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SEN D 2014. Steve Baxter. Children and Families Bill. Proposals to reform SEN provision were first set out in the March 2011, SEND Green Paper; Support and Aspiration .
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SEN D 2014 Steve Baxter
Children and Families Bill • Proposals to reform SEN provision were first set out in the March 2011, SEND Green Paper; Support and Aspiration. • The proposals have been incorporated into the Children and Families Bill, which has completed the Committee Stage in the Commons and is now being debated in the House of Lords: • – so far there have been over 100 amendments to the Bill e.g. “will be expected to record pupils as ‘no SEN’, receiving ‘SEN support’, or as an ‘EHC Plan’” • The Children and Families Bill Part 3: “Children and Young People in England with SEN” is to be in force from Sept 2014.
The (0-25) Special Educational Needs Code of Practice • An indicative draft Code of Practice has been provided to Parliament to aid consideration of the SEN Clauses in Part 3 of the Children and Families Bill and the related draft indicative regulations • A draft (174 pages!) for formal consultation (until 9 Dec) has just been published, prior to a final draft being placed before Parliament for approval in time for it to come into force alongside the Children and Families legislation.
Definition of special educational needs (SEN) • A child or young person has SEN if they have a learning difficulty or disability which calls for special educational provision to be made for them. • A child of compulsory school age or a young person has a learning difficulty or disability if they: • (a) have a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of the same age; or • (b) have a disability which prevents or hinders them from making use of educational facilities of a kind generally provided for others of the same age; • (c) a child under compulsory school age has SEN if they fall within the definition at (a) or (b) above or would so do if SEN provision was not made for them. • i.e. NO CHANGE
Definition of disability • A child is disabled if he or she is blind, deaf or dumb or suffers from a mental disorder of any kind or is substantially and permanently handicapped by illness, injury or congenital deformity or such other disability as may be prescribed • A person has a disability if they have a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities. • i.e. NO CHANGE • Evidence suggests that approximately 75% of disabled children have a special educational need.
“A new system for special educational needs” • For children and young people with more complex needs, a co-ordinated assessment of needs and a new 0 to 25 Education, Health and Care plan • A clear focus on outcomes for children and young people with Education, Health and Care Plans, anticipating the education, health and care support they will need and planning for a clear pathway through education into adulthood • Increased choice, opportunity and control for parents and young people including a greater range of schools and colleges for which they can express a preference and the offer of a personal budget for those with an EHC plan.
Education, health and care: key duties • Local authorities are required to exercise their duties and powers to ensure the integration of special educational provision with health and social care provision • The Bill requires local authorities and their partner Clinical Commissioning Groups to commission services jointly for children and young people with SEN, both those with and without EHC plans • A local authority in England and its partner Clinical Commissioning Group(s) must make arrangements to deliver the education, health and social care provision for 0-25 year old children and young people that the LA is responsible for who have SEN.
High Needs Funding: Place-plus • Under place-plus, mainstream schools and Academies will receive formula funding which will include a notional SEN budget • From this, they will provide a standard offer of teaching and learning for all pupils to: • a. meet the needs of pupils with low cost, high incidence SEN • b. contribute, towards the costs of provision for pupils with high needs (including high cost, low incidence SEN). • “From their notional SEN budget, they will contribute the first £6,000 of the additional support costs of high needs pupils.”
Assessments and Education, Health and Care plans • In a small number of cases, ……. identify a need to conduct formal assessments of education, health and care needs, leading to an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan • The statutory assessment process must be co-ordinated across education, health and care to ensure a cohesive experience for children, parents and young people • Information from existing relevant assessments should be used and professionals must share information so that families do not have to keep giving the same information to different professionals. • “An EHC Plan is not about the paper work, it’s about creating personalised support for the family and child.”
Pathfinder progress • The programme has been extended until September 2014, to enable pathfinders to scale up their test approaches to whole areas, and support non-pathfinder areas to prepare for implementation of the reforms • “There is a culture shift in assessment and planning, with a growing emphasis on personalisation and multi-agency, outcomes-based approaches, supported by keyworking”.
Next steps for all areas • The pathfinders have shown that the workforce development and culture change needed to implement the reforms takes time, typically over a year. • The proposals for joint commissioning, a local offer and personal budgets require a strategic approach to planning services and market development, based on clear understanding of the needs of children, young people and families.
Edward Timpson - 12 July 2013 • “I spoke at the ADCS Conference on 4 July and announced that we will be providing £9m in 2013-14 to support areas prepare for implementation. I anticipate local areas drawing evidence from pathfinder experience, …, which emphasises the value of early engagement with parents and parent carer forums. We will be publishing more information in early autumn to continue to support implementation.” • “We are thinking…how to manage the changeover to a new legal system. We want children and young people with SEN to benefit from the changes as soon as possible, however, it is not proposed to move wholesale to the new system from September next year.”
Education, Health and Care Plan process • The whole assessment and planning process, from the point an assessment is requested to the completion of an EHC plan, should take no more than 20 working weeks (subject to exemptions). • Local authorities mustrespond to any request for a statutory EHC assessment within a maximum of 6 working weeks, during which time they must seek the views of the parents or young person • When local authorities request information, those supplying the information must respond within a maximum of 6 weeks from the request for assessment • Children, young people and their parents must be involved and consulted throughout the assessment and planning process; they must be given at least 15 days to consider and provide views on the draft of the EHC plan.
Moving from SEN to EHCP • By duplicating the SEN Involvements and all associated processes: • Minimum retraining of staff • No installation or migration • SEN and EHCP are both available during transition phase • Clear links between Statement and EHCP records • Welsh LAs can continue to use existing SEN • We can modify EHCP without affecting existing SEN • Clear reporting for both internal and statutory needs.
“The exact format of an EHC plan will be determined locally” • The views, interests and aspirations of the child and their parents or young person. • The child or young person’s SEN. • The outcomes sought for him or her. • The special educational provision required by him or her. • Any health and social care provision required by him or her. • The name of the school, maintained nursery school, post-16 institution or other institution or the type of school or other institution to be attended. • Where there is a personal budget, the details of this and the outcomes to which it is intended to contribute. • The advice and information gathered during the assessment (in appendices). • In addition, where the child or young person is in or beyond year 9, the plan must include the provision required to assist in preparation for adulthood.
Where are the Statement / EHC Plan and Appendices? • Paper • Linked files • EDRMS (linked?) • Integrated CMS
Local Offer • Local authorities must publish, in one place, information about provision they expect to be available in their area for children and young people from 0 to 25 who have SEN. • The local offer has two key purposes: • To provide clear, comprehensive and accessible information about the support and opportunities that are available; and • To make provision more responsive to local needs and aspirations by directly involving children and young people with SEN, parents and carers, and service providers in its development and review.
Personal Budget • A personal budget is an amount of money identified by the local authority to deliver all or some of the provisions set out in an EHC plan. • Personal budgets should reflect the holistic nature of an EHC plan, covering education, health and care services as appropriate, where additional and individual support is agreed through the planning process. • Parents and young people can request a personal budget once the authority has confirmed an EHC plan is necessary, or when the authority is undertaking a statutory review of an existing EHC plan.
Personal Budget • a. Direct Payments – where individuals receive the cash to purchase services themselves. • b. Notional arrangements – where the authority retains the funds but the parent/young person directs its usage i.e. commissioning; • c. Third party arrangements – where funds managed on behalf of the parent/young person; • d. A mixture of the above
SEN Software Consultancy Groups • Northampton • - Wed 2 October 2013 • Stoke on Trent • - Wed 6 November 2013 • Steve.Baxter@capita.co.uk
Summary • Huge change in organisation and practice • Only affects England • Draft Code of Practice consultation • September 2014 • Back office processes are similar • EHCP Involvements rather than SEN • SEN and EHCP processes will co-exist for a transition period • EHC Plan is a separate entity replacing the Statement or an LDA • EHC Plan is a 0 – 25 personalised support programme across education, health and social care.
