Support and aspiration: Implementing the SEN and Disability Reforms

CONTENTS

THESE SLIDES ARE DESIGNED TO BE ADAPTED TO THE NEEDS OF YOUR AUDIENCE.

1.Case for change and vision – CORE SLIDES 2.What the reforms cover – CORE SLIDES 3.Implementation timeline and support available – CORE SLIDES 4.What the reforms mean for children, young delivery partners 5.Policy in detail

The current system of SEND support is complicated, expensive and delivers poor outcomes.

• Parents struggle to find the services that should be helping them, have to battle to get the help their children need, and have to tell their stories time and again.

• Moving from children’s to adults’ services can be very difficult.

• English LAs spend over £5 billion a year on SEND provision, and yet those with special needs are far more likely to achieve poorly at GCSE, Not be in Education, Employment or Training, or be unemployed. • These issues affect a lot of people: 1 in 5 children are currently identified as having some form of SEND, with 2.8% having a more complex need. 3

What we want to achieve

We want children and young people with special needs and disabilities to achieve well in their early years, at school and in college; find employment; lead happy and fulfilled lives; and have choice and control over their support.

The special needs reforms will implement a new approach which seeks to join up help across education, health and care, from birth to 25. Help will be offered at the earliest possible point, with children and young people with SEND and their parents or carers fully involved in decisions about their support and what they want to achieve. This will help lead to better outcomes and more efficient ways of working.

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The SEND reforms: putting children and young people at the centre

Where disagreements happen, they can be resolved early and amicably, with the option of a Tribunal for those that need it Better disagreement resolution processes Positive Wellbeing Enablers Joint commissioning Outcomes Having friends Employment prospects 0-25 Children and young people with SEND and families Local offer Children, young people and parents understand a joined up system, designed around their needs Information, advice and support Making their views heard Good qualifications Extending choice and

control over their support.

Option of a Personal Budget Integrated assessment and planning Education Health and Care Plan is holistic, co produced, focused on outcomes, and is delivered

Children and Families Act overview

• New requirement for LAs, health and care services to commission services jointly for SEN and disability; • LAs to publish a clear, transparent ‘local offer’ of services; • More streamlined assessment process, co-ordinated across education, health and care; • New 0-25 Education, Health and Care Plans for those with more complex needs; • New statutory protections for young people aged 16-25 in FE • A new duty on health commissioners to deliver the agreed health elements of EHC plans; • The option of a personal budget for families and young people with an EHC plan.

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This approach works

• 31 Pathfinder authorities have been testing the reforms. They found: Families feel more in control, better informed and more satisfied with the services they receive; • Professionals are finding genuine partnership working with families is highly rewarding and generates better results; • The reforms are bringing about a culture shift in assessment and planning, with a growing emphasis on personalisation, multi-agency working and outcomes-based

approaches

“It was really rather lovely to feel... heard on an equal footing!...Sometimes it used to feel as if being a parent was itself a disability. Now I feel that I am part of the team…Now it feels as though there is someone on my side. Before I felt like the enemy.” Parent from Surrey

What children and young people with SEN and disabilities want:

• • • • •

Parents said:

Engage with us every step of the way Be honest, even with the difficult bits Be clear this isn’t an excuse for cutting services Ask for our help Help us understand the cultural change • •

Young people said:

Listen to the needs and aspirations of young people Young people should be allowed to meet without parents so they can talk without being influenced 8

The legal framework and implementation

- Children and Families Act 2014 – Royal Assent 13 March 2014 - Regulations laid – spring 2014 - New Special Educational Needs and Disability Code of Practice – final stage of consultation until 6 May. See – https://www.education.gov.uk/consultations/ - LAs, CCGs and education settings prepare for implementation – implementation pack published 8 April. See – https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/implementing-the-0-to-25 special-needs-system - SEND Reforms commence from 1 Sept 2014 - Transitional arrangements – phase out LDAs by Sept 2016, statements by April 2018 9

Key changes from September 2014

• LAs and CCGs will work together to

commission services jointly

to secure a better integrated system for 0-25 year olds • Together, they will produce a

local offer

of services, developed with parents and young people • A

streamlined assessment process

, co-ordinated across education, health and care, and involving children and young people and their families throughout. • A new

0-25 Education, Health and Care Plan

to replace the current system of Statements and Learning Difficulty Assessments • A

phased transition

for those already with Statements and Learning Difficulty Assessments, taking place over time.

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Opportunities - support offer 2014-15

• £70 million SEND reform grant plus funding for new burdens • • • • • • Up to £900,000 for pathfinder champions 2014-15; delivery partner contracts extended; VCS grants Increased funding for parent carer forums Support for parents and young people through 1,800 Independent Supporters From May 2014, the Nasen gateway will provide a one-stop shop of resources for schools For FE: funding bursaries of up to £9,000 for high calibre graduates to train as specialist SEND teachers (2013-14 and 2014-15) Making £1m in grants available for the existing FE workforce to undertake specialist SEND CPD (2013-14) Minimum of two champion one-to one support days to each LA; plus support days from delivery partners Champions and deliver partners are developing regional delivery plans during April, with support and co-ordination from Mott MacDonald and CDC/Early Support

Opportunities – SEND Reform Hubs

Making it happen: some questions to help you deliver the SEND reforms:

• • • • • • Have you got a plan?

Do you know what will be difficult to achieve?

Do you know what help is available to support you? How you will work with children and young people?

What do you and your partners have in common?

How will you work with your partners?

NHS Education Improved outcomes for children, young people and families Social Care

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For local authorities

What:

• • • • • • • By September 2014, all LAs will need to have: Established local partnerships with children, young people and parents and education, health and social care. Developed plans for

care services, 0-25; joint commissioning across education, health and

Published the Developed processes for

plans

;

local offer

, fully involving parents and young people;

co-ordinated assessment, planning and EHC

Set out a co-produced local policy for Planned provision of local Reviewed and developed local arrangements

personal budgets; information, advice and support

(with users)

mediation and disagreement resolution

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For Clinical Commissioning Groups

What:

From September 2014 CCGs

must

work with LAs to: • commission services jointly for 0-25 year old children and young people with disabilities and SEN, including those with Education Health and Care plans; • ensure that procedures are in place to agree a plan of action to secure provision which meets a child or young person’s reasonable health need in

every

case; • work with the local authority to contribute to the local offer; • ensure that mechanisms are in place to ensure practitioners and clinicians will support the integrated Education Health and Care Assessment within a 20 week maximum; • agree personal budgets under section 49.

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For clinicians and therapists:

What:

• • • Health services for children, young people and families provide: early identification assessment and diagnosis intervention and review for children and young people with long term and disabling conditions Services are delivered by health professionals including paediatricians, GPs, nurses, and allied health professionals, occupational therapists, speech and language therapists, physiotherapists and psychologists. commissioning duty. “I have found the new process really positive. The live documents we have generated with the parents capture a much better description of the child. Their personality really shines through and parents feel that this provides a truer reflection of their child.” Lead professional and consultant paediatrician in Cornwall 17

For early years settings

What: Early Years providers are required to: • follow the standards set out in the Early Years Foundation Stage framework, which includes supporting children with SEND; • they are no longer required to record

on early years action / early years action plus;

• work in partnership with parents/carers to develop a plan of support; • admit a child, where the nursery is named in their EHC plan; • co-operate with the local authority in developing the local offer; • have a member of staff to act as SENCO; • Have regard to the new 0-25 SEND Code of Practice

.

http://www.4children.org.uk/ 18

For schools:

What:

The main legal duties on schools will not change, but the way you meet these duties will. Schools must: • use their ‘best endeavours’ to meet pupils’ SEND. Schools no longer have to record pupils as ‘school action’ or ‘school action plus’; • inform parents when pupils receive support for special educational needs and involve them in reviews of progress; • admit a young person, where the school is named in an EHC plan • co-operate with the local authority in developing the local offer; • appoint a suitably qualified or experienced member of staff as SENCO (National Award); • have regard to the new 0-25 SEND Code of Practice.

www.nasen.org.uk

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For post-16 settings

What:

Further Education colleges, Sixth Form colleges and approved Independent Specialist Providers will be under new legal duties from September 2014, which extend comparable rights and protections for young people aged 16 25 in further education as to those found for children/their parents in school.

The key new duties are: • to use ‘best endeavours’ for all young people (up to the age of 25) with SEND, regardless of whether or not they have an EHC plan; • to admit a young person, where the college is named in their EHC plan; • to co-operate with the local authority, and for them to co-operate in return; • to have regard to the new 0-25 SEND Code of Practice.

http://www.preparingforadulthood.org.uk/ 20

For social care

What

: From September 2014, local authority social care teams will be required to co-operate with local authority SEND teams and others in: • A co-ordinated assessment process leading to an outcomes focused Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan. • Preparing a local offer setting out how parents and young people can access services across education, health and social care LAs should also consider the crucial role that short breaks can play in supporting families. 21

Managing transition to the new system

From 1 September 2014: • no new assessments for statements or Learning Difficulty Assessments (LDAs) will be offered by local authorities; • children and young people with existing statements transfer to the new system within three and a half years; and young people with existing LDAs transfer within two years; • transfer will happen through a ‘transition review’ and local authorities must have regard to the principles set out in the revised 0-25 SEND Code of Practice when writing new EHC plans; • local authorities must work with children and young people with SEND and their parents to agree how transfer from statements over the proposed three and a half year period will be phased; • to ensure broadly comparable local plans, national parameters will be established to guide the transfer.

Where can I find out more?

• • •

Visit the pathfinder website at

www.SENDpathfinder.co.uk

to see: Latest information packs from the pathfinders, including case studies, video clips and links to useful materials Pathfinder evaluation reports Information about the Delivery Partners who are supporting the reforms and can offer help and advice

Download the Council for Disabled Children’s (CDC’s) resources:

www.councilfordisabledchildren.org.uk/sendreforminfosheet

For regular updates, sign up to receive CDC’s e-bulletin by e mailing

[email protected]

Access the Preparing for Adulthood support materials:

http://www.preparingforadulthood.org.uk/

A final thought…

From a parent from East Sussex

“We have a brilliant keyworker. She has been of great emotional support to me and has made sure that all agencies working with us have met together regularly. When we wrote the "single EHC plan" everyone contributed to it - the school, (current and previous teacher), SALT, O.T., social care and us. We have now been living that plan for several months and the results have been incredible. In the previous system his statement had not changed since it was issued at the age of 4 and it consequently looked as if little progress had been made. With his current plan, we have already achieved several short term goals and are working on longer term goals now. We all meet to review and update progress and people are working in partnership and really valuing our opinions and needs as a family. It has been an emotional, but really positive experience and it has been great for us and professionals alike to celebrate his progress and achievements. To me it makes total sense to use this more holistic and personalised approach if we are to empower families and ensure that our children reach their potential and have the very best future that they deserve.” 24

Additional slides to draw on as speakers need

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The SEND Reform Journey

March 2011 May 2012 Sept 2012 Feb 2013 March 2013 Autumn 2013 Spring 2014 Sept 2014 • Green Paper: Support and aspiration: A new approach to special educational needs and disability • Support and aspiration: Progress and next steps • Draft provisions published for pre-legislative scrutiny by the Education Select Committee • Government response to pre-legislative scrutiny; and • Children and Families Bill introduced to Parliament • Indicative draft regulations and a draft Code of Practice published for committee stage of the Bill, informed by pathfinder learning • Public consultation on regulations and Code of Practice, informed by further pathfinder learning • Royal Assent (subject to Parliamentary approval) • Issue final Code of Practice • Legal changes commence in practice (meeting original Green Paper commitment for reforms in place by 2014)

Overview: Reform of high needs funding

Pre-16 SEND and AP Mainstream settings Specialist settings Mainstream per-pupil funding (AWPU) Contribution of £6,000 to additional support required by a pupil with high needs, from the notional SEND budget Base funding of £10,000 for SEND and £8,000 for AP placements, which is roughly equivalent to the level up to which a mainstream provider would have contributed to the additional support provision of a high needs pupil. Base funding is provided on the basis of planned places.

Post-16 SEND and LDD All settings Mainstream per-student funding (as calculated by the national 16-19 funding system) Contribution of £6,000 to additional support required by a student with high needs “Top-up” funding from the commissioner to meet the needs of each pupil or student placed in the institution

DfE (2012) School funding reform: Next steps towards a fairer system.

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Amendments made in the Lords:

Disability

Disability

• a duty to identify all children and young people who are disabled • a duty to jointly commission services for children and young people who are disabled • a duty to provide information and advice to the parents of disabled children and young people who are disabled • a duty to set out services in the local offer for children and young people who are disabled

Adding children to the LA information and advice duties

(clause 32) • Local authorities are required to provide information and advice to children with SEN and who are disabled, as well as to parents and young people.

Adding a requirement to the local offer

(clause 30(6)) • LAs must set out what action they intend to take in response to comments on the local offer, and to develop their action plans with parents, children and young people 28

Amendments made in the Lords:

EHC Plans:

Health and social care in a plan which is to be classed as education

(Clause 21(5)) Defining when health and social care are to be treated as special educational provision in EHC plans Social care included in EHC plans (clause 37) A requirement on LAs to include the social care services they must deliver under the Chronically Sick and Disabled person’s Act 1970 in EHC plans 29

Amendments made in the Lords:

Having regard to age

(various clauses, including clause 36) In clause 36, LAs will instead have to have regard to whether a young person requires additional time to complete his or her education or training. In clause 44, LAs will instead have to have regard to whether the educational or training outcomes specified in the plan have been achieved.

Young offenders

(various additional clauses) Young offenders are included in assessment and planning duties that are broadly similar to those in the Bill for other children and young people.

Redress

(various clauses) Scope of disagreement resolution arrangements and mediation extended to cover health and social care as well as education 30

Making it happen: some questions to help you deliver cultural change (LAs and CCGs)

• How do I know what children and young people with SEN and Disabilities (and their parents and carers) want and need?

• How can we work together to deliver what they need?

• How will I know if services are delivering the expected outcomes?

• What does the ‘customer journey’ through this provision look like? • What opportunities do we have to intervene early?

• What training is needed to make sure support is person centred and holistic?

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Joint commissioning

Joint commissioning is how partners agree how they will work together, to deliver joint outcomes for children and young people with SEND. Listening and responding to the views of children and young people and their parents, and other partners is fundamental to this process. •Assessment of need •Analyse inequalities •Review policy, guidance and research •Identify resources Joint understanding of need Joint Planning •Develop strategy/ plans •Make best use of resources •Identify accessible support services Based on a joint understanding of population need, commissioners will design integrated care pathways, which will then be presented publicly as the local offer.

Delivery must be monitored to ensure the offer improves over time.

•Monitor progress towards outcomes; •Review outcomes; •Manage provider performance Joint Review Ultimately councillors are held to account to ensure this is done, and CCGs will be monitored against the NHS Mandate by NHS England.

Joint Delivery •Organise and obtain support using appropriate methods •Work with families, communities, providers and partners to develop/ support services Rochdale’s joint commissioning approach

Local offer overview

What:

LAs and CCGs must work together to set out in one place information about provision they expect to be available for children and young people in their area who have SEND, including those who do not have EHC plans.

How it helps:

• Children young people and their parents and carers can shape the local offer – LAs must consult on it and publish what they have done in response to that consultation; • The local offer will make it much easier for children, young people and their parents to navigate the support available, drawing on information, advice and guidance and key worker support; • Through the Code of Practice we are updating the four areas of need.

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EHC assessment and plans overview

EHC plans will be statutory documents, and will have legal force on education and health support.

The co-ordinated assessment and EHC planning process should: • Promote a “tell us once” approach to sharing information wherever possible • Put children, families and young people at the centre of the process • Have effective co-ordination between education, health and care services, with joint agreement on key outcomes • Include consideration of a step down process for children/young people who do not have plan following assessment or who do not meet the criteria for an assessment • Have a maximum 20 week assessment and planning process from initial request to issuing the final plan • • EHC plans should be: • clear, concise, readable and accessible to parents, children, young people and practitioners •

specific on special educational needs, outcomes and special educational, health and care provision

needed, with clearly identified sections supportive of preparation for key transition points Portable In Greenwich, families are setting up password-protected websites personalised with music, short films and written reports to bring their EHCPs to life. Professionals regularly post video clips and other information to keep the plan up to date. 34

SEN Support in Schools

What

:

SEN Support replaces School Action and School Action Plus in the Code of Practice: • Legal SEN definitions and duties remains the same; • A clear process for identification and assessment, objective setting and reviewing progress; • It focuses on Quality-first teaching as foundation.

• Focused on impact rather than input and categorising pupils; • Challenges schools to improve the quality of teaching and learning for all pupils.

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Working with children and young people and their parents and carers

Section 19

of the Children and Families Act lays the foundation for working in partnership with children and young people and their parents and carers.

It states that local authorities must have regard to: • The views, wishes and feelings of the child, young person and their parents; • The importance of allowing them to participate in decisions relating to themselves (or their child); • The importance of providing information to enable active participation in decision-making; • The need to support the child, young person and their parents to facilitate development and enable the best possible outcomes, educational or otherwise. 36

Information, advice and support

What:

LAs must provide all parents, children and young people with information, advice and support that covers SEND, disability and related health and social care and is impartial, confidential and free.

• • •

How

Should build on Parent Partnership Services to develop an Information, Advice and Support Service (IASS) The IASS will also signpost parents, children and young people to additional sources of information, advice and support that may be available locally/nationally.

Can be in-house or commissioned out .

“The creation of an information, advice and support service for parents, children and young people is an exciting opportunity. This opportunity which will build on and enhance the breadth of knowledge and support provided by Parent Partnership Service, to include matters related to education, health and social care is not one not be missed.” Coventry PPS

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Personal Budgets

What: As part of their local offer, local authorities should set out a co produced local policy for personal budgets. • • • • •

How

Identify and agree the funding streams and services for inclusion from September 2014 and develop the necessary infrastructure; Identify and establish the information advice and support necessary at an area and individual level to help families consider options for, and to take-up and manage, personal budgets; Develop a pathway for personal budgets within the EHC assessment and planning process; Identify how the new joint commissioning strategies will support greater choice and control beyond September 2014; Maintain the core principles in the Code of Practice at all times, ensuring children, young people and families are involved in the decision making processes at both an individual and strategic level.

In

Hartlepool

, personal budgets are being been used to fund work placements. Claire hopes to work with animals in the future and is using her personal budget to fund a 10 week placement at a local charity with a small animal farm. The LA helped Claire and her mum negotiate terms and Claire is now using the personal budget to pay for support from a member of staff from the charity, at a cost of £15 per hour.

Personal Budgets in Practice

Parent View: Parent and Parent Carer Information and Participation Officer

“My 21 year old daughter has been in receipt of a Personal Budget for just over 2 years now. It has made a tremendous difference to her life, not just because of the money attached to it but because of the way her plan was pulled together, keeping her needs and those of the family at the centre”

Professional View: Key Worker

“Mum and Dad… haven’t had a break from their caring role for 5 years although they have got Direct Payments for their daughters. The Direct Payments had been given for personal care in the morning and parents wanted an overnight stay for the girls once a month so the parent could spend time together. It was only when the key worker suggested using the Direct Payments in a more flexible, creative way to meet need that this option had been looked at. Parents now have a full day’s break with an overnight once a month which has made such a difference to the whole family.”

Parent View: Tom’s mum

“I feel that the personalisation process has been great for Tom… it’s helped us focus on issues that have needed addressing for some time. Listening to other people’s points of view, especially at the Circle of Support… has been very helpful. Tom has also been able to express his own views on what’s important to him. We’ve identified that Tom needs to be busy and stimulated when he is away from college, and needs to do so in an age appropriate way, i.e. not always with Mum… Its’ been really difficult for him to realise much independence from parents, but that’s now starting to happen, and he’s loving it.

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• • • •

Redress overview

People will still be able to appeal to the Tribunal but parents and young people will have the opportunity to go to mediation before appealing; Before registering an appeal with the Tribunal parents and young people will have to contact an independent mediation adviser for information on mediation; Following this they can decide if they want to go to independent mediation – the local authority would have to attend and the mediation would take place within 30 days; This gives parents and young people the chance of getting their dispute without the stress of having to go through an appeal at the Tribunal; • • • DfE are also: widening mediation so that it can consider health and social care; conducting a review of complaint and appeal arrangements for children and young people with SEND and; conducting pilots looking at the Tribunal being able to make recommendations about the health and social care aspects of EHC plans.

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Preparing for Adulthood

• A

single system

from 0-25 for EHC plans, removing the current ‘cliff edge’ at 16; • Focus on outcomes and

preparing for adulthood

– employment, health, independent living and community inclusion. • Local authorities to involve

training providers

when reviewing their special educational provision and developing their local offer; • Role for local authorities in commissioning study programmes and specialist provision;

post-16 provision

, to deliver outcomes for young people, including supported internships, • Young people with EHC plans can consolidate their learning.

remain in the SEN system

between age 19 and 25, where the extra time will allow them to 41