SEND and Alternative Provision (AP) Action Plan

Summary

The Cumberland SEND and Alternative Provision Partnership are pleased that during the recent Local Area Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities (SEND) Inspection for Cumberland (completed July 2025), Office for Standards in Education (OFSTED) and Care Quality Commission (CQC) recognised that progress was being made and confirmed that we are moving in the right direction. However, we know there is still more to do to improve the lived experiences of our children, young people and families in Cumberland.

We are committed to addressing the 2 areas identified in the inspection report, in addition to striving to achieve our 6 strategic priorities as outlined in the SEND and Alternative Provision Strategy. Together, the partnership will deliver our action plan and drive further improvements for children, young people, and families.

The action plan summarises how we will address the 2 areas for improvement highlighted in the Ofsted and CQC report. This is a required action of Local Authorities following a local area SEND inspection.

However, we would also like to take the opportunity at a later date to publish a broader version of our action plan, which includes how we plan to achieve our wider SEND and AP strategic priorities, in addition to the 2 areas for improvement from the report. This is to be fully transparent to our partners, parents and carers on what we intend to improve, how and when. We expect to publish this in January 2026. Helping us to create this action plan are our partnership colleagues from health and education, as well as SEND Alliance Cumbria (SENDAC), the statutory parent/carer forum for Cumbria, and the Cumberland SEND Information, Advice and Support Service (SENDIASS). 

The 2 areas for improvement highlighted in the SEND Inspection Report:

• The partnership should ensure that contributions to inform the development of children’s and young people’s Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) come from all partners, especially health and social care, so that the needs of these children and young people are fully reflected.
• The partnership should continue to strengthen its understanding of the impact of its work to improve outcomes for children and young people with SEND by:
  • securing accurate information about the current waiting times for access to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS), and the number of children and young people waiting to access this service in all areas of Cumberland, including those bordering other partnership areas
  • embedding the newly developed programme of developmental checks for children and young people aged 5 to 19 years, so that there is a greater understanding of how effectively the programme is identifying the needs of children and young people with SEND
  • making best use of readily available information on attendance, exclusions and suspensions to spot trends and patterns that might suggest the vulnerability of some children and young people
  • ensuring that all this information is successfully incorporated into any evaluations of impact, and in the Partnership’s strategic work to make further improvements

Our strategic priorities for the Cumberland SEND and AP Partnership:

• working together and building trust - priority 1
• high quality local provision and services - priority 2
• improving outcomes - priority 3
• preparing for and moving into adulthood - priority 4
• a supportive, effective alternative provision - priority 5
• valuing our children and young people and achieving best value in Cumberland - priority 6