Children and young people aged 0-25 have a SEND if they have a learning difficulty or disability that calls for special education provision to be made. The ICB supports the health element of the SEND agenda for children and young people. 

We work in partnership with local authorities to contribute to the implementation of the SEND reforms (Children and Families Act 2014). This means we work together to identify the needs of the local population and any gaps in local provision and then jointly address them.

Here is a detailed summary of what the ICS means for children and families with SEND.

The ICB has responsibilities with regard to provision for children and young people with SEND. These are:

  • To commission services jointly for children and young people (up to age 25) with SEND, including those with Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs).
  • To work in partnership with local authorities to develop the Local Offer.
  • To have mechanisms in place to ensure practitioners and clinicians will support the integrated Education, Health and Care (EHC) needs assessment process.
  • To agree Personal Health Budgets where they are provided for children and young people with EHC plans. 

The local offer

Each of our Places has a SEND Local Offer which provides information in one place. They can be found below:

BSol ICB works in close partnership with the local authorities in Birmingham and Solihull to ensure that health commissioning is effective in meeting the health needs of children and young people with SEND. This involves many aspects of cross-agency and cross-system working with partners and families, including support for medical needs in schools, access to therapies and transition to adulthood pathways.

Commissioning leads and clinicians who provide the diverse range of health services across the system are involved in many programmes of work that impact on the experiences of children and young people with additional needs (SEND). The ICB (representing NHS Birmingham and Solihull) is a core member in SEND improvement workstreams and programmes in both areas.

Examples of the ongoing work to improve local SEND provision and processes across Birmingham and Solihull, include:

  • Improved multi-agency working across the SEND system at locality to support better and faster access to services for families
  • Acting on parent / carer feedback and embedding co-production with parents, carers and young people as part of all service improvements
  • Establishing systems so that health providers can submit essential health advice to the LA for statutory assessments for Education, Health and Care plans (EHCPs)
  • Ensuring that the health support commissioned by the ICB is delivered in a co-ordinated way with other services to improve life outcomes for children and young people with additional needs
  • Establishing joint commissioning across the area where appropriate with a focus on developing integrated approaches to service delivery, greater efficiency and improved person-centred care for children and young people and their families
  • Supporting awareness of statutory SEND responsibilities across the health system

Under the Local area special educational needs and disabilities inspection framework, inspectors from Ofsted and CQC jointly review how effective the SEND Local Area partnership is in meeting their responsibilities to children and young people (from birth to age 25) who have special educational needs or disabilities (or both).

Birmingham SEND inspections 

Birmingham local area has been on a journey of SEND improvement as a partnership, accountable to the SEND and AP Improvement Board. An updated SEND Improvement Plan has been published following the recent Local Area SEND inspection in June 2025, details as below:

Solihull SEND inspection  

Solihull SEND services were inspected in a joint CQC/Ofsted visit in October 2017. Although the inspection was positive and no written statement of action was required, the main findings and areas for development from the inspection report were used to develop a SEND action plan for Solihull. More information about recent strategic developments within Solihull to improve outcomes for children and young people with SEND can be found here.

The Designated Medical/Clinical Officer roles support the ICB to meet our statutory responsibilities for children and young people with SEND. The DMO/DCO provides a point of contact for the ICB, local authority, schools and colleges when specialist health advice is required.

You can contact the team by emailing nhsbsolicb.send@nhs.net

Name Job title Area Clinical background
Dr. Orlaith Byrne    Designated Medical Officer Birmingham Consultant Community Paediatrician
Dr. Manjeet Raina  Designated Medical Officer Birmingham Consultant Community Paediatrician
Ali Beard  Designated Clinical Officer Birmingham Speech and Language Therapist
Clara McDonald  Designated Clinical Officer Solihull Speech and Language Therapist

Dr Amit Bannerjee

 Designated Medical Officer Solihull General Practitioner
Dr Younis Ahmad Designated Medical Officer Solihull General Practitioner
Dr Renu Janier Designated Medical Officer  Solihull Consultant Community Paediatrician

GPs are often the main source of support for parents and carers when their child or young person is struggling at school. They are commonly sought for support when the relationship between family and school has broken down.

GPs have a key role in providing this support and signposting families, children and young people to trusted sources of advice and guidance to help manage their SEND needs.  This handbook aims to offer helpful advice on how you can help children, young people and young adults with SEND and their families with their concerns and to access support.

More information