SEND Improvement Board Independent Chair's Update from Kathryn Boulton 12 January 2026

Introduction

Hello and welcome to my Chair's Update, as Independent Chair of the Lancashire SEND Improvement Board.

I welcomed and thanked everyone who attended the January meeting of the Lancashire SEND Improvement Board and their continued commitment to improving our SEND services. We had strong representation from across education, health, parent carer forum and POWAR youth forum.

We began by acknowledging ongoing organisational changes within the NHS Integrated Care Board (ICB). To support transparency, we agreed to include a standing update from the ICB at each meeting so partners can stay informed about any impact on commissioning and service capacity.

I invited Clare Smith, Strategic Lead for Participation and Co-production and Olly Moores, SEND Young Advisor to give us an update on behalf of POWAR, the SEND youth forum.

POWAR SEND youth forum feedback

Clare and Olly shared how young people’s voices remain central to our work. POWAR have held recent engagement sessions with 37 young people developing stronger links with schools. These sessions highlighted how engagement needs to be tailored to different settings. Partnership working is developing around the Resilience Framework and the Capital Plan consultation. The Board supported refreshing the annual POWAR Takeover Day, and we have asked for clearer “you said / we did / impact” reporting to show how young people’s feedback is shaping improvements. The e-learning training on The Lundy Model has been rolled out, with all partners encouraged to complete it. Bernadette Kunna, Participation and Coproduction Support Worker introduced herself to the Board and has recently joined the Participation and Co-production Team.

Next on the agenda was an update from Miranda Hyman, co-chair and Laura Evans, Parent Participation Lead of the Lancashire Parent Carer Forum (LPCF).

Lancashire Parent Carer Forum (LPCF) feedback

The Parent Carer Forum shared clear themes from Family Hub drop‑ins. Families continue to highlight concerns about inclusion, communication, transitions, EHCP quality, access to CAMHS, and the feeling of not being heard. They also expressed the need for more consistent support, early help, and stronger co‑production. The Board acknowledged that these themes mirror what was identified in the inspection and the Priority Action Plan, but we also noted real progress within Family Hubs through SENDIAS and Navigator support. We asked for this feedback to be cross‑checked against complaints, tribunal themes and the Quality Assurance Framework, so we can see where improvements are being felt and where gaps remain.

Priority Action Plan highlight report

Vanessa Wilson, ICB Director for Children, Young People and Maternity, and Paul Turner, Director of Education, and Inclusion shared an update summarising progress against the priority action plan (PAP). Some improvements are emerging, but challenges remain in EHCP timeliness, data quality, tribunal pressures, and staffing capacity. Recruitment work is underway and should improve the situation by April 2026. We welcomed the new slide‑based format of the progress report but asked for sharper prioritisation and clearer explanation of how severe each risk is, the direction of travel, and what the current mitigations mean for children and families.

Mediation and tribunals review

A detailed thematic review of tribunals and mediation was presented. The number of live appeals has almost doubled since last year, with most appeals linked to sections B, F and I of the EHCP. This increase is being driven by wider system pressures, including the demand for specialist placements, gaps in mainstream inclusion capability, and differences between private and NHS assessments. The Board raised concerns about communication with families, including how decisions are explained and whether families are signposted to support early enough. We also discussed the pattern where special school places are agreed but unavailable, leading to mainstream placements that often trigger appeals. We have asked for joint guidance from education and health, and for clear trend reporting that shows not only the data but the “so what” and how the system is responding and learning.

Performance and data

Grace Westwood, SEND Senior Manager and Dave Carr, Director of Policy, Commissioning and Children's Health shared an update about the progress of the partnership data dashboard, and the current key performance indicators. We reviewed the December 2025 performance data. EHCP timeliness continues to be below target, partly due to delays in the managed service, however, EP assessments have improved significantly. A recovery plan is in place to bring timeliness back on track by April. Annual review data remains unreliable due to issues within the EHM system, where thousands of completed reviews are not appearing in reports. Work is ongoing to fix this. The Board requested that outliers be removed from timeliness reporting, and that cumulative trends be included to provide a clearer picture of performance.

Joint commissioning

Lisa Taylor, Senior Commissioning Manager shared recommendations for Joint Commissioning. We approved the refreshed Joint Commissioning Strategy. This keeps an ICB‑led Joint Commissioning Board to oversee shared principles, while creating new

place‑based commissioning groups in February 2026 chaired by the local authority. These groups will help tailor delivery at local level and reduce duplication. They will report quarterly to the SEND Improvement Board. Partners recognised the importance of aligning commissioning work across children’s and adults’ services, especially for autism and learning disability pathways, and welcomed the commitment to joint working already in place.

Inspection readiness

Amber Burton, SEND Consultant presented an overview of actions taken so far to prepare for the SEND Inspection re-visit. We also reviewed our inspection readiness work. A new cross‑partner group is bringing together all activity linked to the Priority Action Plan, Improvement Notice and SEF. This group will ensure that actions have named owners and that evidence of impact is being gathered, not just records of meetings. Partners agreed that stronger data quality, clearer communication and consistent messaging will be essential when inspectors visit.

Risk register

The risk register was reviewed by the Board as a standing item. While this work is still developing, the Board agreed it must include explicit tracking of tribunal pressures, mainstream inclusion capability, and the impact of improvement.

Communication

The Independent Chair's update will be written after each board meeting and published on the SEND Improvement Board webpage within 1-2 weeks, before being shared on social media. Formal minutes of the meeting will be written and published after they have been approved at the next board meeting.

A full communications strategy and delivery plan has been published on the Local Offer Lancashire SEND Partnership Communication and Engagement Strategy 2025–2028, which focuses on the principles of participation and co-production through The Lundy model and Four Cornerstones Model of co-production. Feedback mechanisms for children and young people are being developed by our Strategic Lead for Participation and Co-production.

Thank you again for your engagement, your partnership and your continued focus on improving the experience and outcomes of children and young people with SEND in Lancashire. I hope this update is useful. We next meet as a board on 9 February 2026 for a face to face meeting.

If you are a parent carer and have any thoughts or comments, please contact the parent carer forum Lancashire Parent Carer Forum by emailing secretarylpcf@lancashireparentcarerforum.org.uk

If you have a child / young person interested in POWAR participation group please contact Suliman Hussain at suliman.hussain@lancashire.gov.uk

If you are a partner, please do feedback through your organisation. Also don’t forget to sign up to our SEND Newsletter if you’re not already receiving it.