Wirral Council Taking Part in Dfe Delivering Better Value in SEND Programme

You may already be aware about a new programme to improve services for children in Wirral who have special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

Wirral Council is one of 55 local authorities taking part in the Department for Education’s ‘Delivering Better Value (DBV) in SEND programme'.

As an authority we provide services for children and young people with SEND from their early years into early adulthood, to age 25. Wirral, like many areas, is facing significant financial pressures in providing special educational needs and disability services.

The Government’s Delivering Better Value in SEND programme will provide support to understand and manage these pressures, while improving delivery of SEND services in a sustainable way.

The SEND system is highly complex and there is not a quick or easy fix so the DBV SEND Programme is providing short term support to explore opportunities to improve outcomes for children and young people and improve financial resilience. In doing so it will identify root causes – and any local opportunities – and use these to build plans to implement the improvements identified.

The aim of this programme is to improve ways of working to provide better outcomes for children and young people in Wirral with special education needs and disabilities and improve financial performance.

The programme is split into two phases, diagnostic and implementation.

The diagnostic phase will build on existing work between partners. It will address any local challenges and identify areas where the biggest changes can be made to improve outcomes for children and young people. It will also look at how these changes would contribute towards improved financial performance.

The council is currently taking part in the diagnostic phase and schools, education and health partners as well as parents and carers will all be invited to take part in this process. The partner workshops are scheduled to begin in September to explore how we can do things differently. Partner involvement is vital to create a multi-agency approach and ensure that children and young people’s needs and outcomes are met.

During the diagnostic phase action plans will be developed to deliver the improvements, and throughout this phase the government will collate information from participating councils to identify good practice and use it to inform future national policy.

Phase two, the implementation phase, will be when we deliver on the opportunities identified. As well as making a difference for local families the programme offers an opportunity for collaboration with other areas and sharing good practice – and most importantly to improve the experience and outcomes for children and young people with SEND whilst delivering more sustainable services that benefit everyone.

This video provides an overview of the Delivering better value programme. https://www.dbvinsend.com/#intro-video