{"id":66925,"date":"2026-02-19T10:57:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T10:57:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/?p=66925"},"modified":"2026-02-19T10:57:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T10:57:15","slug":"sheffield-send-councils-five-year-plan-to-transform-support-for-children","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/index.php\/2026\/02\/19\/sheffield-send-councils-five-year-plan-to-transform-support-for-children\/","title":{"rendered":"Sheffield SEND: Council’s five-year plan to transform support for children"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Sheffield City Council has launched a five-year strategy to transform the support available for young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The strategy aims to put families and children at the focal point following rising demand and national funding pressures. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Steve Kay, 54, Director of Belonging at Sheffield City Council, said: \u201cFor the first time we have a strategy, a vision.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The council has promised to work closely with the Sheffield Parent Forum and continue to work with families to help highlight issues that urgently need to be tackled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A key part of the “revamp” involves reducing the backlog of the Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) planning and review processes to create more accurate plans that reflect children\u2019s needs.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Kay said: \u201cIt is not the only answer. We need to get a series of interventions for this to succeed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Steve
Steve Kay, Director of Belonging<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

He said that issues within the provision of SEND are not just unique to Sheffield.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Across the UK, there are significant rises in demand for EHCPs, mainstream schools are unable to properly accommodate children with SEND, and there are local authority deficits projected to reach \u00a317.8 billion by 2029.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr Kay has visited schools in which he has found that there are still positives within the current system.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said: \u201cNot everything is broken. Sheffield is full of amazing people and there is a strong partnership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt is important to build on what works and where the gaps are. There are opportunities to develop but the only way to do it is together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meredith Dixon-Teasdale, Strategic Director for Children\u2019s Services at Sheffield City Council said: \u201cThis strategy and implementation plan is a joint effort to improve that situation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs a partnership, we will continue to speak and listen to families across the city who need extra support so we can look to improve services for all Sheffield\u2019s children.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The changes are already under way with the SEND Improvement Board overseeing its progress.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sheffield City Council\u2019s Strategy and Resources Committee are set to make a decision next Monday to accept more than \u00a310 million from the Department for Education for more SEND provision across the city.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sheffield City Council have launched a new five-year strategy to help with the provision of SEND in young children. Director of Belonging, Steve Kay, believes there needs to be a series of interventions to succeed. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":818,"featured_media":62029,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[21,55],"tags":[400,1948,141],"class_list":["post-66925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-top-story-3","tag-children","tag-send","tag-sheffield-city-council"],"yoast_head":"\nSheffield SEND: Council's five-year plan to transform support for children - ShefNews<\/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:\/\/shefnews.co.uk\/index.php\/2026\/02\/19\/sheffield-send-councils-five-year-plan-to-transform-support-for-children\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sheffield SEND: Council's five-year plan to transform support for children - ShefNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sheffield City Council have launched a new five-year strategy to help with the provision of SEND in young children. 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