The future of services for children and young people with SEND with Lucy Nethsingha, Matt Dunkley and Alex Leslie

The Local Authority Podcast

It is widely accepted that the 2014 reforms to the provision of services for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities were poorly implemented and insufficiently funded. More than half of councils are significantly overspending on their high needs budgets and yet parents feel it is a battle to get the support their child needs and, worst of all, outcomes for children and young people are still poor. Ministers have recently finished consulting on a green paper setting out reforms intended to address these issues.

Joining Sarah to discuss all this and more is Lucy Nethsingha (Lib Dem) leader of Cambridgeshire County Council and deputy chair on the Children and Young People’s Board at the Local Government Association; Matt Dunkley, past president of ADCS, former director of children’s services for Kent, East Sussex and Norfolk, now an independent consultant and Alex Leslie, consultant at TPXimpact.