The meeting between the city's SEND and Inclusion Partnership Board, the Department for Education (DfE) and NHS England concluded progress was 'having a positive impact'.

Cllr Jacqui Coogan, City of Wolverhampton Council's cabinet member for children, young people and education, said: ‘As a system, we have made excellent progress to improve SEND support over the last few years, and it is reassuring to hear the feedback from the Department of Education about this, and particularly the positive impact this work is having on children, young people and their families.'

The feedback followed a Local Area Review of SEND services which looked at how well partners – including City of Wolverhampton Council, Black Country ICB, The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, Black Country Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, Early Years' settings, schools and further education providers – identified, assessed and met the needs of children and young people with SEND.

The review highlighted a number of areas of good practice and also those areas which required further development.

Assessors found awareness of Wolverhampton's Local Offer of information and support for children and young people with SEND and their families had 'significantly increased' and people now 'feel better informed and know where support is available'.

The council said four of the other areas for improvement had already been ‘closed off' adding assessors will continue to monitor the one remaining area over the coming months.