Overview
The Department for Education (DfE) Change Programme began in late 2023, working with groups of local areas across England.
The programme is being used to try out possible improvements to the way things work in the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) system. This is to help us learn what works best and what might need to change in the future. These changes could influence how the system is set up, including the processes, systems and possibly even the law. We want to improve the experiences of families, achieve better outcomes for children and young people, and help build a more financially sustainable system.
32 local areas have been grouped into 9 regional Change Programme Partnerships (CPPs), one in each English region. Calderdale is part of the Yorkshire and Humber partnership working with Bradford, Leeds and Wakefield who lead the partnership.
The CPPs are testing both national and local ideas and approaches. They are supported by a team called the REACh Consortium, which is made up of four organisations: PA Consulting, IMPOWER, the Council for Disabled Children, and Olive Academies. These organisations bring their combined experience to support the work.