Investing in our Local Offer

The Children and Families Act 2014 outlines the responsibilities local authorities have in supporting children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

It means we must make plans that are:

  • long-term and strategic
  • informed by detailed local knowledge
  • enhanced through consulting parents and carers, and good relationships with schools

We must make sure there are enough good school places for all pupils, including those with SEND.

How we do this

We're working to make sure our capital strategy, which is the plan for how we manage and spend our financial resources, is meeting the needs of our community.

In specialist settings where admission requires an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan, our statement of intent for this strategy is that:

  1. All Camden children and young people with EHC plans for SEND are educated in high-quality, fit-for-purpose buildings
  2. Enough space is available to commission places in settings that meet needs within Camden where possible
  3. A well-planned approach to capital improvement projects in specialist SEND settings is followed, to ensure clear priorities and best value investment

We're working with the Camden High Needs subgroup, which looks at high needs funding in the borough, to define the capital projects that flow from this strategy. Any projects will be based on the following analysis:

  1. Document, track, and analyse the number of EHC plans awarded, and compare this with national and similar local authority numbers
  2. Document, track, and analyse the number of pupils educated in specialist settings
  3. Use available information from the government, local authorities similar to us, and colleagues to plan for enough places in the future
  4. Investigate and note the number of spaces available now, the suitability of spaces available, and the condition of our current sites and buildings used by children and young people with SEND
  5. Look at a range of solutions to any identified accommodation that would help us make sure there are enough high-quality spaces for SEND pupils now and in the future, and include proposed solutions in the strategy

The programme of works that result from this process will be published on this site.