Ofsted has found ‘widespread and/or systemic failings’, its lowest rating, in Bury’s special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) provision.
Bury Council and the NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care Board are jointly responsible for Bury’s SEND services.
Ofsted inspectors said the experiences of children and young people have been ‘poor for too long’, and heard that Bury’s approach to its SEND strategy was ‘stop/start’.
Young people are left waiting too long for services, and their needs often go unmet while they wait, the report says.
The quality of many Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) ‘remains unacceptable’, and plans are often generic or significantly out of date.
Inspectors said they met ‘many supportive, professional and dedicated practitioners and leaders’, and that improvements had begun, but ‘significant work’ remained.
Bury Council and NHS Greater Manchester said improvements ‘have not been at the pace required.’
They reported an 85% rise in the number of children with EHCPs in the past five years but said they were now meeting assessment times for the plans in 75% of cases, up from 22% two years ago.
Because of its high deficit in its high needs funding block, Bury Council has a ‘safety valve’ agreement, meaning the Department for Education provides extra funding, subject to the authority's progress on improving its SEND system.
