Oxfordshire 'one of worst authorities' for SEND children, according parent group
Parents of children with SEND have criticised Oxfordshire County Council
Parents of children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) have criticised Oxfordshire County Council after it decided to scrap a key role dedicated to the topic.
The county council announced SEND will come under the responsibilities of the cabinet member for children and young people rather than having its own post at the annual meeting last Tuesday (May 20).
In September 2023, an Ofsted report found there were “wide and systemic failings” in the county council’s SEND provision.
While county council leader Liz Leffman said inspectors from the Department of Education had acknowledged recent improvements, other councillors have accused the Lib Dem administration of “marking their own homework”.
Claire Brenner, from Oxfordshire’s SEND Parent Action Group, said the group believes it was “premature” to merge the dedicated role back into children and young people’s services.
She said: “Although SEND is a national crisis, data shows Oxfordshire remains one of the worst local authorities in which to grow up with SEND.
“Many improvements could be made at no extra cost, but this would require genuine culture change and transparent engagement with families – and after 18 months of SEND improvement that still isn’t happening.
“Worse still, there is a growing mismatch between SEND parents’ experiences and the council’s increasingly optimistic media narrative.
“If they genuinely believe the SEND service is improving, why not start ongoing county-wide surveys of parent views and publish the results?”
Councillor James Plumb, who is the shadow education and young people’s cabinet member for the Oxfordshire Alliance (which consists of Conservative and Independent councillors) said the administration should rethink the decision.
He said: “This position was set up because of the ‘widespread and systemic failings’ in SEND services in Oxfordshire.
“The right time to review whether SEND should continue with a dedicated cabinet member is after the next Ofsted inspection, when we will receive a clear and independent appraisal of whether progress is being made in the county.
“Instead, the Lib Dems are marking their own homework and patting themselves on the back whilst SEND families across Oxfordshire continue to experience delays and inadequate support.”
Lib Dem council leader Liz Leffman said the council was “absolutely committed” to supporting children and young people with SEND, and that she was confident that merging SEND and children and young people under one portfolio would work.
She added: “Department for Education inspectors have acknowledged recent improvements and while we will never be complacent, we are confident that the cabinet member post for children and young people will effectively oversee ongoing progress, bringing SEND and education together in one portfolio, rather than us having a dedicated SEND portfolio holder.
“As parents and carers would expect, we are constantly reviewing our SEND performance and should we feel a need to revise cabinet member responsibilities in the future, we have flexibility to do so.”
The council has put £1.141million of extra funding into SEND services, including £641,000 for speeding up the provision of education, health and care plans (EHCPs), in its 2025/26 budget.
Another £400,000 has been allocated to cover the costs of the increase in number of children with SEND requiring home to school transport.
The council is delivering a programme of new and expanded special schools, aimed at providing additional SEND capacity closer to where pupils live.
An independent SEND Strategic Improvement and Assurance Board was established, and this meets monthly to monitor the council’s progress.
The Lib Dems won their first ever majority on the county council in the recent local elections held on May 1.
Councillor Sean Gaul was chosen as cabinet member for children and young people people.