The Children and Young People Scrutiny Committee met to discuss the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) strategy and the Virtual School's work. The committee reviewed the progress of the SEND Strategy 2023-2026, focusing on its five strategic priorities, and also received an overview of the Virtual School's efforts to support looked-after children with educational attainment, especially those with SEND. The committee noted the contents of the reports presented.

SEND Strategy and Sufficiency

The committee reviewed the SEND Strategy 2023-2026, which was launched in August 2023 and based on the principles of the Children and Families Act 2014¹. The strategy was developed through stakeholder engagement, research, evidence, and co-production, with the purpose of encouraging early identification of needs, greater choice and control over support, collaboration between services, high-quality provision, inclusive practice, and successful preparation for adulthood.

The five strategic priorities identified in the SEND Strategy are:

1. Meeting social care needs
2. Early identification and intervention
3. Preparation for adulthood
4. SEND sufficiency planning
5. Developing the health and therapy offer

Local Context:

The report provided data on the number of children and young people with Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs)² supported by Liverpool City Council, as well as those with SEN support in Liverpool schools.

• In August 2023, there were 5,348 children and young people aged 0-25 with an EHCP supported by Liverpool City Council. By August 2025, this number had increased to 7,475.
• The number of pupils at Liverpool schools with SEN support increased from 12,688 in August 2023 to 14,178 in August 2025.
• The number of pupils at Liverpool schools with EHCPs increased from 3,618 in August 2023 to 5,407 in August 2025.

Strategic Priority 1 – Meeting Social Care Needs:

The report highlighted efforts to ensure that the needs of children and young people with SEND are met, including providing short breaks and social care advice for EHC needs assessments.

• The number of children accessing group-based activity sessions run by Fusion short breaks is 253.
• There are 46 children in receipt of activity-based short break support from Barnardo's, based at Palmerston School.
• 107 children are in receipt of their short break support as a Direct Payment, with a further 38 in the process of having their Direct Payment account set up, and 8 more waiting for this.
• An additional 60 children are in receipt of Direct Payments funded through the Disabled Children's social work team.
• 53 children are in receipt of residential overnight short breaks at Liverpool's short breaks unit, Prescot Drive, and an additional 7 children are accessing overnights at Zoe's place or with short breaks carers.
• The number of children and young people waiting for short breaks has reduced in the last 12 months from well over 100 to 61.
• The average wait time for short breaks has reduced from 9 to 7 months.
• Timeliness of social care advice for EHC needs assessments: 2023 = 61.12% returned within 6 weeks, 2024 = 52.75% returned within 6 weeks, 2025 so far = 29.23% returned within 6 weeks, but recent recruitment has resulted in significant improvements over the last 3 months (May = 80.95%, June = 60%, July = 85.71%).
• Currently 90% of health assessments for children in care are completed within 20 days.
• The number of children and young people accessing a personal budget for social care provision via a Direct Payment continues to increase each year. There are currently 153 children and young people that either already have or are in the process of accessing a Direct Payment in relation to social care provision.

Strategic Priority 2 – Early Identification and Intervention:

Following the recruitment of Early Notification Officers in 2022, there has been a steady increase in the number of early years notifications.

• 2022 = 226 early notifications
• 2023 = 725 early notifications
• 2024 = 741 early notifications
• 2025 so far = 446 early notifications (forecast to be 765)

During the academic year 2024/2025 joint visits were facilitated between SENISS teachers and SEND Casework Officers to support SENCOs in relation to both SEN support plans and EHCPs. The feedback from SENCOs was overwhelmingly positive.

The number of children meeting the expected standard at Key Stage 2 at SEN Support = 31.7% (England average = 26.0%)

The number of young people achieving at least Grade 5 in English and Maths GCSE at SEN support = 21.0% (England average 21.6%)

The number of children and young people being educated in mainstream settings has increased from 37.56% in 2022/23 to 44.15% in 2024/25. In addition to this for the 2025 school year, 92.6% of primary school applicants received their first preference, Additionally, 98.3% of applicants received an offer from one of their top three preferred schools.

For 2025 secondary school admissions, approximately 70% of applicants were offered their first preference school, according to Liverpool City Council. Additionally, 91% of applicants received an offer from one of their top five preferred schools, according to Liverpool City Council.

A new Graduated Approach Toolkit was launched in June 2025 following a pilot scheme with a number of schools across the city.

Strategic Priority 3 – Preparation for Adulthood:

Year on year the number of young people being supported via a supported internship has continued to increase:

Of the 409 young people that have been supported through the SI programme, 152 have progressed into education, employment or training opportunities and of the graduates in 2024/2025 50% moved into paid employment.

Alongside the supported internship programme, the Empowered programme has also supported young people with SEND into education, employment and training opportunities.

Currently the percentage of young people aged 16-25 with an EHCP that are NEET³ is 27.9%.

The role of SEND Local Offer Coordinator was introduced in January 2025 to develop the Local Offer⁴ and to ensure that it reflects the needs of children and young people with SEND, as well as their families.

Strategic Priority 4 – SEND Sufficiency Planning:

SEND 2 data:

• Mainstream settings 2022/2023 = 37.56% of pupils educated in mainstream schools, 2023/2024 = 43.44% of pupils educated in mainstream schools, 2024/2025 = 44.15% of pupils educated in mainstream schools
• SEN Unit/Resourced provision settings 2022/23 = 164 places, 2023/24 = 239 places, 2024/25 = 247 places

Whilst there is designated school for girls with SEMH⁵, Hope Primary School admits girls with SEMH needs and in addition, places have been created at Bank View School and Childwall Abbey School for girls with an SEMH profile as part of their overall profile of Complex Learning Difficulties.

Number of pupils educated in Liverpool maintained special schools:

• 2022/23 = 1,487 (594 primary and 893 secondary (Years 7-11))
• 2023/24 = 1,665 (692 primary and 973 secondary (Years 7-11))
• 2024/25 = 1,777 (756 primary and 1,021 secondary (Years 7-11)

Number of pupils educated in Non-Maintained and Independent Special School (NMISS) settings:

• 2022/23 = 205
• 2023/24 = 216
• 2024/25 = 214

Strategic Priority 5 – Developing the health and therapy offer:

Over the last year, the Alder Hey Children's Hospital 0-18 ASD team have introduced peer support workers within the team who have lived experience of ASD and assessment pathways.

The service introduced Welcome Events to take place for parents of children and young people on the waiting list who have not yet had a first appointment. These take place in partnership with ADDvanced Solutions and support families to navigate pre diagnostic support and the assessment process to improve their experience and access to support.

The Alder Hey 0-18 ADHD team have increased the number of school clinics taking place, improving accessibility for the most complex ADHD patients and ensuring less time in education is lost due to appointments.

Alder Hey is now planning to improve the experience of families by introducing a new, combined, ND assessment pathway from September 25.

More widely, there is work ongoing in Cheshire and Merseyside to develop a consistent ICB Neurodiversity model, with the aim to have aligned graduated response (including the introduction of a profiling tool to support identification of needs), diagnostic pathways, and pre- and post-diagnostic support.

The average waiting time to concluded assessment for ASD has increased to 85 weeks in June 25 and for ADHD this stands at 109 weeks.

Within 18-25 ASD, the average waiting time reduced by around 22 weeks between January 23 and April 25, to 65 weeks.

Within 18-25 ADHD, capacity has now been commissioned to carry out assessment and management of less complex young people within primary care – the 'LEAP model'.

Average waiting times for those young people aged 18-25 being assessed within CWP remain lengthy at around 270 weeks, with an improvement plan in development to reduce waiting times now that capacity has been freed up by the introduction of LEAP.

The Speech, Language & Communication Early Identification & Training Programme was fully implemented across the city during 2023 and 2024, resulting in children having their speech and language and communication needs identified and addressed earlier.

As a result of these work programmes, the waiting time to first appointment in Speech and Language Therapy has reduced from just over 23 weeks in January 2023 to just under 12 weeks in June 2025.

Liverpool City Council provide the 5-18 children's Occupational Therapy service, which delivers a service across 3 strands – equipment & adaptations, sensory-motor and sensory-processing. Average waiting times for equipment & adaptations have reduced from 21 weeks in June 2024 to 13 weeks in June 25. Over the same time period, the waiting time for sensory processing has reduced by 6 weeks, to 20 weeks.

All eligible families are now offered a personal health budget to support them in meeting the needs of their child.

Next Steps:

The council will be holding consultation and evaluation sessions in the Spring Term to get feedback from children, young people and their families and to review the effectiveness of the SEND Strategy 2023-2026. Work in relation to school sufficiency will begin in September 2025 which will result in a new SEND Sufficiency Strategy being published.

Virtual School

The committee received an overview of the work of the Virtual School to support Looked After Children with educational attainment, especially supporting children with SEND.

The Virtual School is committed to promoting the education of children in care, supporting them from early years through to post-16 care leavers. While not a physical teaching institution, the Virtual School brings together the educational information of all our looked-after children as if they were in a single school. This allows them to closely track, monitor, and promote their progress, ensuring they receive the support they need to succeed.

The Virtual School team have a wide range of professional backgrounds, experience and expertise which includes staff who have qualified teacher status and leadership experience in schools. The team are highly skilled with supporting young people from early years to early adulthood.

During academic year 2023-24, the Virtual School engaged with 36 Nurseries, 46 PVI settings, 241 schools, 49 sixth forms/colleges, 31 training/ apprenticeship providers. Their work spanned 52 different Local Authorities, 59 multi-academy trusts and 26 independent special school providers.

81.8% of cared-for children (Reception to Year 11) attended 'Good' or 'Outstanding' schools last year, while 17.4% were in 'Requires Improvement' schools, which are closely monitored to ensure suitability.

Attendance:

Attendance data shows an overall improvement from 2022-23 to 2023-24.

• Attendance in Primary remained steady with no change at 96.2%.
• Attendance in Secondary increased from 87.7% to 89.6% (+1.9 percentage points).
• Attendance in Special Schools rose from 88% to 89.9% (+1.9 percentage points).
• Overall attendance improved from 91.8% to 92.8% (+1 percentage point).

The overall Persistent Absence rate for school aged children in care for the year 2023/24 was 19.4%, a significant improvement on the previous year (24%). It is also significantly lower than the national average PA rate for all children in 2023/24 (20.7%).

Exclusions:

In the 2023/24 academic year, the number of cared for children receiving suspensions decreased from 89 to 84, with a significant drop in the percentage of overall suspensions involving children in care from 3.5% to 2.1%. However, while the proportion of permanent exclusions involving children in care saw a slight reduction from 1.7% to 1.5%, the actual number of exclusions rose from 2 pupils to 3.

Over the course of year, the Virtual School Team intervened and prevented 46 permanent exclusions from occurring.

Alternative Provision:

By the end of 2023/24, 33 students (3% of the Virtual School cohort) were accessing AP alongside their school enrolment, and 11 students (1% of the cohort) attend a registered AP Free School or setting on a full-time basis. A total number of 44 students (4.1% of the cohort) attended or accessed AP in 2023/24 which is significantly below the national average of 13.5% (NAVSH).

Personal Education Planning:

PEP completion is currently lowest in Early Years at 61.8% and significant improvement is needed, particularly for children aged two, to ensure that developmental and educational opportunities are maximised.

For school-age children, completion remains at around 96.1%, reflecting ongoing progress. Post-16 PEP completion has improved to 73.5%, but it is still significantly below the desired level.

Over the last three years (2021-2024), there has been a clear upward trend in the percentage of green PEPs, reflecting overall improvement in quality over time.

To enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of Personal Education Plans (PEPs), the council will procure and implement a new software solution for academic year 2024/25.

Pupil Premium Plus Funding:

In 2023 the total PP+ budget was £2,960,100.

Analysis of the use of Pupil Premium Plus by schools demonstrates that the top four areas of the use of PP+ by schools and settings identified in PEPs were:

• Small Group Intervention/ Support
• Teaching Assistant / Classroom Support
• 1:1 Tuition
• Reading Intervention Support

Commissioned Services:

Liverpool Educational Psychology Service delivered 136 days of educational psychology support for the Virtual School. During 2023/24 CMCAFS delivered a total of 88 days of clinical psychology support for the Virtual School.

Training and Support for Our Partners:

The Virtual School Team offers a training program for partners, including carers, social workers, designated teachers, and independent reviewing officers.

Academic Outcomes 2024:

• Early Years Foundation Stage Profile (EYFSP): Liverpool CLA have a 54.8% GLD rate, significantly higher than the 39.0% for National CLA.
• Phonics Screening Test: 68.0% of Liverpool Children Looked After passed the phonics test, which is 8% higher than the 60.0% of National CLA children.
• Key Stage 2: The % of children achieving Age Related Expectation (ARE) for all subjects (R/W & M) declined from 50.7% (2023) to 33.8% due to the individual context of this cohort who are 64.7 % SEND.
• Key Stage 4- GCSE Outcomes 23/24: In the academic year 2024, overall progress 8 was -1.72 and Attainment 8 was 17.6.

Post-16 (Y12 and Y13 Equivalent):

All the 2023/24 Year 11 cohort had an identified post-16 destination at the end of the academic year.

In 2021 Liverpool was one of just ten local authorities nationally to be selected to pilot the Post 16 Pupil Premium Plus funding from DfE and so they have been working with the Rees Centre in Oxford University to evaluate the impact of this work.

The additional Pupil Premium Plus funding received from DfE has significantly supported the development of the Virtual School offer to post 16 young people and care leavers.

In the 4th Phase of the project, the council are now continuing their work with The City of Liverpool College so that in 2025 they can launch a Post-16 Practitioner Network and Hub in the college, with them as the lead practitioner.

Virtual School Priorities for 2024/25:

• Improving Attendance
• Reducing Exclusions
• Raising Attainment
• Personal Education Planning
• Pupil Premium Plus
• Empowering Our Pupils – Pupil Voice
• Empowering Our Pupils – Aspirational Practice