Hertfordshire SEND improvement notice lifted in 2026

On 15 April 2026, the Department for Education lifted the improvement notice covering Hertfordshire County Council’s SEND services. That notice had been issued on 15 January 2024 after an Ofsted and Care Quality Commission area SEND inspection of Hertfordshire in July 2023 found widespread and systemic failings, with 2 areas for priority action and 5 further areas for improvement. (gov.uk) If you are a parent, teacher or student, that wording matters. SEND means special educational needs and disabilities, and an improvement notice is not routine admin. It is the government saying that a local area must put services right quickly when disabled children and young people are not getting the support they should. (gov.uk)

Area SEND inspections do not just look at one school. Ofsted and the CQC inspect the whole local partnership, which usually means the council and the NHS integrated care board working across education, health and care. Under current government guidance, inspectors can reach three broad outcomes: services usually lead to positive experiences, services lead to inconsistent experiences, or there are widespread and systemic failings that need urgent action. (gov.uk) **What this means:** the question is bigger than classroom practice. Inspectors are asking whether children and young people with SEND can get identified, assessed and supported on time, and whether the adults in the system are working together well enough for that support to happen in real life. (gov.uk)

In the most serious cases, the minister may issue an improvement notice. Government guidance says that happens when failings raise significant concerns about children and young people’s experiences and outcomes. The notice then requires a formal improvement plan, close monitoring, a SEND improvement board with an independent chair, and regular stocktake reviews with the Department for Education and NHS England. If progress is poor, the government can go further and use statutory intervention powers. (gov.uk) Hertfordshire’s own notice said the council, working with NHS Hertfordshire and West Essex ICB and other partners, had to improve services with parents, children, young people and education leaders involved in that work. It also said actions should be implemented by the end of January 2025 or sooner, although the notice would stay in place until ministers were satisfied that enough progress had been made. (assets.publishing.service.gov.uk)

What inspectors found in Hertfordshire in 2023 will feel painfully familiar to many SEND families across England. Ofsted and the CQC said too many children and young people waited too long for assessments and for suitable provision; too many final Education, Health and Care plans were delayed or poor in quality; too many parents and carers faced poor communication; and too many families felt pushed towards formal complaints or legal routes just to secure support. Inspectors also said some children were waiting for specialist placements, some were not in full-time education, and some families felt they had no choice but to educate at home while waiting. (files.ofsted.gov.uk) The report also pointed to uneven access to health services. Inspectors highlighted long waits and local variation in areas including autism and ADHD assessments, audiology, speech and language, and other support that children may need if they are to learn, communicate and stay well. (files.ofsted.gov.uk)

The two priority actions were quite clear. First, leaders were told to get a much stronger grip on data so they actually understood what SEND provision existed in Hertfordshire, how good it was, and where the biggest gaps sat. Second, leaders were told to work together far better across SEND services, with proper governance and quality checks, and to move urgently on the weaknesses already identified in their own strategy. (assets.publishing.service.gov.uk) The five improvement areas translated into everyday issues families notice straight away: unequal access to health support depending on where you live, weak EHC plans that did not properly reflect children’s needs or voices, pupils with plans not always in the right placement or on suitable timetables, delays in services such as ASD, ADHD, mental health, audiology and speech and language, and complaints not being sorted early enough. **What it means:** the notice was really about whether the system could deliver timely, joined-up help, not just whether there was a policy document on a shelf. (assets.publishing.service.gov.uk)

By the time Ofsted and the CQC returned for a monitoring inspection between 20 and 22 October 2025, they judged that Hertfordshire had taken effective action on both priority areas. Inspectors said the local partnership was using its SEND data dashboard better, had improved governance and quality assurance, and had made collaboration across education, health and social care more visible. They also found signs of better planning for special school places and better oversight of part-time timetables. (files.ofsted.gov.uk) But the monitoring letter did not say everything was fixed. Ofsted and the CQC were explicit that effective action is not the same as saying concerns have disappeared. The letter said many families still did not feel improvements in their lived experience, schools still had mixed experiences of support, and waits remained too long in areas such as neurodevelopmental assessment and audiology. (files.ofsted.gov.uk)

The Secretary of State for Education, Bridget Phillipson, wrote on 15 April 2026 that the improvement notice was being lifted after the department reviewed the monitoring findings and regional data. Her letter pointed to faster use of the data dashboard, EHCP 20-week timeliness above the national average for eight months, a stronger improvement board, and more co-production through Voices of Hertfordshire and the parent carer forum. (hertfordshire.gov.uk) **What this means:** a lifted notice is not the end of scrutiny. The same April 2026 letter says Hertfordshire must still produce a Local SEND Reform Plan, keep improving its priority action work and stay under formal monitoring from the Department for Education and NHS England. So the fairest reading is this: Hertfordshire moved far enough to come out of formal intervention, but families still have every reason to keep asking whether support is quick, clear and actually felt on the ground. (hertfordshire.gov.uk)