Children’s services inspections, plans and strategies

Inspections

Planning and commissioning of SEND services across the area is the responsibility of the Local Area Partnership. This is made up of two statutory bodies:

• North Northamptonshire Council
• NHS Northamptonshire Integrated Care Board

It is delivered across the area in conjunction with Northamptonshire Children’s Trust together with schools, nurseries and North Northamptonshire Parent Carer Voice.

An inspection was undertaken jointly by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and Ofsted in January 2024 and published in March 2024.

Plans and strategies

Best Start in Life action plan (2026 to 2028)

This action plan sets out how the North Northamptonshire Best Start Partnership will work collaboratively across all settings to ensure families are supported from pre-pregnancy to ensure that every child grows up healthy, confident and ready to learn.

Family Help strategy

Co-developed by partners who work alongside families in North Northamptonshire, this strategy sets out a four-year plan to put families at the heart of what we do and to establish a framework across our partnership of professionals to ensure that the right help is provided by the right person, at the right time.

LAP SEND priority action plan (May 2024)

The Ofsted and CQC SEND inspection report for the North Northamptonshire SEND area partnership (covering education, health and social care services) gave us 4 priority areas we need to improve upon urgently, and 6 other areas where we must also show improvement.

The partnership has been working to build a detailed plan to make these improvements, which was reviewed and approved by Ofsted and CQC on 24 May 2024.

The DfE has also issued an improvement notice to us - this is standard practice in these circumstances and our Priority Action Plan and wider SEND and Inclusion Strategy will ensure that we meet the requirements of this.

Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) - Joint Commissioning Strategy (2025 to 2028)

This strategy is about making life better for children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities and for their families. Right now, too many people face delays, fragmented support, and long journeys to schools outside their communities. 

Demand is rising fast, and without change, families will continue to struggle to get the help they need. We need to change to make sure that the right support is in place, it is affordable and sustainable.

Last updated 02 April 2026