DECLO Wales: What the Designated Education Clinical Lead Officer Does for Your Child

Speech and language therapy appears in your child's private assessment report. The therapist says weekly sessions are clinically indicated. But months have passed since the IDP was drafted, and Section 2C — the health provision section — is either blank or contains a vague promise about "referral to appropriate services." The DECLO is the person who is supposed to prevent exactly this situation.

Most parents have never heard of the DECLO. That is a problem, because the DECLO role was created specifically to break down the historic failure of NHS and education services to work together on children's needs.

What Is a DECLO?

The Designated Education Clinical Lead Officer is a role created by Section 61 of the ALNET Act 2018. Every Local Health Board in Wales is required by law to appoint at least one DECLO — an experienced health professional responsible for coordinating the health board's functions relating to children and young people with ALN.

The DECLO is not a frontline clinician. They are a coordinator and escalation contact. Their role is to ensure that:

• Health professionals — Speech and Language Therapists, Occupational Therapists, Physiotherapists, CAMHS, community paediatricians, and sensory specialists — actively participate in IDP preparation and annual reviews when a child's needs warrant it
• NHS services that have been agreed as "relevant treatments or services" for a specific child are formally described in Section 2C of the IDP
• Once provision appears in Section 2C, the health board is meeting its legal obligation to deliver it
• Disputes between families and NHS services regarding health-related ALP are managed through appropriate channels before they escalate

If a health body assesses a child and identifies a treatment or service that is likely to benefit the child's ALN, it has a statutory duty to inform the body maintaining the IDP. The DECLO oversees this notification duty.

Why the DECLO Matters: Section 2C Creates NHS Legal Obligations

Section 2C of the IDP is not a wish list or a referral request. Once a treatment or service is formally described in Section 2C as Additional Learning Provision to be secured by the Local Health Board, it becomes legally binding on the NHS to deliver it.

This is a fundamental difference from the old SEN system, where health provision was coordinated informally and NHS services had no statutory obligation tied to a statutory plan.

The practical implication is significant: if you can get a therapy confirmed and written into Section 2C in specified and quantified terms, you have legal leverage if the NHS fails to deliver it.

The specification requirements are identical to Section 2B. "The child will receive speech and language therapy" is not compliant. "The child will receive 45 minutes of direct 1:1 SaLT weekly, plus 30 minutes fortnightly indirect teacher consultation, delivered by an HCPC-registered therapist, beginning no later than [date]" is compliant.

The Reality: DECLOs Are Struggling Under System Pressure

The legislative intent is clear. The operational reality is a different story. A 2024 internal audit of the Swansea Bay University Health Board's ALN implementation returned a "Limited Assurance" rating — one of the most critical verdicts available in an internal audit. The findings exposed severe resourcing and staffing shortfalls in Speech and Language Therapy departments, critical shortages posing a direct risk of breaching statutory ALN obligations, and the complete suspension of performance reporting due to unreliable data quality.

This is not unique to Swansea Bay. Across Wales, health boards face chronic shortages of bilingual specialists, long NHS waiting lists for neurodevelopmental assessments, and workforce constraints that mean children with IDPs citing health provision in Section 2C often wait months for services to actually begin.

Understanding this helps parents approach the DECLO role strategically. You are not navigating a well-oiled system. You are navigating one that is under severe strain, where advocacy is needed simply to secure what the law already requires.

How to Use the DECLO Role Effectively

When to contact the DECLO:

• Your child needs clinical services (SaLT, OT, physio, CAMHS) as part of their ALP, but Section 2C of the IDP is blank or vague
• NHS services agreed in Section 2C are not being delivered or are significantly delayed
• You are preparing for an IDP meeting and want health board representation

How to find your DECLO:

The DECLO is based at your Local Health Board. Wales has seven health boards (Aneurin Bevan, Betsi Cadwaladr, Cardiff and Vale, Cwm Taf Morgannwg, Hywel Dda, Powys Teaching, Swansea Bay). Your health board's website should list ALN contacts, and if not, the main switchboard can direct you. The school's ALNCo should also have the DECLO contact details for your area.

What to write:

A formal letter to the DECLO should:

1. Identify your child, their school, and the fact that an IDP is in place or being prepared
2. List the clinical services your child has been assessed as needing (citing the specific professional reports)
3. Request that the health board formally assess whether a "relevant treatment or service" should be described in Section 2C of the IDP
4. Cite Section 61 of the ALNET Act 2018 and the health board's statutory obligation

Do not send this as an informal email to the school asking them to "contact the health board." That rarely results in action. Send it directly to the DECLO, copy the school ALNCo, and request written confirmation that the health board will be represented at the next IDP meeting.

When the Health Board Fails to Deliver

If Section 2C of your child's IDP contains specified provision and the NHS is not delivering it, the escalation pathway is different from the education route. You cannot take the health board to the Education Tribunal for Wales for failing to deliver health provision — the ETW handles education decisions. The correct route is:

1. Contact the DECLO directly in writing, setting out the failure and requesting urgent action
2. If the DECLO does not resolve the issue, use the NHS Wales "Putting Things Right" statutory complaints procedure — this is the formal complaint mechanism for all NHS Wales services
3. If the complaint is not resolved satisfactorily through that route, you can escalate to the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales

Documenting every communication with dates and outcomes is essential for this escalation path. The evidence you gather through the Putting Things Right process may also be relevant if you subsequently bring an ETW appeal on education grounds.

The Wales IDP & ALN Blueprint includes a template letter for escalating to the DECLO, as well as guidance on using the Putting Things Right process when NHS provision is missing or inadequate.

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