Improving Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) services for children, young people and families across Derbyshire
News Update - June 2025
Message from the Derbyshire Local Area SEND Partnership
We’re committed to open communication with you - the children, young people and families in our SEND community - and know we have work to do here.
We look forward to keeping you updated on our progress to improve and will continue to do this with updates on the Derbyshire Local Offer website, on social media, through eNewsletters, in all partnership news channels across health and education and with the local media.
The story so far
In September 2024, Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) carried out an inspection of Derbyshire Local Area SEND Partnership services.
It highlighted significant concerns about the experiences and outcomes of children and young people with SEND in Derbyshire.
The inspection findings identified widespread, systemic failings in services in Derbyshire and highlighted challenges to the partnership that have been consistently expressed by parents and carers and children and young people with SEND.
The Partnership, made up of Derbyshire County Council, NHS Derby and Derbyshire Integrated Care Board, schools and the private and public sector - all working together with children and young people and their families - has apologised for these failings and is committed to addressing all the areas identified in the inspection report.
Partnership actions since the inspection
As soon as the inspection outcomes were published the Partnership established a Derbyshire SEND Improvement and Assurance Board (DSIAB) with an independent Chair as required by the Department for Education (DfE).
Board membership includes Derbyshire County Council, NHS Derby and Derbyshire Integrated Care Board, NHS provider organisations, representatives from early years, primary, secondary and special schools and other education settings, and parent participation charity ‘Derbyshire Parent Carer Voice’ representing children and young people with SEND and their families and carers.
Partnership leaders have produced a Priority Impact Plan (PIP) setting out the key six Priority Impact Areas and five Areas of Improvement the Partnership will focus on over eighteen months to June 2026.
To view the Priority Impact Plan in full, please visit:
Derbyshire Local Offer - Derbyshire Local Area SEND Partnership Priority Impact Plan
The Board has established working groups to deliver the required changes detailed in each of the impact and improvement areas and will oversee the plan.
Ofsted will carry out periodic stock-takes ahead of a further full Ofsted and CQC inspection from June 2026, 18 months after the plan’s inception.
The Board has committed to an open and transparent approach and publishes the minutes of its monthly meetings.
To view Derbyshire SEND Improvement and Assurance Board (DSIAB) meeting minutes, please visit: Derbyshire Local Offer - Derbyshire SEND Improvement and Assurance Board
Introducing Derbyshire SEND Improvement and Assurance Board Independent Chair Deborah Glassbrook
Hello, my name is Deborah Glassbrook and I have the amazing job of chairing the monthly Derbyshire Local Area SEND Partnership Improvement and Assurance Board.
I’ve worked with and on behalf of children for 46 years starting my career as a nurse working with children, young people and adults who had significant additional needs and lived in a hospital.
I was a social worker for 40 years and had a wonderful time doing a whole range of jobs including setting up a MENCAP respite home, working for the BBC and becoming the first Deputy Director of ChildLine, being a Child Protection Chair and Independent Reviewing Officer, working as a Research Fellow at the University of Bristol and being a Director of Children’s Services.
I now have my own consultancy called Optimising Potential Limited – called that because that is what I believe passionately about – optimising the potential of children, of young people, of their families, of teams and services and organisations and of local areas.
I will explain what the DSIAB is but first need to explain about what happened leading up to one being set up.
In September 2025 Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission carried out a three-week inspection of the Derbyshire Local Area SEND Partnership.
The outcome of the inspection was that ‘there are widespread and or systemic failings leading to significant concerns about the experiences and outcomes of children and young people with special educational needs and or disabilities, which the local area partnership must address urgently.’
As a result of the inspection, the Partnership had to prepare and submit a Priority Impact Plan to address the six priority areas and five areas for improvement outlined in the report.
Derbyshire also received what is called an Improvement Notice issued by the Department for Education (DfE) which requires the county council to take steps to improve its SEND services and set up an improvement board with an independent chair, agreed by the DfE.
I was asked to be the Chair of this board as soon as the inspection outcome was known and I had no hesitation in agreeing.
I hope what I’ve written is helpful and interesting – thank you for taking the time to read it and I’m looking forward to sharing more about the work of the DSIAB with you over the coming months.
Deborah Glassbrook
Independent Chair of Derbyshire SEND Improvement and Assurance Board
Introducing 'Derbyshire Parent Carer Voice' (DPCV) - SEND parents' participation charity
Hi! Claire and Sam here, Chair and Vice-Chair of Derbyshire Parent Carer Voice (DPCV).
We know that there is so much work to do and will work on behalf of our members to support services to improve.
We will be reaching out to members to get involved in lots of ways, as there is so much knowledge held by parent carers.
We'll be honest, at times it's frustrating, from our perspective progress is slow. We know that the meaningful change can only occur because we promote authentic relationships with service leaders. Whilst personally we have both really struggled with our families' experiences, we both wanted to volunteer to ask the question....
"How can this be better?"
To do this well we will work to develop trusting partnerships.
From the inspection report, across the system there are six actions required and four areas for improvement. So much of the early work of the improvement board we have observed has been about establishing processes, so that the board can monitor changes needed.
We have ongoing recruitment for members to get involved and have been supporting representatives and services leaders to network so the forum volunteers can have maximum impact, are happy to attend, and are welcomed and valued.
Please look out for invites to get involved.
Love and hugs to the Derbyshire SEND community!
Claire and Sam
Chair and Vice-Chair of Derbyshire Parent Carer Voice
Progress and challenges - June update
The Derbyshire Local Area Partnership has made a commitment to work in close collaboration with parents and carers to provide the support and services children and young people with SEND in Derbyshire need and deserve.
While the Partnership fully acknowledges the failings highlighted in the recent inspection, work already underway will continue under the Priority Impact Plan to provide better outcomes for children in Derbyshire.
Here’s a summary of two ongoing projects:
County council’s £11m investment in special needs school places
As part of its commitment to improving SEND provision and inclusion, the county council has recently invested £11m to create 500 additional special needs school places across Derbyshire. Work on many projects has already started.
The council has also invited schools to submit proposals for a share of £7m to fund additional special needs school places and support for children with SEND in mainstream education.
This funding will create special needs places in mainstream schools to improve inclusion across Derbyshire and support the development of education resource centres and SEND units within schools, both of which offer specialist nurturing teaching environments for vulnerable learners.
NHS investment and change to support children and young people
Work is underway to support children and young people and their families, carers and teachers with the assessment and diagnosis of autism and neurodevelopment conditions.
The projects aim to:
- Cut the current long wait times for NHS assessment of autism and other neurodevelopment conditions
- Provide support to families before and after diagnosis
- Support teachers and their staff to help children who have neurodevelopment conditions
- Support teachers and families with the mental health of children and young people
The work, which started in 2023, is part of a £3.6m three-year programme aimed at cutting the waiting list for assessments.
Funding is being used to provide more than 1,000 assessments for children and young people each year, plus a further 200 for adults.
Meanwhile, five new drop-in ‘Neurohubs’ have been set up for neurodiverse children and young people in Buxton, Chesterfield, Derby, Ripley and Swadlincote.
They provide advice, information, signposting and early support in an environment that helps people feel safe and part of a wider network and are run by local voluntary community and social enterprise sector organisations.
To learn more, please visit: Derbyshire Local Offer - Neurodevelopmental Support