Local Area SEND Inspections: information for families

Ofsted, together with the Care Quality Commission (CQC), has responsibility for evaluating how well local partnerships provide education, health and social care services for children and young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), as well as those accessing Alternative Provision. 

Ofsted and the CQC do this through an ongoing cycle of inspection activity, which includes engagement meetings with local area leaders, monitoring visits, full inspections, and, in some instances, thematic visits looking at a particular aspect of the SEND system in depth. Typically, if a local area refers to ‘having an inspection’, this means a full inspection. A full inspection will include a range of inspection activities, including collecting feedback from children and young people with SEND, their families, educational settings, as well as a wide range of remote and on-site visits and discussions across a three-week period. 

For more information including the most up-to-date framework Ofsted and the CQC use to evaluate local partnerships see Area SEND inspections: information for parents and carers - GOV.UK (Opens in new tab) and Area SEND inspections: framework and handbook - GOV.UK (Opens in new tab)

To read the report for Havering’s last Local Area SEND Inspection, see here: Havering Local Area SEND Inspection Feb 2018 (Opens in new tab) 

Page reviewed 05.09.25