Special Education Needs and/or Disability (SEND)
What is the vision for SEND in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire?
Our vision is to champion and improve the experiences and outcomes for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), and to ensure that they are listened to and heard; they are the healthiest they can be, are safe and feel safe, accepted and valued, able to enjoy life, have fun and be prepared for their futures.
Nottingham and Nottinghamshire SEND local area partnership strategies have been co-produced with partners including parent carers, and children and young people with SEND 0-25 years old.
The outcome-based strategies have been developed around six co-produced outcomes measures:
- I need to be listened to and heard.
- I need to be the healthiest I can be.
- I need to be safe and feel safe.
- I need to be accepted and valued.
- I need to enjoy life and have fun.
- I need to be prepared for my future
Nottingham and Nottinghamshire ICB’s responsibilities in relation to SEND
Nottingham & Nottinghamshire ICB is committed to working in partnership across the system to reduce health inequalities and improve outcomes for children and young people with SEND (0–25-year-olds) who access services that commissions. Nottingham & Nottinghamshire ICB will work collaboratively as part of an integrated system to commission services to support the needs of children and young people and their families with SEND and to meet the statutory duties under the Children and Families Act 2014.
Nottingham & Nottinghamshire ICB works in partnership with both Nottingham City Council and Nottinghamshire County Council to support the health element of SEND services. This is a statutory duty under the Part 3 of the Children and Families Act 2014 to ensure children and young people with SEND are properly supported.
As health service commissioners, it will be the ICB’s responsibility to understand the health needs of the local population, to identify CYP with SEND and inform decision making to provide appropriate health care provision to meet the needs of this population, improving outcomes for CYP as they prepare for adulthood.
The statutory duties which apply to ICB are explained in the SEND Code of Practice, (2015) a guidance to support SEND partners in discharging their statutory duties.
The recommendations from the SEND ‘White Paper’, once published, will be triangulated with the publication of the new joint SEND local area Inspection framework (anticipated April 2023) along with outcomes from joint SEND Local area CQC and Ofsted inspections to inform our key SEND priorities and areas for future development.
The ICB have a responsibility to identify an Executive lead for SEND and ensure there is a Designated Medical Officer (DMO) or Designated Clinical Officer (DCO) to support the ICB in meeting its statutory responsibilities for children and young people with SEND (0-25)
Executive Lead for SEND: Rosa Waddingham – Director of Nursing for Nottingham and Nottinghamshire ICB
Senior Responsible Officer for SEND: Nicola Ryan – Deputy Chief Nurse for Operations and Delivery for Nottingham and Nottinghamshire ICB
Designated Clinical Officer for SEND: Michelle Sherlock – DCO for SEND on behalf of Nottingham and Nottinghamshire ICB
What can you expect from Nottingham and Nottinghamshire ICB and NHS health organisations across Nottingham and Nottinghamshire?
We will work in collaboration across health, local authority, education and other partner agencies to:
- Support the identification of children and young people who may require SEND provision
- Improve data and information to measure impact, success & areas for development.
- Jointly and creatively commission to achieve equity of health
- Develop a workforce who feel informed, confident and supported
- Work with people & communities as partners to actively design and deliver services
- Develop a personalised integrated approach to health, care, and wellbeing
- Support young people in preparing for adulthood by improving navigation through services with clear and timely transition planning
- Work with the local authorities to contribute to the local offer of services available
- Ensure commissioning arrangements are in place for health care provision as specified in the Education, Health and Care Plan (EHC plan)
- Consider personal health budget where these are provided for children & young people with EHC plans
What does the ICB Leadership, Governance and Management arrangements for SEND look like?
The ICB SEND leaders play a key role within the SEND partnership, contributing to the delivery of the SEND agenda. This will continue, as part of the transition to an ICS
- We have an Accountable Executive Lead for SEND who ensures that SEND is part of strategic and service planning.
- We are key members of both Nottingham City and Nottinghamshire County SEND Accountability Boards, working alongside partner agencies to ensure that strategic plans are implemented at both place based and neighbourhood levels
- We have established a SEND Health assurance group to strengthen accountability and governance with our NHS Health Providers to ensure compliance and delivery of local area key priorities. This group will report into the SEND accountability boards alongside the CYP transformation programme board, providing governance to NHSE/I leads.
- We are committed to embedding coproduction principles into the core of the ICB to ensure effective co-production with CYP and families when commissioning services to strengthen this approach across the system a Coproduction Working Group and Coproduction Steering Group have been established. There will be System representation on the Strategic Coproduction Group to support the development of a The Coproduction Strategy
- The ICB is committed to quality improvement, and it is integral to the whole SEND system vision. Evidence of operational quality improvement activity and joint working will be overseen by the CYP Transformation.
- A Joint local area multi-agency quality assurance framework and tool will be developed to identify best practice and secure improvement in consistency of quality of health advice for EHC assessment and EHC annual reviews.
- We have a Designated Clinical and Medical Officer Team (DCO/DMO) who will provide strategic and operational leadership in supporting the ICB and health providers to discharge their duties, provide support to education and local authority partners in meeting needs of CYP with medical conditions and have oversight of the quality of health services contributions to the Education, Health and Care planning process.
What services are commissioned for children and young people with SEND?
CYP with SEND will often need support from different health services at different stages in their lives.
Children and young people’s health needs are met from a range of NHS services, some are universal, such as GPs, health visitors & school nursing while others are specialised and may require a referral from a health or social care professional such as:
- Community & Hospital Paediatric services
- Specialist nursing: epilepsy, diabetes, continence
- Therapy services: Speech and Language Therapy, Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy
- Specialist dental & children’s audiology
- Mental health services: Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) Adult mental health services, emotional health & wellbeing websites,
- Health services for Looked after children
- Learning Disability and Autism Annual health checks, conducted by GP surgeries
- Continuing Health Care Assessments & packages
- Equipment including e.g., wheelchairs and mobility aids
SEND in Nottinghamshire (County)
Nottinghamshire provides a wide range of support to children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities aged 0 to 25 and their families. This is achieved by working in partnership with parents, carers, children, schools and other agencies such as health, social care and the voluntary sector.
Local Authorities are the accountable organisations to ensure delivery of SEND statutory requirements in partnership with Education, Health and Social care services. More information can be found via:
- Nottshelpyourself | SEND Local Offer
- SEND Local Offer – Special educational needs (SEN) support for Education, health and care (EHC) plans
Nottinghamshire SEND Strategies and Plans
The SEND strategy for Nottinghamshire outlines our vision to champion and improve the experiences and outcomes for children and young people with SEND, and to ensure that they are listened to and heard; they are the healthiest they can be, are safe and feel safe, accepted and valued, able to enjoy, have fun, and prepared for their futures.
A detailed annual delivery plan outlines how the local area partnership will deliver the required improvements for Nottinghamshire’s children and young people.
This strategy sets out the joint commissioning arrangements across Nottinghamshire County Council, Nottingham City Council and Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) for children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Difficulties.
The strategy sets out our local joint commissioning approach, and describes how partners are working together to collaboratively commission services which will improve health, social and educational outcomes, and reduce inequalities for Nottinghamshire’s children and young people with SEND. A person-centred approach ensures the opinions and ambitions of children, young people and their families are identified and considered as part of the commissioning process.
The SEND self-evaluation framework (SEF) uses the 11 evaluative criteria provided under the national local area SEND inspection framework as a structure. We aim to use this SEF document as a key driver for strategic planning and decision making across our local area partnership. It will be a working document, regularly updated to facilitate a collaborative understanding of our progress, challenges and priorities.
SEND inspections in Nottinghamshire
Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspected the Nottinghamshire local area in January 2023 to assess how effective the local education, health and care services are at identifying, and meeting the needs of, children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) aged 0 to 25.
Following the 2023 inspection, a Nottinghamshire SEND Improvement Programme and Priority Action Plan were established to drive forward urgent improvements in the County.
Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) reinspected Nottinghamshire in July 2025 to assess the progress of these improvements. Find more about the Local Area SEND Inspections for Nottinghamshire County Council.
Get involved
Making sure that parents, carers and young people are involved in special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) improvement activity is a priority.
Nottinghamshire County Council and NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire, are committed to engaging with families and providing the opportunity for families to share their experiences to inform and shape SEND services.
If you would like to receive updates about SEND engagement opportunities, please provide your details in the short form and we will be in touch about events and other ways to get involved.
There is also a dedicated SEND newsletter for families to keep up to date with progress, events and activities. Sign up now.
SEND in Nottingham (City)
Nottingham provides a wide range of support to children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities aged 0 to 25 and their families. This is achieved by working in partnership with parents, carers, children, schools and other agencies such as health, social care and the voluntary sector.
Local Authorities are the accountable organisations to ensure delivery of SEND statutory requirements in partnership with Education, Health and Social care services. More information can be found via:
- Nottingham City Council
- Special Education Needs & Disabilities Local Offer | Ask Lion – Nottingham City Directory
Nottingham SEND Strategies and Plans
The City partnership is developing a new SEND, Inclusion and Alternative Provision Strategy (2025–2028), co-produced with parents, carers, and young people. An annual delivery plan will follow.
The SEND self-evaluation framework (SEF) uses the 11 evaluative criteria provided under the national local area SEND inspection framework as a structure. We aim to use this SEF document as a key driver for strategic planning and decision making across our local area partnership. It will be a working document, regularly updated to facilitate a collaborative understanding of our progress, challenges and priorities.
This strategy sets out the joint commissioning arrangements across Nottinghamshire County Council, Nottingham City Council and Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) for children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Difficulties.
The strategy sets out our local joint commissioning approach, and describes how partners are working together to collaboratively commission services which will improve health, social and educational outcomes, and reduce inequalities for Nottinghamshire’s children and young people with SEND. A person-centred approach ensures the opinions and ambitions of children, young people and their families are identified and considered as part of the commissioning process.
SEND Inspections for Nottingham City
Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) last inspected Nottingham City local area in 2021. The local area SEND partnership are currently preparing for full local area SEND inspection under the new; Area SEND inspections: framework and handbook.
You can find the full SEND inspection report on the Nottingham City Council website.
National Drivers
- Children and Families Act 2014: this introduced SEND reforms, mandating agencies to collaborate across education, health, and care domains for joint outcomes
- The Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014: these outline the legal framework for assessing and supporting children and young people with special educational needs (SEN) and disabilities.
- 0 to 25 SEND Code of Practice: statutory guidance that outlines how local authorities, schools, and other relevant organizations should support children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND)
- Children Act 1989 and 2004: key pieces of UK legislation focused on child protection and welfare.
- The Care Act 2014.: UK law aiming to ensure people receive personalized, effective, and respectful care and support. The Act introduces new rights for carers and outlines local authorities’ duties in assessing needs, determining eligibility, and providing support.
- The Equality Act 2010: UK law that protects individuals from discrimination, harassment, and victimization based on certain protected characteristics.
- The national strategy for autistic children, young people and adults: 2021 to 2026: The government’s national strategy for improving the lives of autistic people and their families and carers in England
- SEND and Alternative Provision Improvement plan March 2023: sets out the Department for Education’s plans to change the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and alternative provision system in England.
Advice and Queries
For advice and queries regarding Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs), health advice for statutory assessments, or support for children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), please contact the Designated Clinical Officer (DCO) Team at: nnicb-nn.sendehcpandtribunal@nhs.net.
The DCO Team can provide information and guidance to:
- Parents and carers
- Education settings and professionals
- Health colleagues and partner agencies
Please note: This inbox is for advice and general queries only. It should not be used to share personal health information or make formal complaints.
