Transcript Slide 1
So what changes , what can we expect ?
Christine Lenehan , Director CDC
Key areas of focus
•Understanding cultural change
•Working with Parents
•Working with Young People
•Partnerships across agencies
•A word about outcomes
•Wins in practice
•A few examples
Starting with culture change
A focus on outcomes
Participation of children, parents and
young people in decision-making
Joint working across agencies, services
and institutions
Principles - section 19
Children, young people and parents at the
centre of decision making
Supporting children, young people and
parents to participate
A focus on achieving the best possible
outcomes
Building a change in culture
Developing a common understanding and
language
Embedding change in strategic and
individual planning
Workforce development
Building on existing mechanisms and
creating new ones
In practice , to see
•Parents and young people involved in a local offer
process that changes and develops
•Understanding the Local Transition plan and how it
will affect you
•Understanding the new provisions for Information
Advice and Support and how they build on parent
partnerships
•Understanding SEN Support
•Understanding the contributions of health and social
care
Developed through
A process where;
•There is ongoing dialogue with Parents at
every stage
•There are clear routes to access the views of
Children and Young People themselves
•There are multi agency partnerships being
developed
•
Achieved by ;
•Early conversations with children, young people and
parents
•Person centred and focus on outcomes - avoiding a
‘change of name’ approach
•Full re-assessment may not necessary - existing
evidence can be used if it is recent and relevant
•A joint understanding of the task
Key messages from Parents
•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
Joint commissioning and EHC plans
•Getting partners signed up so they
understand roles
•Using legal duties and financial incentives
•Understanding need
What is Independent Support?
A
2-year programme to provide additional support to
young people and parents during the
implementation of the SEND reforms
Independent Support is Government funded
CDC will manage the process and oversee an
independent evaluation
Defining outcomes well
challenge:
articulating outcomes
knowing what a good outcome is
dependent on engagement with children and
young people
dependent on engagement with all partners
dependent on our data collection
Pathfinders: What are they telling us
• Engaging families and young people is critical
• Local offer needs to be engaging, accessible,
transparent & comprehensive
• Requires a culture shift in thinking & approach:
focus on outcomes; fully involving children,
parents and young people in decision-making
• Takes time, energy and determination
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 outcomesbased 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 does it look like on the ground?
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.
In Gateshead, pupils at the Cedars Academy
Special School worked with an animation
company to create a DVD called “Thanks for
listening” to tell parents, carers and professionals
about their views and aspirations.
What does it look like on the ground?
In Manchester, ‘planning live’ sessions were run for young people
aged 16 and over. Colleges, service providers and families met in
school to develop EHCPs together and allow families to meet the
services included in Manchester’s Local Offer. A video of the
students was shown to capture their aspirations and desired
outcomes, and celebrate their characters. Parents, children and
young people then presented their plans to commissioners from
Education, Health and Social Care to inform funding decisions
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.
Resources on the Act
CDC has an information sheet with
resources available on SEN and
disability policy
The resources include:
• Implementation materials on
the Act
• A checklist on drawing up
Education, Health and Care
plans
• Slide packs from the DfE on
implementing the SEND reforms
• Good practice case studies
Final thoughts
There is no big bang …this is phased
implementation
BUT , some things are core change , working
with parents differently , understanding
outcomes , the centrality of shared
information and decision making.
Its challenging but worthwhile and we ALL
need to be partners in its success