The Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee met on Thursday 1 October 2026 to discuss significant reforms to SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) provision, a 12-month update on school attendance, and a review of the children's workforce. Key decisions included the continuation of the Attendance Mentor Programme and the ongoing development of the SEND reform plan, with a focus on early intervention and inclusive mainstream practice.

SEND Reform

The committee received an update on the national SEND reforms, which aim to create a more inclusive, consistent, and early-intervention-focused system. The reforms, driven by the government's Every Child Achieving and Thriving white paper, are intended to shift support towards mainstream settings, reduce fragmentation, and ensure that help is provided based on need rather than solely on diagnosis. Islington Council expressed its support for this direction of travel, noting that many of the principles align with its existing practices, such as maintaining Sure Start centres and focusing on early intervention and inclusive practice.

Key elements of Islington's local SEND reform plan include:

• Inclusive Mainstream Practice: Enhancing confidence and capability within classrooms to support all pupils.
• Experts at Hand (EAH): Providing specialist expertise, such as educational psychologists, speech and language therapists, and occupational therapists, closer to schools. This initiative aims to offer whole-setting advice and clinics, reducing the reliance on individual 1:1 escalations. There was discussion regarding the inclusion of speech and language therapists within the EAH offer, with clarification that while the national definition is strict, Islington is actively working on this area.
• Local Capacity and Provision: Developing inclusion bases within schools and a mainstream-first sufficiency strategy, with an investment of £1.56 million for 2026-27.
• Workforce and Partnership: Strengthening joint working across education, health, and care, alongside workforce development and co-production with families and children and young people.
• Data, Governance, and Assurance: Implementing shared dashboards and robust oversight to ensure accountability and drive continuous improvement.

The committee heard that the government expects year one of these reforms to be a development year, with a mobilisation phase leading to delivery and then embedding and scaling what works. The overall ambition is to create a more inclusive, confident, and sustainable SEND system by 2029, where needs are identified early, more children thrive in mainstream settings, and there is reduced reliance on high-cost placements.

12-Month Update on Attendance Scrutiny Review

The committee received a positive update on school attendance, noting an improvement in the overall attendance rate to 92.5% for the 2025/26 academic year, an increase of 0.2 percentage points from the previous year. This equates to nearly 8,000 additional days of education attended. Crucially, persistent absence in secondary schools for the Autumn term 2025/26 reduced to 21.2%, the lowest rate since the pandemic.

However, it was acknowledged that the picture is not uniform, with persistent and severe absence remaining concentrated among pupils with complex and overlapping needs, including those with SEND, living in poverty, or facing difficult housing situations. The Council is continuing to adopt a whole-system approach, combining high expectations with prevention, early intervention, and multi-agency support.

Key progress highlighted includes:

• Attendance Mentor Programme: This programme, which provides one-to-one support for pupils at risk of persistent absence, has been extended until the end of the 2026/27 academic year. Evaluations show that 56% of completed cases saw improved attendance, with 26% moving above the 90% attendance threshold. The programme is being refined to better support complex and anxiety-related cases, with improved coordination with mental health and SEND services.
• Strengthening School Practice: The Attendance Practice Improvement Project has led to attendance increases in participating schools, reinforcing the importance of leadership, data use, family engagement, and targeted support for vulnerable pupils.
• Prevention, Engagement, and Culture Change: A borough-wide positive attendance campaign is being developed to highlight the benefits of attending school, moving away from a purely compliance-focused approach. Partnerships with Arsenal in the Community continue to celebrate good attendance.
• SEND, Inclusion, and Emotionally Based School Avoidance: Attendance improvement is increasingly aligned with SEND and inclusion reforms, with plans to develop clearer pathways for children disconnected from school and strengthen multi-agency coordination.
• Data and Intelligence: Improved data collection and analysis are being used to prioritise support and monitor interventions, with weekly school and borough profiles being developed for earlier identification of concerns.
• Statutory Attendance Action: Revised statutory processes are in place, with a focus on proportionate legal intervention alongside continued support.

The committee discussed the challenges of transition from primary to secondary school and the need for better information sharing between settings. There was also a discussion about the impact of disciplinary measures on attendance and a child's sense of belonging.

12-Month Update on The Children's Workforce Scrutiny Review

The committee received an update on the progress made in implementing the recommendations from the Children's Workforce Scrutiny Review. The review aimed to attract, grow, and sustain an agile and responsive workforce for children's services.

Key areas of progress include:

• Attracting Talent (Recommendation 1): The Directorate has reviewed its campaign approach for apprenticeships, internships, and other pathways into the children's workforce, working with educational institutions and community organisations.
• Support for Carers (Recommendation 3): Targeted support for adopters, foster carers, and special guardians, including mental health services, wellbeing programmes, and housing assistance, is being provided. Efforts are underway to embed this support as standard practice.
• Workspace Review (Recommendation 4): Refurbishments at 222 and Isledon Road have improved the working environment for social workers and the wider workforce, with essential repairs also underway at Elwood.
• Recognising the Workforce (Recommendation 5): The Council continues to value all professions within children's services. Islington has achieved success in national awards, including first place in the Children's Services category at the Local Government Chronicle Awards in 2023 and second place in 2026.
• Named Contact for Teachers (Recommendation 7): A multi-agency School Attendance Support Team now provides a named officer to every school, offering termly reviews of attendance data and coordinated support. A central site for schools has also been established for resources and advice.
• School Governance (Recommendation 8): The Governors' Diversity Survey was conducted in 2024, and work continues through the joint Camden and Islington Global Majority Governors' Network. The Council is reviewing and reinvigorating its governor services, including recruitment and training.
• Personal Development Training (Recommendation 9): The Islington Professional Partners programme offers leadership training for headteachers and senior leaders, and the One Stop Shop has streamlined access to continuing professional development. Communications with schools have also been refreshed.
• Information Sharing between Services (Recommendation 10): The established working relationship between Children and Young People and Homes and Neighbourhoods continues to facilitate information sharing and coordinated activity.

Areas where further progress is needed include the feasibility of restoring housing allocation for key workers (Recommendation 2), the formalisation of a single support pathway for adopters, foster carers, and special guardians (Recommendation 3), the specific number of additional confidential meeting spaces created (Recommendation 4), the establishment of a formal programme to tackle perceived professional hierarchy (Recommendation 5), the replication of professional development frameworks across the directorate (Recommendation 6), and the implementation of flexible working practices for all sectors of the children's workforce (Recommendation 11).

Work Programme

The committee noted its work programme for the upcoming year, which includes updates on the Islington Safeguarding Children Partnership Annual Report, Child Protection Annual Report, suspensions, youth services, and school results.