Kent’s SEND local area partnership has until 20 November 2026 to publish an improvement plan after its Ofsted inspection, while council papers forecast a £109m in-year overspend on high-needs funding.
Kent’s SEND local area partnership received the middle of three possible outcomes from an Ofsted inspection completed in July 2026, with inspectors finding that its arrangements led to “inconsistent experiences and outcomes for children and young people with SEND” and that “the partnership must work jointly to make improvements.”
Inspection outcome and context
The inspection call was received on 22 June 2026, with the inspection running over three weeks until 10 July 2026. The outcome report was published on 18 September 2026. Papers presented to the Scrutiny Committee on 21 October 2026 noted that of 35 inspections conducted under the current framework, three local areas had received the top rating, 28 had received the middle rating — which Kent received — and four had received the lowest rating. The middle outcome means Kent’s local area will be revisited in three years. Kent Local News reported the inspection findings when the report was published in September.
Improvement plan required
As a result of the outcome, the local area partnership is required to publish a Local Area Plan within 50 days of the report being made public. For Kent, that deadline falls on 20 November 2026. The papers stated that all local area key partners were finalising proposed plans at the time of the committee meeting, and that the Local Area Plan was due to be considered at the November meeting of the Children, Young People and Education Cabinet Committee.
SEND reform plan and funding
Separately, on 2 October 2026 KCC received confirmation that its first draft SEND Reform Plan had sufficient clarity to allow a High Needs funding deficit payment to be released by the Department for Education. However, officers noted that the plan still lacked detail on how the “Experts at Hand” offer — described as the centrepiece of Year 1 reforms — would be delivered, and that the DfE had not yet indicated how and when councils would be expected to share updated plans. The SEND Reform Plan was scheduled for discussion at the January CYPE Cabinet Committee.
Scale of SEND spending
The papers set out the scale of SEND funding in Kent. KCC and schools were expected to spend approximately £850m on SEND services in 2026-27, alongside a High Needs capital budget of £125m funded from a DfE-specific grant. The High Needs Block for 2026-27 was £379m, against which an overspend of £126m was forecast. Of that overspend, £17m had been covered by a transfer from primary and secondary school budgets, leaving an in-year overspend of £109m on the Schools’ Delegated Budget.
The council had not published the minutes of the meeting at the time of writing, so the committee’s decision is not yet on the public record.