{"id":35820,"date":"2025-06-20T17:05:43","date_gmt":"2025-06-20T16:05:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/?p=35820"},"modified":"2025-06-26T15:01:49","modified_gmt":"2025-06-26T14:01:49","slug":"innovating-in-send-rising-to-the-challenge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/innovating-in-send-rising-to-the-challenge\/","title":{"rendered":"Innovating in SEND: Rising to the Challenge"},"content":{"rendered":"

The world of Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) provision is at a crossroads. With demand rising at an unprecedented rate, capacity already stretched to, (or beyond) its limits, and a culture often risk-averse to innovation, there\u2019s an increasing urgency to find sustainable ways forward. Whilst there was a welcome development in the Autumn 2024 budget with the pledge of additional funding to SEND services, it’s clear that money alone won\u2019t solve the systemic challenges. Nor is AI (Artificial Intelligence) a silver bullet.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Having worked across a number of SEND services, I believe that to really make progress, we need<\/span> to rethink how we do things. Processes need fixing, and we need to find smart, simple solutions<\/span> that actually help <\/span>children and young people, their families, and schools.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Context in SEND<\/h3>\n

At its core, the SEND system is built on a legal duty to identify and meet the needs of children and young people, so that they can do well in education and in life. But that promise is increasingly difficult to keep. Rising demand for Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) places significant pressure on local authorities, schools, and associated services such as health and social care. As of June 2024, 18.4% of children in England have some kind of special educational need, up from 17.3% in 2023. <\/span>ASCL – Summary of June 2024 DfE SEND data<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Many services are struggling to keep up, leading to long delays and frustration for families. During the co-production work with families, they described to me their experiences being \u2018slow\u2019 and \u2018confusing\u2019, with long waits and little information on what\u2019s happening or why. This left them feeling frustrated and powerless, despite professionals working hard behind the scenes to keep the system moving. Those same professionals often described to me that they felt frustrated and powerless themselves trying to navigate systems which work against them, not for them. As one SEND professional told me \u201cI feel like a detective trying to find information to create an EHC Plan\u201d. It was only when we mapped out the process and to the end that SENCOs and SEND professionals who had been involved in the process for years, became aware of the full end-to-end process.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The solution isn\u2019t just about throwing more resources at the problem. The real issue is that the<\/span> processes are clunky and slow, and we don’t have the right digital foundations to really innovate<\/span>. Yet in the current climate, innovation isn\u2019t optional; it\u2019s essential.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The parent perspective: where innovation meets real life<\/h3>\n

For parents and carers navigating the EHCP process, the experience can often feel like a maze with no clear route out. The journey is rarely straightforward, with bottlenecks at multiple points including assessment, decision-making, and provision planning. Families are understandably desperate for transparency and progress updates, not just as a matter of convenience but as a way to actively contribute to solutions.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Think about the difference it would make if parents (or young people) could just log in and see<\/span> exactly what’s going on with their case. Who’s handling it?<\/span> What\u2019s causing the delay? How can they help? This level of visibility would empower families to become partners in the process rather than feeling like passive participants. It\u2019s an aspiration that isn\u2019t just about good customer service;<\/span><\/p>\n

it\u2019s about building trust in a system that often feels opaque and impenetrable. It\u2019s not radical innovation and yet so many parents aren\u2019t empowered this way, leading to additional failure demand driven contact for already overwhelmed teams.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

AI isn\u2019t the whole answer<\/h3>\n

Right now, everyone’s talking about AI as the fix for everything, including SEND. It\u2019s true AI could<\/span> help make faster decisions, draft initial plans and even improve the quality of advice submitted,<\/span> and more – as long as all were reviewed by a \u2018human in the loop\u2019. <\/span>But here\u2019s the thing; until we get the basics right, AI is a high-cost, high-risk option and could be an expensive gamble. It\u2019s the unpopular truth which I\u2019ve encountered time and time again when working with emerging technologies, and SEND is no exception.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Having worked across children\u2019s services in a number of councils, including leading deep dives within SEND services to look for AI and innovation opportunities, it strikes me that right now, many SEND systems are outdated, slow, and hard to navigate. Without good digital foundations, like joined-up digital systems and accurate data, in this context AI could end up making things worse, not better. Whilst we might be being promised that AI is the way forward, in reality it\u2019s like hiring a world-class chef to cook in a state of the art kitchen without any ingredients available; you\u2019ll spend a fortune and still end up ordering takeaway. Instead we need to focus on making sure the right components for AI are available.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Building digital foundations<\/h3>\n

The greatest and most rapid impact can be achieved by focusing on getting the basics in place first. We\u2019re talking streamlining processes, automating workflows, improving communication, transparency, consistency, and data insights. Most of all it’s about ensuring processes meet the needs of stakeholders and new ways of working are embedded, before layering on AI.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The good news is that these \u2018digital foundations\u2019 aren\u2019t at odds with AI (their an essential enabler for it) and they would also be welcome by families working with SEND services.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Parents I spoke to told me that having insight into the status of an application and which \u2018advices\u2019 for an EHCP were outstanding would have a significant impact. Parents told me that they\u2019d willingly follow progress up with the relevant professional who they\u2019re often in contact with through routine appointments. Instead, currently there is no visibility, it is a manual process performed by the SEND service with delays resulting in corresponding delays to finalising plans and high levels of rework. Additionally, parents seeing the information at the first point allows them to take part in the process as partners, ensuring the advice reflects their child\u2019s needs and avoiding lengthy and often expensive challenges (via mediations or tribunals) to the content of plans after they\u2019ve already been written.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Whilst these digital foundations won\u2019t solve every issue, they have the potential to free up staff time and energy, allowing professionals to focus on higher-value work like supporting families and making nuanced decisions about provision. They would also set the stage for bigger innovations, like AI, to make a real difference when the conditions are both right and ripe.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Supporting inputs from other pressured services<\/h3>\n

SEND doesn\u2019t exist in a vacuum. Fundamentally, the success of the system relies heavily on the contributions of other services, including health and social care, which are themselves under immense strain. Without high-quality, timely input from these sectors, the EHCP process falters. You can speed up the process of creating an EHC Plan using AI, but if the inputs to the plan don\u2019t meet the needs, the benefits and the quality of that plan will be diminished.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

One of the key opportunities here is taking a systems thinking approach to innovation, which isn\u2019t simple due to funding structures and many different systems used by each service. But this is the core of true innovation and relies on strong partnerships, shared technological infrastructure, and incentives to ensure that health, social care and other professional\u2019s inputs are optimised to to\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

improve outcomes, and the creation of more timely plans, within the EHCP process. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A culture and capacity shift: building trust in innovation<\/h3>\n

Arguably, the biggest hurdle to innovation isn\u2019t technology or funding; it\u2019s capacity and culture. It\u2019s crucial to recognise the incredible work being done by SEND professionals. They\u2019re the ones holding the system together, often going above and beyond to make sure children get the support they need. But they\u2019re under huge pressure, and without better tools and systems (and their adoption), burnout is a real risk. We need to rethink how things work, make processes easier, and embrace new ways of working that free up staff to do what they do best, helping children and families.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

However, SEND services can at times be cautious of change, and with good reason: when dealing with vulnerable children and their families, the stakes are high. But this caution at times can lead to paralysis, with processes that are outdated remaining in place because they\u2019re familiar, or because they are perceived as \u2018safe\u2019. At times, too little investment in change management and reinforcement of new ways of working mean new solutions aren\u2019t adopted, inefficient workarounds remain and innovation resources are wasted.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Innovating in this space requires a shift in mindset. It needs a move towards a culture that sees innovation as an opportunity to do better, not a risk to be avoided. It needs investment in capacity dedicated to fixing the plumbing, not just responding to the leaks. It needs change management support and capacity to ensure the successful adoption of new solutions and embedding of new ways of working.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Innovating in this space requires agility, piloting of new ideas, gathering feedback, and iterating based on what works. Co-production partners and families must be part of this journey, with their voices shaping solutions. In a hierarchical, highly governed service, ensuring governance structures which sponsor, champion and invest in innovation is fundamental. It is also critical to build an Agile culture which allows, facilitates and enables capacity to be invested in in Proof of Concepts designed to test technology with no guarantee that outcomes so desperately needed, will be achieved. This is not an easy pill to swallow given the pressures on the service and stakes for families.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The Autumn 2024 budget: a foundation for change<\/h3>\n

The UK government\u2019s commitment in the Autumn 2024 budget to increase SEND funding provides a much-needed boost. But this funding must be used strategically to unlock sustainable<\/span><\/p>\n

improvements, not just paper over cracks. Investing in technology, training, and capacity-building will be critical to achieving long-term change.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

T<\/b>he biggest elephant in the room<\/h3>\n

We need to stop duplicating effort. When every local authority tries to solve the same problems on their own, it leads to wasted time and resources, something Mark Thompson, Professor in Digital Economy at University of Exeter, has highlighted for years. A more joined-up, national approach could help councils focus less on reinventing the wheel and more on delivering better support for families.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The opportunity for this in the SEND Education, Health and Care request, assessment, and plan process is significant given that the statutory requirements and the SEND code of practice are national. Although the Department for Education is working with a number of local authorities to standardise EHCP processes as a part of its Change Partnership Programme (CPP), in reality, these standardisation and efficiency gains are needed by families now.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

My 3 suggestions for SEND services?<\/h3>\n
    \n
  1. Digital foundations must be built and embedded into ways of working as a lower risk, lower cost precursor to, and enabler for, AI\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. SEND services and partners should be incentivised and enabled to truly approach this at a systemic level\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Authorities need investment and support to innovate at national level, and quickly\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
    \n

    Read More AI for good <\/i><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The world of Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) provision is at a crossroads. With demand rising at an unprecedented rate, capacity already stretched to, (or beyond) its limits, and a culture often risk-averse to innovation, there\u2019s an increasing urgency to find sustainable ways forward. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":35822,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-35820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","topic-ai-for-good","topic-bias-ethics","topic-digital-inclusion"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nInnovating in SEND: Rising to the Challenge | Digital Leaders<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/digileaders.com\/innovating-in-send-rising-to-the-challenge\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Innovating in SEND: Rising to the Challenge | Digital Leaders\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The world of Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) provision is at a crossroads. 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