The Merton Council Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Panel met on 10 September 2025 to discuss a range of issues affecting children and young people in the borough. These included school place planning, special educational needs (SEN) student travel, and a departmental update. The panel was also scheduled to review its work programme and monitor performance.

School Places Planning Strategy

The panel was scheduled to discuss the Merton School Places Planning Strategy 2025-2030, which sets out the existing supply and demand for school places, and projections based on the council's annual school places return submitted to the Department for Education (DfE).

The report pack noted a significant fall in the primary school age population and demand for primary school places since around 2016. Merton Council has already reduced the published admission number by 24 forms of entry since 2016, including the closure of Stanford Primary School¹. However, the surplus in 2025/26 reception year against published admission numbers is still expected to be 15%. The report pack stated that projections indicate a further significant fall of 200 pupils by October 2027, and that without further reduction in school capacity, the surplus would rise to over 20%. To enable a surplus below 10% for reception year in 2027/28, a further reduction of 10 forms of entry is required, only one of which is currently agreed.

The report pack also noted that secondary school pupil numbers had plateaued following the opening of Harris Academy Wimbledon² in September 2018. Forecasts for 2026/27 and 2027/28 indicate a steady rate of admission into Year 7, but this is forecast to drop from 2028/29 and more significantly from 2030/31.

With regards to special school provision, the report pack stated that there had been more than a doubling increase in the number of Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) over the eight years, from 1075 in January 2016 to 2587 in January 2024. The council has been active in implementing special school expansion in recent years, but this has not been sufficient to keep up with the increase in demand. As part of the High Needs 'safety valve' intervention programme agreed with the DfE in early 2022, a series of new expansions are being implemented, including the expansion of Perseid School³ and a new Special Free School.

The report pack stated that projections indicate that further expansion is required, alongside initiatives on mainstream inclusion, to be consistent with the government's white paper expected in Autumn 2025.

SEN Student Travel

The panel was scheduled to discuss SEN student travel, with a report from Elizabeth Fitzpatrick, Director for Education & Early Help, and Tom Procter, Head of Contracts and School Organisation. The report pack stated that the discussion would focus on ways of ensuring that effective and value for money school travel is achieved.

Departmental Update

The panel was scheduled to receive a departmental update from Bev Hendricks, Executive Director, Children, Lifelong Learning and Families. The report pack included information on key developments affecting the Children, Lifelong Learning and Families (CLLF) Department since the last meeting.

The report pack noted that Merton had maintained its rating of Outstanding following an Ofsted inspection in July.

The report pack also included updates on:

• Schools Inspections
• Exclusions
• Ask the Director sessions
• Young Carers Cards
• Supporting Vulnerable Children - EHCPs
• Children and Adolescent to Parent Harmful Behaviour (CAPHB)
• SEND Strategy, Safety Valve and Special School Provision
• Corporate Parenting – summer barbeques and fostering update
• Initial Health Assessments (IHAs)

With regards to exclusions, the report pack stated that, using published data for 2023/24, nationally, there has been a 1.98 percentage point rise in suspensions⁴, whilst in Merton the rise (at 0.07 percentage points) has been lower. Over the same time period, the rate of permanent exclusions rose nationally by 0.46 percentage points, whilst the rate in Merton fell (by 0.03 percentage points).

The report pack stated that the Department formally launched Young Carers Cards at an event held for young carers and their families at Vestry Hall on 13th August 2025.

Performance Monitoring

The panel was scheduled to discuss a performance report, which summarises the performance information for 2025/26, up to 31st July. The report pack included the Children & Young People Overview and Scrutiny Panel Performance Index 2025/26.

The report pack noted that the following indicators were marked as Amber or Red:

• Average number of weeks taken to complete Care proceedings against a national target of 26 weeks
• Number of in-house foster carers recruited
• % of Reception year surplus places
• % of care leavers (aged 19-21) not in education, employment or training (NEET) and Unknown

Work Programme

The panel was scheduled to review its work programme for 2025/2026.