Help test a clearer way to connect needs and services.
Waypaths is preparing a pilot with organisations involved in SEND, inclusion, alternative provision and specialist support.
The pilot is designed to test the needs-to-services model in real workflows: what information is useful, what creates extra work, what makes decisions clearer and where human judgement, governance and operational reality must remain central.
Registering interest does not guarantee a pilot place or commit your organisation to take part, pay a fee or procure a service.
Confirmed scope and terms would be shared before any participation agreement.
Test the whole reasoning chain, not one headline match.
The pilot is intended to examine six connected parts of the Waypaths model. No single area produces an automatic placement, and not every participant must test every area.
Confirmed needs and current support
Test whether relevant learner information can become a human-confirmed needs picture and whether current support can be mapped before something new is explored.
Individual service information
Test whether school, trust, local-authority, alternative provision and specialist services can be described consistently without erasing important differences or limits.
Visible matching layers
Test whether eligibility, essential requirements, suitability and feasibility are understandable and useful when they remain separate rather than becoming one unexplained score.
Provider evidence and review status
Test whether reusable evidence and named-organisation review status reduce repetition while keeping each organisation’s requirements and decisions distinct.
Requests, responses and agreement
Test whether necessary information, questions, amendments, decisions, responsibilities and review points remain easier to follow without implying automatic placement.
Access, usability and workload
Test whether people can understand and maintain the information they need, whether permissions work in practice and where the model reduces or creates work.
Different organisations may test different parts of one shared model.
A useful pilot cohort may include organisations that coordinate, provide and review support. Participation does not have to mean every organisation tests the same workflow or sees the same information.
Local authorities may explore:
- service information across internal and external provision
- needs, current support and gap visibility
- matching reasoning and practical blockers
- provider evidence and organisation-specific review status
- access requests, decisions and review history
- de-identified questions about recurring gaps
Schools may explore:
- internal support and provision mapping
- linking support to met, partly met, unmet or unclear needs
- preparation of clearer requests where wider support may be relevant
- information continuity, responsibilities and review
- whether the model adds to or reduces current administration
Multi-academy trusts may explore:
- school-based and trust-wide service visibility
- access conditions across schools
- learner-level coordination without removing school context
- appropriately de-identified themes and recurring gaps
- trust-wide governance and role permissions
Alternative provision organisations may explore:
- individual service and service-variant profiles
- needs, essential requirements and service limits
- reusable evidence and named-organisation review status
- clearer access or referral requests
- questions, amendments, acceptance, decline and review
Specialists may explore:
- translating relevant insight into source-linked, human-confirmed requirements
- keeping professional context and limits visible
- representing individual specialist services
- linking recommendations to current support and review
- role and permission-based access to necessary information
Guardians:
Family and learner perspectives are essential to research and evaluation, but families will not be direct pilot partners.
Practical questions before registering interest.
Is the pilot open now?
Waypaths is preparing the pilot and inviting expressions of interest.
Does registering interest secure a place?
No. Registration helps Waypaths understand your organisation, the workflow you want to test and whether a fit conversation may be useful. Selection depends on the confirmed scope, readiness, learning value and available capacity.
What are the participation arrangements?
Participation arrangements and terms will be shared and discussed in detail with any organisation invited to progress with the pilot.
Will every organisation test the complete Waypaths model?
Not necessarily. A proportionate pilot should define the workflow, users, services, information and measures relevant to the agreed question. Different organisations may test different parts of one shared model.
Does pilot participation guarantee referrals, savings or better outcomes?
No. The pilot is intended to test workload, clarity, usability, governance and coordination questions. It does not guarantee referral volume, access to services, cost reduction, faster decisions or learner outcomes.
Does Waypaths replace our current systems?
No replacement, integration or interoperability should be assumed. The readiness and scoping process should identify which current systems and processes remain in use and where duplication or technical work may arise.
Will we need to provide all learner and service information?
No. The pilot should use only the information necessary and permitted for the agreed scope.
Can families or learners join the organisational pilot directly?
Families and learners cannot join the pilot directly, however we encourage families to introduce the organisations, local authorities and schools they work with if they wish for them to take part. Guardian perspectives may contribute through permitted organisational access, evaluation or separately approved research.
Does the pilot replace procurement, data-protection or safeguarding review?
No. Each organisation remains responsible for its procurement, contracts, data protection, information governance, safeguarding, statutory and professional responsibilities.
What happens at the end of the pilot?
The end-of-pilot process will review what was tested, what was learned and what remains uncertain. Continued use or another agreement will be discussed and agreed separately with each pilot participant.
Start with the question your organisation needs to test.
If your organisation is exploring a pilot, tell us about the workflow, the people involved, the current burden and what a useful test would need to answer. You do not need to present a finished implementation plan.
Explore pilot fit
Registering interest is exploratory. It does not secure a place or commit your organisation to take part, pay a fee or procure a service.
Ask a pilot question
Ask about scope, readiness or the proposed process without registering an organisational interest.
Join the research instead
Share evidence about current workflows without exploring pilot participation. Do not include identifiable learner information.
Test the model. Keep the decisions human.