Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND)

Inspectors from Ofsted and CQC review how local areas meet their responsibilities to children and young people 0-25 with SEND. The aim is to hold local areas to account and champion the rights of children and young people. The latest inspection reports for Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent can be found at the following links:

Staffordshire

Stoke-on-Trent

There are a range of services, including health services that children and young people with SEND can access across Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent.  These include universal services through to those which provide additional targeted support via Graduated Approaches up to Education, Health and Care Plans.

All the services for children and young people aged 0-25 with SEND, their parents/carers and professionals can be found the Local Offer websites. The Local Offer includes information on local services, in one place to help children, young people, parents and carers make choices about the support they receive.

• Staffordshire County Council Local Offer can be found at Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Local Offer | Staffordshire Connects
• Stoke-on-Trent City Council Local Offer can be found at Stoke SEN and Disability – Local Offer

Within ICB, the Designated Clinical Officer (DCO) plays a pivotal role in supporting the ICB to meet its statutory responsibilities for children and young people with SEND.

The DCO acts as a key point of contact between the ICB, local authorities, schools, and colleges, providing expert clinical leadership and specialist health advice where required. The role supports effective collaboration across education, health, and care systems to ensure that the health needs of children and young people with SEND are appropriately identified, planned for, and met.

The DCO works closely with a wider SEND team, who collectively support health services to continuously improve how provision is delivered and jointly commissioned. Together, they focus on strengthening pathways, improving service quality, and ensuring that health services are responsive to the needs of children, young people, and their families across the local health system.