Purpose

Cabinet are requested to approve Peterborough's SEND Reform Plan, and delegate authority for expenditure of the Experts at Hand grant to the Executive Director of Children's Services

Decision

Cabinet RESOLVED to:
1. Approve the implementation of the Peterborough Local SEND Reform Plan 2026–2029 as a whole-system transformation programme across education, health and care.
2. Delegate authority to the Executive Director for Children’s Services to take the operational decisions necessary to implement the SEND Reform Plan within the approved policy and financial framework, including expenditure arising from the Experts at Hand grant.
3. Approve the delegated Community Cluster Funding Model and the allocation of £750,000 from the High Needs Block in 2026/27, increasing to £3 million per annum from 2027/28, to enable the implementation of devolved SEND funding through Community Clusters.

Alternative options considered

During development of the Local SEND Reform Plan, the Local Area Partnership considered a range of potential approaches to addressing increasing demand for SEND services, growing pressure on specialist provision and the continued growth in High Needs expenditure

Option 1: Maintain Existing Arrangements (Do Nothing)
The option of retaining current service delivery arrangements was considered but was not recommended.

Forecast modelling indicates that, without intervention, demand for Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs), specialist placements and associated support services would continue to increase significantly over the coming years. This would further increase pressure on statutory services, specialist provision, transport budgets and the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG).

Maintaining the current system would not address the projected deficit of specialist places within Peterborough, resulting in continued reliance on costly independent and out-of-area placements. It would also fail to address concerns raised by children, young people, families and education providers regarding delays in accessing support, inconsistent experiences and the lack of resource available prior to statutory assessment.

For these reasons, maintaining the status quo was not considered a viable longterm option.

 Option 2: Expand Existing Services Without System Reform
Consideration was given to increasing investment in existing SEND services whilst retaining current operational structures and pathways.

Although this approach may have increased capacity within some services, it would not have addressed the underlying issues identified through the SEND Reform Programme. Additional investment alone would be unlikely to reduce demand for statutory assessment, improve integration between services, strengthen community-based support or address inequities in access to specialist expertise.

This option was therefore considered unlikely to deliver the scale of change required to improve outcomes and create a financially sustainable SEND system.

Option 3: Increase Specialist Provision Only
Consideration was also given to focusing investment solely on increasing specialist places and expanding specialist provision.

Whilst increasing specialist capacity forms an important component of the SEND Reform Plan, this approach in isolation would not address the increasing levels of demand entering the system. It would continue to rely heavily on specialist placement as the primary solution, rather than supporting earlier intervention, strengthening mainstream inclusion and improving access to specialist advice and support within local communities.

This option was not considered sufficient to achieve the longer-term ambitions of the reform programme.