The Plymouth Partnership, a collaboration between the Council, University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust, Livewell Southwest, NHS Devon, school and college leaders, Plymouth Parent Carer Voice, and Youth Ascends, submitted the plan to the Department for Education in June. The plan aims to build capacity, control, and confidence within the city’s SEND provision to drive change at pace.
The programme focuses on providing earlier help, making schools and communities more inclusive, improving access to specialist support, simplifying services, and helping children and young people achieve better outcomes. Like many authorities nationwide, Plymouth has seen increased demand for SEND support, with parents often feeling that help arrives too late. This plan seeks to address this by ensuring the right support reaches the right children earlier.
Councillor Tess Blight, Cabinet Member for Education, Skills, Apprenticeships and Libraries, expressed her delight, stating, “This is brilliant news. The Department for Education has recognised the work being done in Plymouth to meet the needs and our determination to make things even better. Not every local authority has been given this approval. We have been working with our partners – the city’s schools, parents as well as children and young people, on what measures we can take to provide more targeted support and earlier intervention for our young people with SEND.”
She added, “The plan is also about making sure that changes are tailored for Plymouth families and schools and I’m delighted that we can now get on with our changes - making sure the voices of parents, carers, children, and young people are at the heart of this.”
The approval makes Plymouth eligible for a High Needs Stability Grant, which could cover 90 per cent of its Dedicated Schools Grant deficit. The indicative allocation for Plymouth is nearly £46 million, contingent on the successful implementation of the programme.
The SEND Reform Plan includes the creation of 360 additional specialist places by 2030 across schools. It also involves investment to enhance inclusivity and equip all schools and academies to meet a wider range of needs over time.
The partnership has also secured £1,950,721 for the Experts at Hand scheme, which brings specialists like speech and language therapists or educational psychologists into mainstream schools for earlier and more effective child support.
Su Smart, Director for Women and Children’s Improvement at Devon’s Integrated Care Board, welcomed the approval, calling it an “important milestone in our shared ambition to improve outcomes for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities and their families.” She highlighted the plan's reflection of strong collaborative partnership working across health, education, local authority services, parent carers, and wider partners.
Claire Padden from Plymouth Parent Carer Voice commented, “It’s good news that we finally have the signal to get on with the plan. We will now be able to move at pace with our partners to deliver better outcomes for our children and young people with SEND. There’s a lot still to do and we know that parents are anxious to see change – but this is a great step in the right direction.”
This plan represents a significant advancement in improving support for children and young people with SEND.
