Hertfordshire County Council launched an ambitious SEND transformation programme in 2023. The Council had received an outstanding in Children’ Services at its Inspection of Local Authority Children’s Services (ILACs) and, recognising this would not be the same for SEND, leaders turned a critical eye to their SEND services, asking themselves the question: what would it take to deliver exceptional services. Determined to move beyond aspiration, and in the face of rapidly rising demand and growing parental frustration, the Council committed to making its strategic intent ‘Making SEND Everyone’s Business’ – a tangible reality.
This case explores several areas of practice, including a reorganisation of statutory service delivery, investment in recruitment and training, embedding of rigorous quality assurance and significantly enhancing children and young people’s participation. But change is much wider than this and Hertfordshire has sought to embark upon and implement a cycle of continuous improvement for the whole local SEND system. Two years on, the results are compelling. Parent/carer satisfaction has risen from 43% to 64%, complaints have reduced, and compliments now outnumber concerns. Workforce reforms have reduced caseloads from 500 to 161 per Education, Health and Care Co-ordinators (EHCCos) and halved turnover rates. The creation of the SEND Academy—now commercialised and shared with other authorities – has professionalised the workforce and accelerated capability-building. Embedding SEND roles across service teams and strengthening governance has fostered collaboration, responsiveness, and a culture of empathy. Hertfordshire’s approach gained national recognition, with shortlisting for the LGC, MJ, and CYP Now Awards, and interest from other councils seeking to replicate its success. Yet leaders remain clear: this is a journey, not a destination. The next phase will deepen integration, harness technology – including AI – and continue to elevate the voices of children and young people through initiatives like Voices of Hertfordshire and reverse mentoring.
The SEND Effective Practice Evidence Framework1 considers that the “strength of evidence” of this case study is good – the approach has been recognised nationally through nomination for a 2025 LGC Award and recognition of good practice by the LGA. The breadth of impact is good – there is evidence of improved lived experiences of children and young people with SEND2; improved education, health and wellbeing outcomes; and positive feedback from professionals.
1 The SEND Effective Practice Evidence Framework uses two “signal strength” indicators to present the strength of evidence and the breadth of impact of a case study. Each indicator has four bars – emerging, promising, good and robust. The “strength of evidence” indicator is based on how the project has been evaluated and the length of time it has been sustained. The “breadth of impact” indicator is based on whether the case study can demonstrate impact in four broad areas – the more areas of impact, the higher the signal strength indicator.
2 For ease of reading, we use the term ‘SEND’ to refer to disabled children and young people and children and young people with special educational needs.