce the number of requests for Specialist Placement from Parents/schools. Figures below are % of EHCP requesting special school at phase transfer 2024-2025 58.6%, 2025-2026 68.2% Reduce the number of requests for Independent Placements from Parents/schools. Figures below are % of EHCP requesting independent school at phase transfer 2026-2027 3.6%, 2027-2028 3.4% Reduce the number of requests for Independent Placements from Parents/schools. Figures below are % of EHCP requesting independent school at phase transfer 2024-2025 8%, 2025-2026 3.8% Reduce the number of requests special & Independent Placement from Parents/schools. Figures below are % of EHCP requesting special and independent school at phase transfer 2026-2027 71.6%, 2027-2028 68.4% Target Neet figure for children with an EHCP by 2028 would be 22% to reduce this by 10%.

Reduce the number of requests special & Independent Placement from Parents/schools. Figures below are % of EHCP requesting special and independent school at phase transfer 2024-2025 64.8%, 2025-2026 72% Current Not in Education Employment and Training (Neet) data In 2024 22.4% of Cyp with an EHCP were Neet compared with 12.5% national average.

• What is the local area partnership’s strategy for delivering on the above?

A brief summary of your local system’s theory of change or reform strategy. Reflect on the output of your Local Partnership Maturity Assessment Tool, particularly your Local System ‘change story.’

250 words Our local SEND system faces significant pressure: high deprivation and complex needs have driven a rapid rise in demand, outstripping our capacity and leaving too many families facing delays, out-of-area placements or inconsistent support. An honest partnership self-assessment found committed leadership and pockets of innovative practice (such as strong co-production in planning) but also highlighted critical gaps – inconsistent inclusive practice across settings, limited integration of data and pathways, and workforce capacity pressures – reinforcing the need for fundamental change.

For these reasons, we are shifting from a reactive, fragmented system to one that is preventative, inclusive and joined-up. Our theory of change is that by strengthening early identification and support within mainstream settings, using specialist expertise proactively in outreach to upskill staff and prevent crises, and developing more local sufficiency of specialist places, fewer children will need costly statutory interventions or out-of-area placements. We are improving the timeliness and quality of plans, embedding co-production with families at every level, and establishing joint commissioning and shared accountability across education, health and care – all supported by better use of data to drive learning and consistency. Through these changes, the partnership will improve outcomes and inclusion for children and young people, rebuild parental confidence in the system, and ensure resources are used sustainably and to best effect, delivering value for money – all in line with the principles of national reforms.

• Please upload a completed copy of the Local Partnership Maturity Assessment Tool.

The maturity matrix is attached to the submission email

• What is the local area partnership roadmap for the next 3 years?

Reflecting on the broad timescales and expectation for deliverables set out in the Schools White Paper, key documents and core minimum requirements set out in this document, please provide a high-level roadmap for the next 3 years. Please highlight key milestones and a trajectory to the target metrics identified above, including leading indicators.

In the 2026-27 column, in particular, please reference how you plan to meet the core minimum requirements in your narrative, including details and evidence in supporting documents.

You can insert or upload supporting documents including graphics/visuals that illustrate your data trajectory.

Eah Offer review, Inclusion Charter sign/launch

Implement post-16 transition pathway and commissioning proposals.

INclude Team - Reflect and review impact of INclude Service. Launch KS2-KS3 transition offer and post 16 opportunities.

Post 16 - Implement the multi-agency PfA pathway across services.

Embed PfA outcomes into EHCPs and annual reviews.

Improve joint working between SEND, Social Care (Transitions) and Health for young people aged 14-25.

Issue annual PfA sufficiency and outcomes update to the local area partnership

Cost and develop plan for workforce needed because of the balanced system analysis. Implement year 2 interventions.

Review of Post 16 to ensure pathways to employment have been strengthened, supported internships have

Comms to link Oap and Routes to Inclusion Graduated Response Training

Inclusion Conference

Establish a multi-agency Preparation for Adulthood working group to deliver: financial trend analysis of post 16 high needs expenditure; publish a financial forecast for post 16 SEND high needs expenditure; analysis of placements of post 16 pupils; publish trend data to the local area partnership; ‘ Identify post 16 SEND gaps; prepare a commissioning proposal to address educational gaps; Review Nottingham City SEND EHCP cease processes and performance compared to statistical neighbours.

Establish reporting system for children not in full-time education and reduced timetables.

INclude Team (target reduce Pex 25% v last year) Develop a robust transition offer for KS2 to KS3. Sept 26 Report to Paig Year 1 outcomes.

Refine the pathway based on feedback from young people, families and services.

Publish a final year report with progress and next step commissioning recommendations

Parents/schools. Figures below are % of EHCP requesting special school at phase transfer 2026-2027 68% Reduce the number of requests for Independent Placements from Parents/schools. Figures below are % of EHCP requesting independent school at phase transfer 2026-2027 3.6% Reduce the number of requests special & Independent Placement from Parents/schools. Figures below are % of EHCP requesting special and independent school at phase transfer 2026-2027 71.6%

Parents/schools. Figures below are % of EHCP requesting special school at phase transfer 2027-2028 65% Reduce the number of requests for Independent Placements from Parents/schools. Figures below are % of EHCP requesting independent school at phase transfer 2027-2028 3.4%

Parents/schools. Figures below e % of EHCP requesting special school at phase transfer 2028-2029 63%

2028-2029 Reduce the number of requests for Independent Placements from Parents/schools. Figures below are % of EHCP requesting independent school at phase transfer 2028-2029 3.2%

Reduce the number of requests special & Independent Placement from Parents/schools. Figures below are % of EHCP requesting special and independent school at phase transfer 2027-2028 68.4%

Reduce the number of requests special & Independent Placement from Parents/schools. Figures below are % of EHCP requesting special and independent school at phase transfer 2028-2029 66.2%

• What will the local area partnership deliver in the first year?

Please outline the key workstreams, milestones and trajectory your local area partnership will deliver and achieve in 2026-27 as well as how you plan to spend the investment allocation that will help fund this year’s delivery. Please share key milestones and anticipated dates, success measures, cost breakdown and category. These should incorporate the core minimum requirements, be mapped to the building blocks above and should reflect a more detailed trajectory to the narrative, milestones and target metrics outlined in the 2026- 27 column above.

Estate _falling roll to support Inclusion 1.4 Qa Existing Inclusion Bases 1.5 Grant for environmental adaptation s re: Nd/Semh 1.6 Joint Commissiong assessment of sufficiency pressures 1.7 Post 16 Inclusion

summer ter m 1.1 to 1.2 Write Incl. base sp ecification/ B id Process th en Evaluate bids 1.5 Establish Grant object ives/eligibilit y 1.6 Joint Co mmissioning Report on sufficiency s ubmit to Paig/Selg 1.7 Est Post 16 Group Identif y members/To R / frequency of meetings Hold 1 or 2 meetings

Capital Board. 1.3 Plan/iden tify tranche of inclusion bases, 1.5 Check Grant eligibili ty with legal and write Grant A pplication form

Legal advice obtained

secondary heads, email, newsletter Notify successful bids. Prep schools funding to pay grant t o schools after Easter.

Specifiction written Eligibility agreed with group Post 16 Group members identified, invited to first meeting.

in summer term Outcome

Data/assessment of need informs effective sufficiency plan

Successful delivery of 6 inclusion bases open Sept 27

70% schools bid for grant to implement change

Delivery of special school places

Success measure

Waiting list for specialist places currently 217 reduces

Children educated close to home, needs

met in mainstream school

More accessible classrooms in 70% of schools impacts att endance of children with SEND positively

Children access high quality education in appropriate setting. Improving lived experience of children and families

Jennifer Hardy Head of Access to Inclusion

2.1 & 2.5 Create Eah group re Ep/Slt/Ot & St role and outreach from Special/AP Est. members & T oR Write JDs and adverts for

No impact – establishing groups to develop project Except INclu de which provides data monthly re children worked with. Pex 25 % reduction

2.1 Induct ne w staff, create Eah team linked to 4 Family Hubs with wider community- based delivery. Audit of Slcn/Ot need. Create training offer based on

No impact – establishing groups to develop project Baseline & Preparing data capture mechanisms .

2.1 Ep, Slt, Ot offer communicat ed to schools. Targeted at schools with greatest need.

Initial schools identified to focus first tranche of support to and appointment s made for visits.

Building block – Workstream 2 Access to specialist support and Local Placements 2.1 Eah Offer delivery 2.2 Development of Apst 2.3 Development of Hln cluster linked to Hubs 2.4 AP Commissioning Framework 2.5 Use of Specialist Outreach from Special Schools

2.6 INclude reduction of Pex

roles require d. Survey schools re support in Eah. 2.2 Create Apst working group. Members & ToR 2.3 Coprodu ction Events with schools re Clusters 2.4 group est ablished proj ect 50% complete. Te nders for AP providers close. Evalua te bids from AP Providers, notify providers of outcome.

against last year) & Child ren reintegrating into school.

survey outcomes. E Ps Deliver cl uster consultation s. Review and design Spring term offer. 2.1& 2.5 design offer to schools 2.2. LA starts funding Apst 2.4 Commen ce new AP contracts and Launch AP Framework with schools (Inclusion Conference.) 2.6 INclude r eport at Paig/Selg. Review data,

Comms to communicat e confirmed offer to schools written, signed off and circulated. AP Framework launched and Comms sent out Confirmed in minutes and communicat e outcome

AP Framework live and being used by schools.

Issue contracts. 2.6 INclude r eview outco mes for year 1 and prepares rep ort for Sept Paig /Selg

decide to stay as is/expand and set new targ ets.

on Local Offer.

Outcome

Exclusions will reduce, both Pex and Suspensions, the no. of children with SEND represented in Pex figures will reduce. (mindful that SEND identification indicate s understanding of need, so not always negative to be identified, even for those excluded)

Children with autism will have their needs met successfully

within mainstream school. (and all children with SEND)

Higher portion of children with SEND and complex needs sustain successful mainstream placements.

Workforce feel empowered and equipped to meet need.

Success measure

Exclusion data Pex and suspensions trend down for all including SEND

Attendance for children with SEND increases

Reduction in part-time timetables

Reduction in Cyp deregistered from school to Ehe because needs not met

Ep/Slt/Ot - Increase in no children without EHCP worked with

No. children impacted by Special School outreach

Building block - Workstream 3 System Leadership, Partnership & Coproduction 3.1 Strengthen Paig, Selg, Governance aligned to Best Start in Life and Partnership strategies 3.2 Paig Data workstream 3.3 Dispute Resolution and Escalation Processes

Claire Bale Director of Education

3.1 Impleme nt improvem ent Board toolkit - Check membership of Paig & Selg, set review of ToR, Admi n process, e nsure meetings booked for 1 year.

No impact – establishing groups to develop project Baseline survey re con fidence of Paig & Selg.

Baseline survey of membership plan that Increase d formality of Paig and Selg generates confidence in the group over time

Survey results analysed and reports shared.

Start Forward plan and invite guests to Paig to present item s. Identify how to communicat e decisions from meetings. Baseline survey re confidence o f Paig/Selg 3.2 create data report as standing item Paig & Selg. 3.2 Recruit data analyst. 3.3 Establish Dispute

resolution gr oup to review data and themes. Outcome

• Regular meetings

with good attendance.

• Agendas that

generate health discussion and challenge re impact for Cyp.

• Voice of Parent Carers

and Cyp in meeting

• Qualitative

feedback re impact from membership

• Better understanding

of disputes/tribunals. Report to feed into Paig/Selg

Success measure

• Regular meetings with 90% attendance
• Survey of membership demonst

rates hopefulness/con fidence that groups have impact

• Qualitative feedback

re impact from membership through meeting minutes

Lisa De Souza Principal Educational Psychologist

Partnership understands how this work will be shared with schools and families. All partners support the sharing of information and own Oap toolkit.

Oap Toolkit group to Prep launch of Oap toolkit to schools, comms

Building block - Workstream 4

Encouraging Inclusive Culture and Behaviours

4.1 Oap Toolkit and Enhanced provision guidance

Pmo/Oap Toolkit group/Pcf to Plan Inclusion Conference

4.2 4.3 Balanced system Slcn assessment to launch Oap toolkit, & establish Inc lusion Chart er requirement s with schools Commission Balanced system Slcn assessment of City Outcome

• Shared understanding

of inclusion.

• Schools’ confidence

in implementing graduated response improves by using Oap toolkit

Success Measures

• School survey measuring confidence
• Qualitative data

feedback

• Reduction in

suspensions

• Increase in parental

confidence that children’s needs are met in school (survey)

Projected Investment Spend per quarter Experts at Hand Funding Admin Transformation Total Spend £ 2,883,023

Q1 Eah - £548,627 Admin £104,391 Transformation £ 161,000 Total £804,018

Q2 Eah - £934,045 Admin £124,420 Transformation £31,350 Total £1,089,815

Q3 Eah - £934,045 Admin £23,795 Transformation £ 31,350 Total £ 989,190

See attachment no.6.Local Delivery Plan… with full

Eah spend and visuals re Expert at Hand

• How will the local area partnership deliver the first-year plan?

Please set out how you will ensure the required capacity and capability is in place from organisational corporate functions to support implementation of the plan. This could include reference to how you plan to build or bring in project delivery capability to manage delivery against the plan, support prioritisation, and effective use of resources; and how you plan to build the capacity and capability in data and analytics to support effective tracking against the measures in the plan and reporting that informs decision making.

250 words The local area partnership will deliver the first-year plan through stronger programme management clear governance and targeted investment in workforce, data and corporate capacity. In line with the maturity assessment, delivery will be overseen strategically by the SEND Executive Leadership Group and operationally through the Partnership Assurance and Inclusion Group, with clear escalation routes and shared accountability across education, health and care partners. This will ensure priorities are jointly owned, progress is reviewed regularly, and risks are addressed promptly. To strengthen delivery capacity, the partnership will invest in dedicated programme and project management, using transformation funding to improve oversight, prioritisation and tracking of milestones, risks and outcomes. This will align with existing programmes, including sufficiency, inclusion and Dsg recovery, and avoid duplication. Time-limited capacity will also support SEND assessment, commissioning and improvement activity alongside statutory

demand. Workforce capability will be developed through joint training, outreach and shared expectations for inclusion, with a focus on inclusive practice, early identification and SEN Support. Data and analytics capacity will be strengthened through shared dashboards and integrated datasets to track demand, performance, cost and outcomes, supporting quarterly reporting and more improvement- focused oversight. Children Education Service functions, including finance and commissioning, will align resources and strengthen value for money, helping create the capacity and discipline needed to deliver the plan at pace.

8. Other funding Local Authorities.

Block Transfers: If you have made a block transfer (Schools Block to High Needs Block) for 26-27, please set out how your plans for this funding align with the activities outlined above.

250 words The £1.074m block transfer from the Schools Block to the High Needs Block in 2026/27 will support the local authority in managing demand and cost within the High Needs system, specifically in relation to children and young people with SEND, while enabling delivery of SEND and Alternative Provision reforms.

This funding forms part of a wider c.£3.4m package of resource requirements linked to reducing High Needs expenditure and implementing demand management activity, which is being finalised through the High Needs Recovery Plan.

The funding will be used to:

Increase capacity within mainstream and local provision for pupils with SEND, reducing reliance on high-cost independent and out-of- area placements.

Support targeted SEN Support and early intervention for pupils with identified or emerging SEND, to reduce escalation to EHCPs and specialist provision.

Enable delivery of the Graduated Approach, ensuring support is provided at the earliest point of need in line with the SEND and AP Improvement Plan.

Manage demand and costs associated with high needs pupils, particularly those requiring high-cost placements, during the early phase of system reform.

This funding will contribute to improved inclusion for pupils with SEND, reduced reliance on high-cost provision, and a more financially sustainable High Needs system over the medium term.

Capital: We have announced at least £3 billion in high needs capital between 2026-27 and 2029-30 to support children and young people (Cyp) with SEND, or those requiring alternative provision (AP). This funding is intended to support place delivery across the full 0-25 age range, including early years and post-16. We expect funding to support the following outcomes: a. Inclusion at the core of high needs sufficiency strategy, resulting in more children and young people with SEND accessing suitable places in mainstream settings, across all phases of education b. Every child or young person who needs a place in an inclusion base can access one c. Fewer children and young people with SEND needing to travel a long way to access a suitable placement d. Improved suitability of the mainstream estate to support children and young people with SEND, with adaptations to improve inclusivity and accessibility of the physical environment We also welcome innovative uses of high needs capital to drive inclusion, for example, investment in assistive technology for use in mainstream settings.

Please outline your strategy for how this funding will meet the outcomes above, with reference to the core minimum requirements and other workstreams in this reform plan where appropriate. We would like to see detail around your plans to increase capacity for inclusion bases (formerly known as SEN units, resourced provision and pupil support units – Su/Rp/PSUs), such as schools, colleges or early years providers identified, engagement with relevant settings and trusts, and target cohort of needs.

If your plans include increases to places in special schools or specialist post-16 institutions, please include a clear rationale, showing the need that is being met, and why it cannot be met through other types of provision, such as inclusion bases.

If you are receiving additional capital funding to replace one or more planned special or AP free schools, please set out how this funding will meet need in your area, and plans for engaging relevant trusts in your sufficiency planning.

500 words Nottingham City Council – High Needs Capital Strategy (2026–2030) Nottingham City Council’s High Needs Capital Strategy places inclusive education at its core, expanding local provision so children and young people (Cyp) with SEND and those requiring Alternative Provision (AP) can access support close to home. The programme aligns with the SEND Sufficiency Strategy (2023–28), the SEND, Inclusion and AP Strategy, and the Dsg High Needs Recovery Plan.

• Inclusion at the core. We will expand both inclusion and specialist bases across early years settings schools and academies,

alongside mainstream adaptations focused on sensory appropriate environments. This will strengthen support for growing areas of need, including autism, Semh, speech and language, and broader neurodiversity, enabling more pupils to remain in local mainstream settings.

• Inclusion and specialist base capacity. Nottingham currently operates a strong ethos of inclusion amongst its early years settings,

primary and secondary schools and academies. 82% of primary schools currently have an inclusion base, primarily supporting Neurodiverse and Semh needs. Only 23% of secondary schools and academies have an inclusion base. By 2029, Nottingham expects to roughly double its specialist base capacity, creating hundreds of additional specialist places. Delivery will be through maintained schools, multi-academy trusts, early years providers and Fe colleges, targeted to highest geographical areas of demand and special educational need. New provision will be co-produced with families, providers and partners to ensure it meets a range of needs and improves local sufficiency.

• Reduced travel and out-of-area placements. Increasing local provision will reduce dependence on out-of-city placements and

associated transport costs, which are projected to rise from around £3.2 million to £6 million by 2027–28 if current trends continue. Through targeted special school expansion for children with the most complex needs, developments will provide 436 additional specialist local places by 2029/30 supporting our aim to remove waiting lists and significantly reduce distant placements. Nottingham’s SEN Sufficiency strategy aims to increase 206 specialist school academy placements, 130 Alternative Provision placements and 100 Specialist Base placements in mainstream schools. The strategy aims to enable pupils to attend their nearest suitable school setting, and if requiring specialist placements, the expectation is that pupils on average travel less than 3 miles to their nearest suitable school placement.

• Accessible mainstream estate. Capital investment will also improve the accessibility of mainstream schools and colleges,

including sensory rooms, hygiene facilities and specialist equipment. Combined with workforce development through the Graduated Response and Inclusion workstream, these improvements will help mainstream settings meet a wider range of needs with greater confidence.

9. System partner and stakeholder engagement, and co-production.

Please outline how the local area partnership plans to engage system partners and stakeholders to develop and implement the plan – include planned engagement with schools and early years settings, alternative providers, Fe and post-16 providers (including those your young people attend that are not within your local area), Parents and Carers and children and young people with SEND, with reference to the core minimum requirements. Consider changing roles and responsibilities in the context of the Schools White Paper and how you work collaboratively to manage the transition. Please indicate where additional support is required to engage partners or stakeholders - senior officials at the Department for Education will be available to contribute to summer term events with education leaders and parent carer forum leaders.

500 words The Nottingham City local area partnership is committed to inclusive engagement and co-production in developing and delivering our Local SEND Reform Plan. While engagement to date has been constrained by timescales and dependencies, we have begun involving key stakeholders through Primary and Secondary Heads’ meetings, Schools Forum and its High Needs Sub-Group, Rainbow Parent Carer Forum (Pcf) meetings, and surveys for children, parent carers and professionals distributed via education settings. Parents and carers are central to our approach. Representative family carers from Rainbow Pcf sit on partnership boards and will be invited onto reform project steering groups. We are developing a broader engagement offer, including parent carer roadshows, Family Hub drop-ins, attendance at existing Pcf parent sessions, and online opportunities shaped with Pcf advice. We also plan to improve the Local Offer website and use social media more effectively, including a clear “you said, we did” feedback loop. In the interim, we will work through schools, early years settings and colleges to promote engagement opportunities, and will explore summer engagement through Haf and other community routes to reach a wider and more diverse range of families.

From September, we will deliver a structured programme of engagement with early years settings, schools and Fe providers through a mix of in-person events and webinars held at different times to maximise participation. We will also host an annual Inclusion Conference to bring together mainstream, AP and special school leaders to share effective practice and reinforce collective responsibility for inclusion.

We are also engaging Fe and post-16 providers, including those outside Nottingham that educate our young people, through targeted communications and online focus groups to ensure the plan reflects the full education pathway and supports consistency of provision beyond school.

We will work with our developing Youth Assembly to shape how children and young people want to engage, ensuring their views are heard directly and inform governance through the Partnership Assurance and Inclusion Group and SEND Executive Leadership Group.

We recognise that partnership maturity is still developing and that some mechanisms are new or evolving, including stronger social care involvement in joint forums. However, we are using this reform period to strengthen a culture of shared ownership, transparent feedback and collective accountability, so that engagement is broad, meaningful and sustainable as reforms are implemented.

10. Risks and Mitigations

What are the key risks that could affect the successful implementation of your Local SEND Reform Plan, and what mitigation strategies are in place to manage these risks? Please include a maximum of 5 risks with impact and likelihood Rag for each risk. See Annex C for suggested risk matrix.

Target Operating Model (Ces restructure). Staff at risk of redundancy and restructure of teams.

11. Dependencies

Please detail the key areas of the local area partnership’s proposed SEND future state and roadmap that may be impacted by wider reforms nationally and locally and outline how you will manage these. We expect these will include but not be limited to:

• NHS reforms
• Local Government Re-organisation
• Reforms to Children’s Social Care
• Best Start in Life, including Family Hubs
• Best Start in Life Strategy
• Curriculum and Assessment Review

500 words Nottingham City’s SEND Future State and three-year roadmap (2025–2028) are designed to remain deliverable in a changing national and local reform context. Children and Education Service (Ces) Target Operating Model (Tom) – a restructure of the whole service impacting staff in Education, Social Care and Family Help was launched 1 June 26 with a 30-day consultation. Some staff are being put at risk of redundancy and will need to apply for jobs in the new structure, others will be moved, many will not be directly impacted. This could lead to changes in staff and recruitment activity over the next 6 months which is likely to impact SEND Reform projects as the Tom is impacting most teams. The purpose of the Tom is to have the right workforce to meet current and future needs, so in the long term this will be positive. NHS and Integrated Care reforms create both opportunity and risk. Integrated Care Boards strengthen joint accountability for SEND outcomes and support Nottingham’s integrated approach, including Experts at Hand and joint commissioning. However, national workforce pressures in therapies, mental health and paediatrics may affect pace and capacity. These risks are being managed through shared SEND governance with senior Icb leaders, joint workforce planning, co-commissioning and flexible delivery phasing. Local Government Reorganisation may bring structural and leadership change later in the roadmap. It will increase the Local Area and bring new schools with different ways of working and need. Nottingham is mitigating this through reciprocal sharing of information with Nottinghamshire re reforms. We share SEND Partnership Partners who attend Paig and Selg, the Icb, Speech and Language and Ot Providers as well as many Multi academy trusts with the Nottinghamshire which has wards we are likely to acquire in Lgr. Discussions and direction from clear governance through Paig and the SEND Executive Leadership Group will support SEND reforms through Lgr. Children’s Social Care reforms, including Family Help, align strongly with Nottingham’s focus on early intervention and prevention. Although redesign may create short-term capacity pressures, the plan is to work together and align priorities as far as possible. Best Start in Life and Family Hubs are central to Nottingham’s future model. The SEND plan aligns with the Best Start in Life Strategy (2025–2030), using Family Hubs to support early identification and inclusive early years provision. Risks around implementation pace or national policy shifts will be managed through aligned measures and phased integration of SEND and inclusion support into hubs. Curriculum and Assessment Review reforms support Nottingham’s inclusive ambitions but create uncertainty around timing and implementation. In response, the partnership is strengthening Ordinarily Available Provision, inclusive curriculum design and flexible pathways now, so the system can adapt as national reforms develop.

Section 3 – Monitoring and Evaluation

• How will the local area partnership know delivery is on track?

Please set out how you will monitor and track progress referencing:

• Monitoring tools and processes - the specific tools, systems, and data you will use to track delivery milestones and measure

the impact on outcomes.

Some Local Area Partnerships hold data in a central SEND operational dashboard. This is used by teams on a weekly basis to identify trends in demand or inform conversations with local school or setting leaders.

In some Local Area Partnerships, a view of the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) is reviewed monthly by a SEND Board to take decisions on prioritisation, resourcing and delivery of services informed by regular data.

Please set out how you will use data to track demand (e.g., EHCP applications for assessment), Service delivery (e.g., Speech and Language Specialists deployment; places created), Service quality (e.g., parental satisfaction) and outputs (e.g., pupil attendance; pupil exclusions)

• Feedback and adaptation mechanisms - what feedback loops and stakeholder input you will use to review progress and adjust

your approach.

500 words Our data is developing but immature in its use. An enabler project will be run to support this, establish current sources of data and how this can be utilised effectively including qualitative data, quality and lived experience already gathered through complaints, tribunals and annual surveys collected by teams in the partnership. Using grant funds, we will employ a data analyst to develop monitoring and evaluation data that will support a SEND Reform Project dashboard, including trackers to monitor data on children worked with though training, advice and guidance, in school support etc. through Experts at Hand. They will also develop ways to systemise and feed our LA data into the Icb monthly SEND “Vital Signs” dashboard to draw together data from education, health and care to provide a shared view of demand, performance, quality and impact. These dashboards will bring together key data that is already available e.g. attendance, exclusions Neet data. EHC timeliness and other data while available can be hard to collect due to issues getting clean data out of systems, which our data analyst will troubleshoot and develop into more easily accessible data, flagging issues to Paig and Selg to support resolution.

We will work with the Icb data team through a combined Notts City and County data group to develop information on Service delivery of Slt and Ot, with specific separation of data for each LA.

Two project managers will be recruited specifically for Experts at Hand and other SEND Reform Projects to ensure they progress in line with defined timescales, KPIs are set and reported up to a new SEND Reform Steering groups and SEND Governance. They will also liaise with colleagues across Ces to ensure performance of existing projects is monitored and data drawn into SEND Reform e.g., our regular Dsg recovery steering board meetings monitor and track when new places are made available to monitor the financial savings derived.

Our Pcf will feedback at monthly Paig and Selg what they are hearing from parents and carers. Our Youth assembly meets every 6 weeks; we will work with them to bring their views into Paig and Selg to feedback on reforms. We will work with the Pcf and Youth Assembly to develop ways to gather wider feedback from parents and carers, children and young people respectively re satisfaction with services, impact on lived experience and topics such as transitions, preparation for adulthood.

We will engage with schools to develop data sharing agreements to ensure a useful flow of information to inform the partnership of the impact of the SEND Reforms.

Together, this approach will enable the partnership to maintain oversight of reform implementation and demonstrate measurable progress in improving outcomes for children and young people with SEND

13. Reporting to DfE

Using the attached data template, the local area partnership is required to provide quarterly data returns to DfE against selected key metrics. DfE will, in turn, provide quarterly data reports with visualised analysis and benchmarking that will support your local delivery, monitoring and evaluation. This will include data the department holds on Attendance, Exclusions, and Unauthorised

absence.

Please use the attached data template to upload your initial data return to DfE.

See attachment with email submission 13. The Local SEND Reform Plan Data Template

Section 4 – Governance

• How will the local area partnership ensure delivery of plans remain on track?

Please outline the governance structures in place to oversee delivery. Clearly set out who is responsible for overseeing reform delivery, what each governance group or individual is accountable for, and how these arrangements ensure progress is monitored and decisions are made transparently. Please identify where the named Sro for the Local SEND Reform Plan sits within the governance structure and ensure your response incorporates the core minimum requirements.

workstreams and escalates barriers SEND Escalates major issues to children’s strategic governance and external bodies Provides executive leadership and strategic oversight of SEND improvement Executive Makes strategic, cross- partner decisions Leadership Group Senior leaders from the local authority, health, education and care Sets direction and makes joint cross- partner decisions Approves major changes, priorities and resource shifts Can refer policy or resource matters to Clt or Icb governance Includes the Director of Children’s Services, Icb leaders and Parent Carer Forum Chair Monthly typically meets around two weeks after Paig Oversees impact, strategic risks and pace of delivery Chaired by an Independent Chair appointed in 2024 Resolves inter- agency barriers and directs high-level action Provides assurance to DfE, Ofsted and local governance Provides assurance updates on progress and challenges Health and To develop a The Board’s membership includes Meets four times a Strategic Most business Wellbeing shared representatives of the Council, year in February, influence over at this board is Board understanding of Nottingham and Nottinghamshire commissioning advisory.

the health and Integrated Care Board, Nottingham May, September decisions Escalation is wellbeing needs of Place Based Partnership, and November.

across health, to Nottingham its communities Healthwatch Nottingham and public health City Executive from pre-birth to Nottinghamshire and other partners and social care; & Full Council end of life, See attachment sent with the submission 6.Local Delivery Plan_spend_visuals_14.Governance, which includes a visual of Nottingham City Governance Involve patient but usually including the health and service members will inequalities within user ask their and between representatives respective communities; and councillors organisations providing system in to act to make leadership to commissioning change secure decisions happen collaboration to through their meet these needs own more effectively.

Governance.

If you have a diagram to show the relationship between these governance mechanisms, please upload this here.

See attachment sent with the submission 6.Local Delivery Plan_spend_visuals_14.Governance, which includes a visual of Nottingham City Governance on the Governance tab.

Section 5 – Central Government Support

15. How can we help you?

Please outline any practical support you need from central government to implement your plan effectively.

This may include:

• Access to specialist expertise or advisory support
• Help with workforce development or recruitment challenges
• Tools or templates to support data collection, reporting, or evaluation
• Facilitation of peer learning or regional collaboration
• Support with system-level coordination across education, health, and care
• Guidance on navigating regulatory or policy barriers

250 words

• Advice and support re the functioning of Alternative Provision Task Force to support the transfer of this from Alternative Provision into local mainstream provision.
• Advice and guidance re workforce development
• Advice and guidance re data, turning data into insight
• Facilitation of peer learning or regional collaboration
• Support with system-level coordination across education, health, and care
• Guidance on navigating regulatory or policy barriers

Annex B - Supporting Documents

Annex C – Risk Matrix