Bristol’s education department has been referred to the Government for ‘further action’ after an Ofsted inspector found it had failed to patch up the ‘fractured relationship’ with the parents of children with special educational needs.
That was the last of five ‘significant weaknesses’ in the way Bristol City Council handled and supported children with special needs and disabilities which were uncovered at City Hall when Ofsted inspectors visited in 2019.
And although a re-inspection last month found that four of the other ‘significant weaknesses’ were now being addressed, the final one is still such an issue - with the SEND parents spying scandal over the last couple of months making it worse - that the Ofsted inspector has referred the council to the Department for Education and the NHS to consider what next steps - if any - might be taken against Bristol City Council.
Read next: Bristol schools accused of 'batting away' children with learning difficulties
The inspectors’ report found that the council had made ‘sufficient progress’ in addressing four significant weaknesses that were found in 2019. The first was that there was a ‘lack of accountability of leaders at all levels, including school leaders’
The Ofsted inspector Phil Minns found that leaders in Bristol have made ‘considerable progress since the last inspection’. “Leaders share a commitment to improving the support for children and young people with SEND in the area,” he wrote. “This is leading to a positive culture among professionals and more collaboration between partners.”
“Leaders know that some children and young people with SEND still do not get the support they need quickly enough. However, leaders have ensured that improving the support available for children and young people with SEND is a key feature of the major improvement programmes in health, care and education services.” The second area that the 2019 inspection found was a significant weakness, was around ‘inconsistencies in timelines and effectiveness’ of identifying, assessing and putting in place plans for children with SEND. The backlog of cases stretched into the hundreds and there are still scores of children with special needs in Bristol who the council is failing to put in place a plan for within the legal time limits.
The Ofsted inspector said the council has made ‘sufficient progress in addressing this significant weakness’, and although things are improving, parents and carers ‘remain worried that many schools do not give children and young people with SEND the support they need. “However there has been a cultural shift in the way that professionals and schools work together,” he said.
“Leaders are taking steps to reduce the waiting times for neurodiversity diagnosis and Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) assessments.”
The third significant weakness highlighted in the 2019 inspection was that inspectors found a ‘dysfunctional EHC plan process and inadequate quality of EHC plans. The inspector said that sufficient progress was being made. “Professionals report an improvement in joint working when completing plans. They now feel more accountable for the quality and timeliness of their contribution to EHC plans. Although weaknesses remain, this work is resulting in children and young people being placed at the centre of the EHC assessment process,” the inspector added.
The fourth significant weakness found in 2019 was around the underachievement of children with SEND and the fact that so many children with special needs were not even in school.
The inspector said he found there was sufficient progress with this, although it was still a problem. “The support in Bristol for children and young people with SEND is getting better,” he said. “Even so, leaders know there is more to do to ensure that all children and young people attend school regularly and get a good deal,” he added.
The fifth and final significant weakness is not being sorted by Bristol City Council and its leadership. The 2019 inspection found that there were ‘fractured relationships with parents and carers, lack of co-production and variable engagement and collaboration’.
The inspector said: “The difficult relationships found at the last inspection have continued. This continues to affect the quality of co-production that takes place between area leaders and parents and carers,” he said, ruling that the council still had significant weaknesses with this and had not done enough to make sufficient progress.
The council’s relationship with parents and carers has been dogged by scandal, with council education chiefs accused of ‘spying’ on parents by monitoring individual parents’ social media accounts, and then using the evidence that they were being critical of the council to attempt to take funding away from the parent and carer group that was liaising with the council on improving SEND provision.
Read more: Timeline of the Bristol SEND spying scandal
- Sep 2022: Bristol council faces calls for inquiry into monitoring of SEND parents' social media
- Sep 2022: Top council lawyer claims ‘no systematic monitoring’ of social media of SEND parents
- Oct 2022: Parents and councillors demand independent inquiry into council special needs spying scandal
- Oct 2022: Independent inquiry to investigate Bristol council officers monitoring SEND parents
The inspector said parents still didn’t trust the council. “Parents and carers have a more mixed view of the quality of support available to children and young people with SEND than at the time of the last inspection,” he said. “Some parents and carers continue to lack trust in the system and feel that leaders are not acting in the best interests of their children. However, the majority of parents and carers accessing services and support more recently are positive about their experience.
“Plans are in place to re-establish a formal body to represent parents and carers. Until this is in place, parent and carer representatives and area leaders must ensure that co-production with parents and carers is maintained,” he added.
The result is that, while four of the five areas of significant weakness are seeing ‘sufficient’ improvement, the fifth one means the future of Bristol’s SEND education services now rests with ministers.
“The area has made sufficient progress in addressing four of the five significant weaknesses identified at the initial inspection,” Mr Minns wrote. “As not all the significant weaknesses have improved, it is for the DfE and NHS England to determine the next steps. Ofsted and CQC will not carry out any further revisit unless directed to do so by the Secretary of State,” he added.
Deputy mayor Asher Craig, the cabinet member responsible for education, said she was 'pleased' with the Ofsted inspector's findings, that sufficient progress was being made in four of the five areas of significant weakness.
"This reflects the dedication of staff to implement service improvements at pace over the last three years, despite the additional challenges of the pandemic," she said. "While inspectors found that we had not made sufficient progress in addressing the difficult relationships with parents and carers identified in 2019, it is welcome that they found that 'the majority of parents and carers accessing services and support more recently, are positive about their experience'. We will continue to work hard to deliver further progress, as we build on ongoing work to improve relationships through a community of groups approach," she added.
Bristol Special Needs failings - a timeline
- Dec 2019: Bristol's SEND kids are subject to 'disturbingly poor' care, watchdog rules
- Sep 2020: Parents' fury as 190 children can't return to special school next week
- Dec 2020: Bristol council 'continuing to fail' SEND children a year after damning report
- March 2021: Bristol mayor describing SEND education as 'segregated' anger parents
- April 2021: Council withholds findings of independent review to stave off questions and ‘anxiety’
- Oct 2021: Mum's worries for son after he missed two years of school
- Dec 2021: Bristol council losing SEND staff to 'ASDA' amid mounting pressure on services
- April 2022: Council's mission to tackle SEND crisis two years on from inspection
- July 2022: SEND parents 'traumatised' after being blamed for their child's condition says community worker
- July 2022: Three quarters of Bristol SEND parents say council 'doesn't have their child's interests at heart'
- Oct 2022: Bristol City Council pays £1,750 compensation for SEND student failures
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