Children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) across Devon are set to benefit from a new support model after Devon County Council secured £4.8 million in government funding.
The funding will help introduce the Experts at Hand model, which aims to provide earlier support for children by bringing together specialists from education, health and care services to work more closely with schools and families.
The new approach will begin in three “test and learn” communities across Devon from the autumn, allowing partners to understand what works best before considering a wider rollout across the county.
The pilot areas have been chosen to represent different parts of Devon, including urban, coastal and rural communities, while also reflecting areas where there are significant levels of need.
The Experts at Hand teams will bring together professionals from Devon County Council, Children and Family Health Devon, and education providers to offer advice and support more quickly to schools and settings.
The aim is to help identify and respond to children’s needs at an earlier stage, supporting schools to provide the right help before challenges become more difficult.
Councillor Denise Bickley, Devon County Council’s Cabinet Member for Children’s Services and SEND, said families have consistently asked for support that is available sooner and closer to home.
“This is the start of a fantastic opportunity to really get into schools to wrap around children who are having smaller problems early on,” she said.
“Because Devon is such an enormous county, we’ve made sure that we’ve got three different pilot sites covering urban, rural and coastal communities.”
The new model will be developed alongside education settings, children, young people and families, with **Parent Carer Forum Devon** involved in helping shape how the service works locally.
The council says the Experts at Hand service will complement existing SEND support and will not replace help already available for children with an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) or those waiting for an EHCP needs assessment.
Julian Wooster, Director of Children and Young People’s Futures at Devon County Council, said the approach is designed to help settings identify and meet needs as early as possible.
“A key part of the Experts at Hand concept is supporting settings to identify and meet needs effectively at the earliest point,” he said.
“We want children and young people to have the opportunity to thrive, with access to the right support in the right place and at the right time.”
Su Smart, Director of Women and Children’s Health at NHS Devon, added that bringing health, care and education expertise together would help create more consistent support for children and young people across Devon.
The first three pilot communities will begin working with the council and partners during the 2026/27 school year, with learning from the programme helping shape future SEND support across the county.
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