Thematic Reviews of the SEND Local Offer
Summary
Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission have published guidance on thematic visits to local areas in England for 2026. The reviews will examine education, health, and social care provisions for children and young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) as outlined in the local offer. A small number of areas will be selected each year for in-depth investigation of specific aspects of the SEND system.
What changed
Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission have issued updated guidance for conducting thematic reviews of the SEND local offer in 2026. The guidance explains how joint inspections will assess the quality and accessibility of education, health, and social care provisions available to children and young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities within local areas.
Local authorities, educational institutions, healthcare providers, and social care services should be aware that a limited number of areas will be selected each year for these in-depth thematic investigations. While the visits do not result in formal grades, findings may inform future inspection frameworks and recommendations for improving SEND provision. Affected parties should review their current SEND local offer documentation and ensure alignment across education, health, and social care sectors.
What to do next
- Monitor for thematic review notifications
- Prepare documentation on SEND local offer provisions
- Ensure cross-sector coordination between education, health, and social care
Archived snapshot
Apr 15, 2026GovPing captured this document from the original source. If the source has since changed or been removed, this is the text as it existed at that time.
Guidance
Thematic reviews of the SEND local offer
How Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) will conduct thematic visits to local areas focusing on the education, health and social care provisions available for children and young people with SEND as outlined in the local offer.
From: Ofsted and Care Quality Commission Published 2 April 2026 Get emails about this page
Applies to England
Documents
Thematic reviews of the SEND local offer
HTML
Example summary note
ODT, 40.9 KB
This file is in an OpenDocument format
Details
The Area SEND inspection system includes thematic visits to a small number of areas each year to investigate a particular aspect of the special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) system in depth.
This guidance explains how Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) will conduct the 2026 visits, which will focus on the provision available across education, health and social care for children and young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).
Updates to this page
Published 2 April 2026
Sign up for emails or print this page
Get emails about this page Print this page
Related content
Named provisions
Related changes
Get daily alerts for UK Ofsted
Daily digest delivered to your inbox.
Free. Unsubscribe anytime.
About this page
Every important government, regulator, and court update from around the world. One place. Real-time. Free. Our mission
Source document text, dates, docket IDs, and authority are extracted directly from Ofsted and CQC.
The summary, classification, recommended actions, deadlines, and penalty information are AI-generated from the original text and may contain errors. Always verify against the source document.
Classification
Who this affects
Taxonomy
Browse Categories
Get alerts for this source
We'll email you when UK Ofsted publishes new changes.
Subscribed!
Optional. Filters your digest to exactly the updates that matter to you.