60 new staff members to be recruited to aid SEND reform in Suffolk

£4.4million to be spent on additional staff to strengthen SEND reform

Suffolk County Council
Author: Sian RochePublished 28th Feb 2024

Suffolk County Council's ramping up support for SEND children across the county.

The authority's announced that 60 new members of staff will be recruited to drive forward reform to the way special educational needs and disability (SEND) services are delivered in Suffolk.

This will be an increase in permanent SEND staff of nearly 15%.

New Cabinet member for Education and SEND, Andrew Reid said: “We must continue to invest in this service to bring about wide scale improvement.

“This includes investing in staff resources, so we have the capacity to deliver change. We continue to focus on this priority – we owe it to Suffolk’s children and young people.”

It comes after a report by Ofsted and Care Quality Commission (CQC) in January found significant concerns with the way SEND services are delivered by the NHS and Suffolk County Council.

In order to support this improvement programme, an additional £4.4million has also been signed - this was confirmed during budget discussions at a Full Council meeting on February 15.

Of this, £3.4million will provide 46 new full-time posts – a increase of 14.76% in current staffing levels.

An additional £1million will also be spent in 2024/25 to fund 14 temporary posts.

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