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What Are the Key Changes Required by the Reforms?
Local authorities are expected to implement several key changes:
- Family Help services – integrating early help and child in need support into a single, multidisciplinary service.
- Stronger multi-agency child protection – with Child Protection Lead Practitioners and co-located teams across social care, police, health, and education.
- Enhanced data and digital systems – enabling consistent, evidence-based decision-making and proactive intervention.
- Expanded family network and kinship support – including financial allowances, training, and wraparound services.
- Stronger national oversight of placements – ensuring quality, transparency, and stability in care provision.
- Relationship-focused practice – embedding trauma-informed approaches to reduce unnecessary care entry and improve long-term outcomes.
These changes require local authorities to rethink service delivery, strengthen partnerships, and align with the National Framework and Families First programme.
Supporting SEND Reform and the SEND Improvement Agenda
Children's Services Reform extends beyond safeguarding and family help to include significant changes in how local authorities support children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
The SEND Improvement Agenda is driving local authorities to deliver more timely, effective, and person-centred Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs), while improving multi-agency collaboration and reducing tribunal backlogs. Key priorities include:
- Faster EHCP assessments and annual reviews – meeting statutory timelines and reducing delays that impact children's access to the right support.
- Improved co-production with families – ensuring parents, carers, and young people are meaningfully involved in decision-making at every stage.
- Better data quality and transparency – providing clear insights into demand, outcomes, and service performance to inform strategic planning and resource allocation.
- Stronger multi-agency working – bringing together education, health, and social care to deliver truly integrated support plans.
- Preparation for adulthood pathways – ensuring smooth transitions from children's to adult services, particularly for young people aged 14+.
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National Standards and Digital EHCP Templates – The government is introducing national standards and digitised EHCPs to ensure consistency and transparency.
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Workforce Development – Building a skilled SEND workforce is a core part of the improvement plan.
Many councils are investing in digital platforms like Access Synergy to manage SEND processes, streamline workflows, and improve communication between education settings, health providers, and families.These systems support compliance with the SEND Code of Practice while enabling more responsive, outcome-focused planning.
For local authorities looking to align SEND improvement with wider children's services transformation, digital solutions that integrate EHCP management with safeguarding, early help, and education support offer a unified approach - reducing duplication, improving data sharing, and ensuring no child falls through the gaps.
Why This Matters Now?
Many reforms are moving from policy into practice. Pathfinder local authorities are trialling new models, and wider adoption is expected over the next 12–18 months. Now is the time for children’s services teams, commissioners, and care providers to:
- Review services and digital infrastructure.
- Prepare for updated regulatory and reporting requirements.
- Develop integrated, family-focused approaches.
- Ensure systems support data-led, proactive intervention.
By acting now, local authorities and partners can modernise services, strengthen the system, and make a lasting difference in the lives of children and families.
How Digital Solutions and Technology Enabled Care Support Children’s Services Reform
To meet the ambitions of these reforms, many councils are turning to modern case management software and Technology Enabled Care (TEC) solutions to improve service delivery, efficiency, and safeguarding.
The Access Group’s children’s services software offers tailored, modular solutions designed to support the changing needs of local authority and care teams.
Key capabilities include:
- Integrated case management systems for family help, safeguarding, youth services, and education support - providing a single, secure view of each child.
- Mobile working tools to enable social workers and family support practitioners to capture notes, risk assessments, and visit reports in real time.
- Reporting dashboards and analytics for managers to track case progress, outcomes, and compliance against new national standards.
- Secure multi-agency data sharing between children’s services, health, education, and the voluntary sector.
- Use of TEC solutions to support vulnerable families - including remote digital wellbeing assessments, and safeguarding alerts.
These tools ensure teams are equipped to deliver relationship-led, proactive support pathways whilst evidencing their impact to inspectors, funders, and regulators.
Next Steps for Children’s Services Teams
To get ready for the next phase of reform, local authorities and partners should:
- Review current processes for early help, child in need, and child protection.
- Audit digital infrastructure and identify opportunities for integration and modernisation.
- Engage multi-agency partners to align safeguarding and wellbeing protocols.
- Pilot new models of Family Help and data-sharing agreements ahead of national rollout.
- Invest in flexible, scalable software solutions that support future reforms and inspection readiness.
How Synergy Supports Children's Services and SEND Reform
The Access Group's Synergy platform provides local authorities with a comprehensive solution for managing the full spectrum of children's services - from early help and safeguarding through to SEND case management and education support.
Synergy enables seamless information sharing across teams, automates statutory EHCP processes to meet tight deadlines, and provides real-time visibility of caseloads and performance metrics. With mobile-enabled workflows for practitioners in schools and community settings, integrated assessment tools, and configurable dashboards that track progress against the SEND Improvement Agenda and National Framework requirements, Synergy helps councils deliver more joined-up, family-focused services.
Local authorities using Synergy can better coordinate multi-agency responses, reduce administrative burden on frontline staff, and ensure no child is missed across the transition from early intervention to specialist support - making it an essential tool for councils navigating both safeguarding transformation and SEND reform.
Key Takeaway
Key Takeaway
Children’s Services Reform represents a landmark opportunity to reshape how care is delivered to children and families across England. By embracing education management software, and social care management software, TEC solutions, and integrated working practices, local authorities and partners can create a more responsive and impactful system, better protecting vulnerable children while improving outcomes for families.
