Improving Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) services for children, young people and families across Derbyshire
News update – February 2026
Derbyshire Partnership committed to continued improvement to SEND support for families
Derbyshire Local Area Partnership is committed to continuous improvement in education, health and care services for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities, says a new report.
The Partnership – made up of Derbyshire County Council and the NHS Derby and Derbyshire Integrated Care Board – is stronger than six months ago with a focus on addressing key issues, according to the Department for Education and NHS England.
It follows a ‘stocktake’ to review how the partnership - responsible for planning, delivering and commissioning services for children and young people with SEND - is addressing issues highlighted by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission.
A joint inspection in September 2024, found a number of areas requiring improvement in education, health and care services including delays in education and health assessments, children missing school and poor communication with families.
After this 12-month progress review, the DfE and NHS England report a ‘good sense of a strengthening partnership’ together with a ‘willingness and commitment to continued improvement’.
It adds there is ‘a shared ambition to understand the lived experiences of children and families’ and a ‘clear commitment to improving outcomes across SEND services’.
The Partnership is working on a priority impact plan which the report says is having demonstrable results, including making sure children’s and young people’s voices are heard when making decisions locally and regionally.
The report adds it is also engaging with key stakeholder Derbyshire Parent Carer Voice – a SEND parents’ participation and campaign charity – which feels heard and is building trust with leaders across the partnership.
It goes on to say it is now essential that the Partnership’s focus of improvement should include acknowledging what differences have been made and are being felt by children, young people and their families by making all activity meaningful, clear and valuable.
Derbyshire County Council temporary Executive Director for Children’s Services Alison Noble said: “We welcome the Department for Education’s report which highlights our continued commitment to working together to improve SEND services for all children across Derbyshire.
“We know there is always more to do and we continue to work hard with our health, education, private, public and voluntary sector partners to offer a service these children deserve.
“The latest stocktake has recognised the multi-million-pound investment we’ve made in employing more specialist staff, improving efficiency around assessments and creating more special needs school places and that these changes are starting to show positive improvements.
“In Derbyshire, as nationally, there’s been a significant increase in demand for SEND support but despite this we want every child in Derbyshire to have the best possible start in life, whatever their ability.”
Rosa Waddingham, Executive Director of Quality (Nursing) for NHS Derby and Derbyshire Integrated Care Board, added: "We are pleased the progress we have made together over the past year has been recognised.
"The research and engagement we have done means we now have a greatly improved understanding of the health needs of children and young people in Derbyshire.
"That enables us to commission services to meet those needs better now and in the future.
"We have also made immediate progress by investing in children and young people's mental health services and in supporting schools to be more inclusive of neurodiverse children, so they can get the support they need at the earliest opportunity."
To read the letter in full, please visit: Derbyshire SEND Improvement and Assurance Board
Have your say on the Government’s Schools White Paper
People are encouraged to have their say on the Government’s long-awaited Schools White Paper including proposed changes to support for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities.
Families, children and young people, schools and professionals are encouraged to take part as it is important that views from across the SEND community are heard and considered before any decisions are made.
To have your say, please visit: SEND reform: putting children and young people first
As a partnership we will take time to carefully review the detail of the proposals and the outcomes of the consultation before considering what any future changes might mean for us here in Derbyshire.
In the meantime, we will continue to work closely with families, schools, health partners and wider stakeholders to improve SEND services and outcomes for children and young people across Derbyshire.
Young people take centre stage in peer challenge
Young people from Derbyshire’s youth inclusion forum recently joined forces to take centre stage along other young people from the East Midlands at an event.
They joined with youth inclusion forums to challenge and support the managers and teams whose role is to support young people with special educational needs and disabilities.
The event, held at the University of Derby and hosted by the East Midlands regional innovation and improvement alliance on 10 February, brought together local authorities in a peer challenge format.
Attendees included participation team managers, inclusion heads of service, SEND leads and representatives from education.
The Derbyshire young people had designed questions around themes that are important to them such as travel, education and jobs.
It also gave them the opportunity to challenge and help the Local Authorities at the event think about what their next steps will be to help young people.
The young people asked the questions that are important to them on issues relating to SEND.
It took place as part of a peer review process in which local authorities compare challenges and ideas as part of their improvement plans regularly.