"Significant weaknesses" which meant some of Norfolk's most vulnerable children were being let down are being addressed, watchdogs have said.

Inspectors, who had been highly critical of some of Norfolk County Council's support for children with special educational needs (SEND), now say "sufficient progress" is being made.

In 2020, inspectors from Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission, criticised the council for "significant areas of weakness" in some of its services - the timeliness of education, health and care plans (EHCPs), supporting the transition to adult life of young people with SEND and communication and co-production with families.

One of the concerns was that too many EHC plans - a formal acknowledgement of a child's special educational needs and disabilities, which lay out the support they need - and annual reviews were not being done quickly enough.

Inspectors returned to County Hall for a reinspection and found County Hall leaders had acted "with determination" to address that, with private educational psychologists brought in to reduce delays and cut a backlog.

Inspectors said there remain a "minority of cases" when assessments, annual reviews and the issuing of new or amended plans do not take place within statutory timescales.

But they said planning for transition to adulthood is "carefully considered and recorded", while communication and co-production involving children, families and 
those who provide the services had increased.

Eastern Daily Press: Sara Tough, Norfolk County Council's director of children's servicesSara Tough, Norfolk County Council's director of children's services (Image: Copyright (c) Julian Claxton Photography 2017.)

Sara Tough, the council's director of children's services, welcomed the report, which followed Ofsted's recent rating of the council's children's services department as good.

She said: "It is really positive that inspectors said that we are making progress. There will always be more work to do, by its very nature, and we recognise that.

"We are now in a second phase of transformation and there is going to be further investment in terms of staffing and resources to support families and schools."