We the undersigned, as the users and family and friends of SEND children in Oxfordshire   URGENTLY call for the Liberal Democrat Green Administration of Oxfordshire County Council to rapidly launch a cross party task force of elected members from across the chamber to meet with and address feedback from parents, carers and young people, 12 months after the Local Area Partnership Ofsted SEND inspection which found multiple systemic failures in the provision. 

We urgently request the forming of a SEND provision task force of elected members, the county wide SEND community and the voice of the counties young people, to be established and convene urgently, listen too and note their findings, especially around the  lack of restorative practice and coproduction in the service structure and provision, and present a body of evidence showing current service failures to the leader of the council, Cllr Liz Leffman before December 2024.

The administration of Oxfordshire County Council needs to identify, understand and address the failures in the SEND service being repeated and investigate the effectiveness of the Priority Action Plan put in place which was supposed to improve the service provision and experience of Oxfordshires SEND community, and yet we the undersigned feel the SEND service offering in Oxfordshire is worse than ever. 

We  request the leader of the council urgently reviews the cabinet positions of Education and Children Services and SEND Improvement as we, as users of these services we do not feel the elected members are representing or acting on our concerns raised and lived experiences shared.

We feel that the Oxfordshire SEND system is broken and the inequality in the county is worse than it’s ever been. We desperately feel that elected members across the chamber urgently address our concerns and accept that this councils actions (or lack of) is resulting in an increase of children with vulnerable parents who are stuck in a perpetual disadvantage where many cannot advocate or navigate an increasingly complex system. 

We urge the leader of Oxfordshire County Council, to listen to the pleas of parents and service users over the last 12 months and to radically make changes within her structure and strategy, to influence and rapidly improve the lives of SEND service users and families.