The education watchdog has found “significant work" needs to be done to improve the quality of special educational needs and disability (SEND) services in Bury after “serious failures” were uncovered by inspectors.

After a recent full inspection of SEND services in the borough, Ofsted says there are “widespread” failures “leading to significant concerns about the experiences and outcomes of children and young people".

The Bury Local Area Partnership, which is responsible for planning and commissioning SEND services in Bury, has been told it must urgently address the regulator's concerns and prepare a "priority action plan".

The partnership, which consists of the council and the NHS Greater Manchester Integrated Care Board, says it “accepts the findings of the report".

It comes around two-and-a-half years after Ofsted inspectors uncovered "serious failures" at the council's children's services which left young people "at risk of harm".

During its latest inspection, which took place in February, Ofsted found  “significant work to do to improve the experiences of children and young people with SEND and their families".

The report said: “The experiences of many children and young people with SEND and their families have been poor for too long.

“Many children and young people wait too long for some services and diagnostic pathways.

"The partnership has not focused enough energy on truly understanding what this means for children, young people and families and the impact these delays in diagnosis have on them.”

Inspectors also noted that the quality of education, health and care (EHC) plans, which identify educational, health and social needs and set out required support, are “typically poor” with many “significantly out of date.”

However, the report noted a number of positive changes for the service.

Inspectors found that “over the last 12 months, there has been significant improvement in the timeliness of assessments for many health services".

It added: “Partnership working has been strengthened since the previous inspection. This renewed approach has created improved governance and strategic direction.”

A joint statement released by the council and NHS Greater Manchester said the findings of the report would be taken “extremely seriously".

It said: “The safety and care of all our residents is a priority for Bury Council, NHS Greater Manchester and health organisations in the borough, so we take all reports and feedback on how effective the services we provide to each and every person extremely seriously.

“We are proud of the work we and partners are doing in Bury. But we know that there is much more to do to ensure children and families feel the benefit of the improvement journey we are on.

“We accept the findings of the report.

“It is clear that, while improvements have been made for children and young people with SEND, these have not been at the pace required.

“A major reason for this has been a huge increase in requests for support.

"Nationally, there has been a 60 per cent rise in the number of children with education, health and care plans in the last five years.

"In Bury, the rise has been even higher – 85 per cent over the same period.

“All local areas are struggling to meet this increase in need.

“Over the last two years we have undertaken a root and branch review of the local SEND system.

“We are pleased that the inspection team has highlighted areas where the partnership is working well to meet the needs of children and young people and their parent carers.

“We recognised that we needed to invest in local services to address the long waits for assessment and access to services being experienced by children and their parents.

"We also recognised that there was not enough local specialist provision to meet need.

“We re-established an early years team within children’s services, substantially increasing our capacity to assess children for education, health and care plans.

"We also agreed with the Department for Education to establish two new special schools, with more specialist provision attached to primary and secondary schools.

“NHS Greater Manchester has also secured in additional health services for Bury children – investing £1.4m in CAMHS (child and adolescent mental health) services, and £300,000 for more health visitors.

“Innovative approaches in schools, such as mental health support teams and a targeted Speech and Language service, have also been launched in schools.

“We have worked with parents and young people to develop new services, with weekly meetings with Bury2Gether (the local parent care forum) and the forum being represented at decision-making boards.”

“These measures are already having a positive impact.

“We are now meeting assessment times for an EHCP in 75 per cent of cases, up from just 22 per cent two years ago.

“Waiting times for health services have reduced substantially since the start of 2023, although we would like to go further: by 65 per cent for CAMHS, by 50 per cent for community paediatrics, 48 per cent for physiotherapy and by 56 per cent for occupational therapy.

“In their report, the inspectors acknowledged that there had been significant improvements and that ‘transformational change’ to Bury’s SEND services had started.

"They said they had met with many supportive, professional and dedicated practitioners and leaders, with school support staff, the children’s complex needs team and the care leaving service being praised for their commitment by children, young people and their families.

“They recognised the breadth, ambition and appropriateness of Bury’s strategy, but did not feel that it had yet had the desired positive impact for children and families.

“While this is disappointing, we welcome their recognition of the improvements made, while also recognising the distance we still must go.

“All local partners look forward to working with colleagues from Ofsted and the DfE to improve further services for the children and families in Bury.”

In a statement, Cllr Russell Bernstein, leader of the Bury Conservatives said the SEND inspection of Bury Local Area Partnership made for a “disappointing read".

He added: “ Firstly, as an elected member and a corporate parent, I want to say sorry to the children and young people with special educational needs in our borough too many of whom are failed by the Labour administration and the local area partnership.

"Our children and young people are not receiving the level of service which they both deserve and require.

“The Bury Local Area Partnership need to respond positively and creatively to the many challenges outlined in this inspection, they need to do this in a timely manner and effectively communicate what their plan is to provide a consistent service in this most crucial area of activity.

“I call on the Labour administration to work constructively with all partners in particular those parents who regularly attend council meetings to share their lived experience and raise their concerns on the services which they receive.

“The Conservative group on the council will hold the Labour administration to account to ensure some of the most vulnerable in our borough receive a much better service than is evidenced in this report.

"Only when the SEND provision deals with the issues outlined in the inspection will the much needed trust and confidence which is understandably lacking at the moment begin to be restored."