Ofsted and the CQC gave Enfield's SEND partnership the strongest of the three outcomes on 10 September, up from 2023. ADHD and autism waits remain long.

Enfield’s services for children with special educational needs and disabilities have gone from a mixed verdict to the strongest outcome inspectors can give, in three years.

Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission published their inspection report on the Enfield Local Area Partnership on 10 September, after a visit from 29 June to 3 July. Their finding: the borough’s SEND arrangements “typically lead to positive experiences and outcomes for children and young people”. That is the highest of the three outcomes available under the inspection framework, and it means the next full inspection is around five years away.

The 2023 inspection had found arrangements leading to “inconsistent experiences and outcomes”, the middle grade, with reinspection ordered within three years. Enfield has cleared that bar with time to spare.

The partnership is run jointly by Enfield Council and NHS West and North London, the health body that took over commissioning in the borough when North Central London’s integrated care board merged with North West London’s on 1 April 2026.

Comparison graphic: the March 2023 inspection found inconsistent experiences and outcomes, the middle of three possible outcomes, with reinspection within approximately 3 years. The June to July 2026 inspection found arrangements typically lead to positive experiences and outcomes, the strongest of the three, with the next full inspection in approximately 5 years.
The 2023 report ordered reinspection within three years. Enfield used them.
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What inspectors praised

The report singles out, among other things:

  • a “clear and ambitious vision” shared across education, health and social care, with children shaping services through the Youth Council and Young Inspectors
  • the parent carer forum as “a valued and effective partner” that both supports and challenges leaders
  • drop-in therapy clinics at family hubs, where families get screening and advice without a referral
  • fast access to mobility and assistive equipment, so children “do not experience unnecessary barriers to accessing education”
  • very low levels of mental health hospital admission, credited to the dynamic support register
  • an alternative provision strategy that keeps excluded and at-risk pupils connected to their mainstream school, which has “helped to reduce suspensions and exclusions”
  • support for young people with education, health and care plans moving into adulthood, with most staying in education, training or work

What still is not working

The report is equally clear about the waits. Children face “long waiting times” for CAMHS assessments and treatment, including psychiatry and psychology. Many wait “too long” for autism and ADHD assessments, and children who need ADHD medication “face further delays after diagnosis”. For some children, inspectors say plainly, the delays mean “unmet needs” and “escalating difficulties”.

There are also long-term vacancies in community paediatrics, capacity pressure in special school nursing, and inconsistent assessment and planning for disabled children known to children’s social care, whose EHC plans “do not routinely contain clear and time-bound actions”.

The formal areas for improvement split two ways:

  • NHS West and North London is told to accelerate its plans to cut waiting times for CAMHS, speech and language therapy, neurodevelopmental assessments for over-sixes, community paediatrics and special school nursing.
  • The partnership as a whole is told to strengthen social care’s contribution: clearer analysis in assessments, better and more timely social care input to EHC plans, measurable actions, and properly planned transitions to adult services.

Ofsted and the CQC have asked the partnership to update and publish its strategic plan in response.

What it means for you

  • If your child is waiting for an autism or ADHD assessment: the report confirms the waits are real and too long, but also that support is available while you wait, such as occupational therapy help with feeding, toileting and sensory needs. Many children under six are being assessed more quickly.
  • If your child has an EHC plan: inspectors found plans are “generally highly personalised” with clear objectives, though social care input is the weak spot to watch at your next annual review.
  • If you want to hold the partnership to account: the updated strategic plan has to be published, and the parent carer forum is the recognised route for parents’ views.

The inspection verdict lands days after a less flattering piece of the same picture: the council’s own auditors gave the SEND service the year’s only “no assurance” rating over £8.1m of payments made outside the standard payment system. Inspection and audit are measuring different things, but both now sit in front of the same councillors.

Sources