Selected Transformation Experience: Commissioning & Sufficiency
Commissioning SEND independent specialist placements differently
Bringing market intelligence, placement review, outcomes-focused brokerage and provider negotiation together to improve quality, value and local options.
The Challenge
A large county council had more than 900 children and young people placed with around 50 independent special-school providers, at an annual cost exceeding £38 million. Historic under-investment in maintained specialist provision had increased reliance on the independent sector, while placement monitoring, market intelligence and scrutiny of fees and additional charges were not sufficiently robust. The council needed to understand whether commissioned support matched each learner’s Education, Health and Care Plan, was improving outcomes and represented fair value, while also identifying gaps in local provision.
My Contribution
As part of the council’s Safety Valve programme, I led the independent non-maintained special school commissioning review. I established and developed a team of commissioning coordinators, designed a provider and learner audit, and brought together information from Education, Health and Care Plans, individual service offers, SEND finance, providers and operational teams. This created a structured review of over 900 placements and a clearer picture of need, support, outcomes, quality and cost across the market.
I strengthened the brokerage and commissioning process around both new and existing placements. I introduced clearer cost breakdowns, fair cost bench-marking, structured negotiation plans and outcome-focused review tools; trained staff in provider negotiation; and used comparisons with other authorities and maintained provision to test core fees and additional charges. The resulting intelligence supported targeted negotiations, more consistent decision-making, provider development and identification of gaps where children could step back from independent provision or access stronger local alternatives.
Outcome
System wide evidence base: A consistent review covered around 50 providers and over 900 placements, connecting needs, support, outcomes, quality and cost.
Stronger commissioning grip: Common audit, brokerage, bench-marking and negotiation tools gave staff a more consistent basis for placement and fee decisions.
Demonstrable Value: £1.8 million in savings and avoidance in year one of the project. With examples such as targeted negotiations reducing an annual core fee by £6,000, settling a disputed £22,000 claim for £5,000 and removing additional fees from multiple placements.
At a glance
Area
SEND and Independent Special Schools
Focus
Market analysis
Placement review
Brokerage and Placements Teams
Commissioning
Fee scrutiny
Provider development
Governance
Delivery Context
Senior local authority and NHS partnership leadership
Safety Valve Programme
Relevant Support
Market diagnostic
Placement review
Pathway and brokerage design
Negotiation
Sufficiency planning
Governance
Transformation
Change Management
What this experience could bring to your organisation
This experience is relevant where reliance on independent specialist provision is increasing; where leaders lack a reliable view of what individual placements include and achieve; or where brokerage, annual review, commissioning, finance and market development are not yet working as one system.
FLCC can help authorities build a reliable placement and market baseline, design proportionate review and brokerage processes, strengthen fee and contract scrutiny, develop staff confidence in negotiation, and turn the evidence into practical sufficiency and commissioning priorities.
Your system will have it’s own history, pressures and possibilities…
I will not arrive with a fixed answer. We can begin by understanding what is happening now and what workable improvement would look like for you. We work together to agree a sustainable improvement plan.