Local government education services (LGES) – Adroddiad Blynyddol | Annual Report
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Local government education services (LGES)

Early Insights 2025-2026

This summary draws on evidence from inspections, follow-up activity, enhanced local authority links inspector visits, thematic work undertaken during the academic year 2025-2026 and ongoing link inspector work with local authorities.

Education services and their impact

Leaders showed clear strategic commitment to improving outcomes, supported by effective partnership working that strengthened support for vulnerable learners. However, self-evaluation remained too variable, particularly in evaluating the impact of work on teaching, attendance and outcomes.

What’s going well

  • Positive relationships with schools and PRUs support trust, collaboration and shared responsibility for improvement.
  • Partnership working, school-to-school collaboration and professional learning help to strengthen leadership, inclusion and curriculum development.
  • Inclusion is a clear priority, supported by educational psychology, specialist services, multi-agency partnerships and effective early identification and intervention for children and young people with ALN.
  • Collaborative approaches support safeguarding cultures, trauma-informed practice, attendance monitoring and effective family support.
  • Specialist provision and targeted programmes help many children and young people with additional or complex needs make strong progress.
  • Strategic planning for Welsh-medium education is strengthening, supported by partner engagement, workforce development.

What needs to improve

  • There was uncertainty and a lack of clarity about the changes to school improvement arrangements and what this would mean for local authorities capacity to support and challenge schools.
  • Self-evaluation and improvement planning are too variable and are not always focused sharply enough on measurable impact and outcomes for children and young people.
  • Quality assurance processes and the robustness of challenge provided to some schools need strengthening.
  • Curriculum development support remains inconsistent, reflected in the quality of teaching and learning.
  • Financial pressures and rising demand present risks to the sustainability of specialist and support services, particularly for children and young people with complex needs.
  • Strategic evaluation of ALN provision to meet future demand is not always precise enough, and Welsh-medium specialist provision remains limited, for example in specialist provisions and for pupils who are educated other than at school (EOTAS).
  • Attendance remains too low for many vulnerable groups and exclusion rates are too high. The long-term impact of attendance and well-being strategies is not always evaluated rigorously.
  • Welsh language provision in many English-medium schools requires improvement, while access to and progression within Welsh-medium education remain too limited.

Leading and improving

Senior leaders generally provided clear strategic direction, supported by strong partnerships and a focus on inclusion and safeguarding. However, self-evaluation remained inconsistent, particularly in evaluating impact on teaching, attendance and outcomes.

What’s going well

  • Senior leaders generally provide clear and visible leadership and promote collaborative cultures based on trust and shared responsibility.
  • Strategic planning is usually coherent and aligned appropriately to local and national priorities.
  • Many authorities have strengthened monitoring and reporting systems and are developing more coordinated approaches to improvement.
  • Professional learning and leadership development are prioritised appropriately.
  • Partnership working across services and agencies is a notable strength overall in local authorities.
  • Safeguarding arrangements are generally robust, with strong governance, effective training and clear escalation processes.
  • Authorities are increasingly using capital investment and school modernisation programmes strategically to improve learning environments and support the Curriculum for Wales.
  • Leaders demonstrate a clear commitment to inclusion, equity and tackling the impact of poverty on educational attainment.

What needs to improve

  • Overall, the support and challenge to schools is not robust.
  • Self-evaluation processes are not consistently evaluative enough, focus too heavily on activity rather than on the impact on improving outcomes for children and young people.
  • Improvement planning and success criteria are not always precise or measurable.
  • Quality assurance arrangements for school improvement work and officer evaluations are not robust enough.
  • Reports to elected members and scrutiny committees are not always sufficiently analytical to support robust challenge.
  • Financial pressures and increasing school deficits present significant risks to sustaining improvement.
  • Overall, scrutiny, governance and decision-making processes slow the pace of strategic change and improvement.

Overview of recommendations from inspections

During the 2025-2026 academic year we inspected education services in three local authorities. One caused significant concern.

  • Three providers were inspected in the LGES sector during the 2025-2026 academic year.
  • All three local authorities were required to strengthen the quality of self-evaluation and improvement planning and the impact on outcomes for children and young people.
  • Financial pressures and school deficits were highlighted as significant risks in two authorities.
  • Attendance remains a key area for improvement in one local authority, particularly for vulnerable groups and secondary-aged pupils.
  • Improving the support and challenge to schools remains a key area of improvement for one local authority.
  • One local authority was required to improve the effectiveness of scrutiny so that elected members focus constructively with officers on strategic risks, learner outcomes and the long-term improvement of education services
  • One local authority needed to address the safeguarding concerns identified during the inspection at both a corporate and service level.

Effective practice identified during inspection

Bridgend County Borough Council

Read how Bridgend County Borough Council’s highly effective provision for pupils educated other than at school (EOTAS) enables nearly all pupils to re-engage in learning, achieve qualifications and progress successfully to post-16 education, employment or training. In addition, strong governance and oversight of out-of-county placements ensure that most children and young people with ALN are educated appropriately within the local authority, improving continuity and inclusion. Further, the authority links capital funding effectively with curriculum priorities and professional learning to improve teaching approaches and learning environments for children in early years provision.

Monmouthshire County Council

Read how Monmouthshire County Council’s well-established Monmouthshire Autism Support Service (MASS) model brings together education, health and social care professionals to provide integrated and timely support for children and young people with autism. This coordinated approach strengthens support for children and young people and improves communication with schools and PRUs and their families, contributing to improved outcomes in well-being, engagement and inclusion.