Two staff working on disabled children’s services have been sacked by Bracknell Forest Council due to “concerns about their performance,” it can be revealed.

Documents released on the council’s website show the agency officers were sacked last month, while council efforts to improve its special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) services have been held up.

The council said it couldn’t comment on the sackings, but that its drive to improve SEND services was continuing “at pace”.

Bracknell Forest Council had to launch a plan of action to improve its SEND services after Ofsted and Care Quality Commission inspectors found “significant areas of weakness” in March last year.

SEND services are aimed at helping children and young people up to 25 years old with disabilities or conditions such as autism receive education.

The council agreed a “written statement of action” to improve its services, reporting back to the NHS and the government’s Department for Education.

But an update on the plan to be discussed by councillors this Wednesday, September 6, revealed that the two officers had been dismissed, while some of the targets in the plan had been delayed due to difficulties recruiting staff.

The update, published on Wednesday, August 30, said the two officers had been dismissed “in the last fortnight.” It didn’t say what their jobs were, or which agency they were from, and the council said data protection laws meant it couldn’t comment further.

Some 20 of the 113 actions in the council’s plan have also been delayed and four have not been started, the update revealed – although 75 have been completed, and 14 are on target.

The update says delays are due to difficulties recruiting staff – and that the council has struggled to find a new finance officer and business support officer.

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Grainne Siggins, executive director for people at Bracknell Forest Council, said councils across Britain are struggling to recruit SEND staff. But she said the council had now filled its vacancies, and that meetings between the council and Department for Education had been 'overwhelmingly positive'.

She said: “Like all large-scale improvement projects, there will inevitably be some challenges along the way, but we are fully aware of these challenges and are taking positive action to get them on track.

“Recruitment is one such challenge, which is not unique to Bracknell Forest. Nationally there is a shortage of high-quality and well-trained SEND professionals but we have now managed to recruit to all posts.”

She added that the council’s last meeting with the Department for Education “recognises that we are making good, solid progress at pace and that this progress is starting to make a real difference to the lives of children with SEND and their families.”