Implementing the reforms for

special educational needs and disability

Key Messages August 2014

The visionChildren’s SEN are picked up early and support is routinely put in place

quickly;

Staff have the knowledge, understanding and skills to provide the right support for children and young people who have SEN or are disabled;

Parents know what they can reasonably expect their local school, college, LA & local services to provide, without having to fight for it;

Aspirations for children and young people are raised through an increased focus on life outcomes, including employment;

For more complex needs, an integrated assessment and a single Education, Health and Care Plan are in place from birth to 25

There is greater control for parents and young people over the services they and their family use.

Our logo

Our logo, which places the child and family firmly in the centre, also shows the range of support available.

• a

Servicesforeveryone

Targeted services

Support from your family and community networks

Specialist services

Child and

Family

What’s happening

• The reforms place children, young people (up to the age of 25 if they remain in education) and their families in the centre of our work, using person centred and outcome focused planning. All practitioners will work with families to understand their support needs, priorities and aspirations.

• The Local Offer gives information about services for children, young people and families. It will be web based and we will aim to continuously improve it.

• We will be working across the services which support children, young people and their families to streamline our work and ensure that everyone is clear about who’s doing what and why.

What’s happening• Most children with SEN will have their needs met within mainstream

educational settings (early years, schools and colleges).

• Some will need an SEN support plan, which will be drawn up and reviewed by families and schools. Plan templates and guidance are available on the ESCC website (czone).

• Children with the highest levels of needs will be assessed for an Education Health & Care (EHC) plan, where evidence shows additional & individual support is needed to achieve outcomes. The EHC assessment and planning process will include consideration of a personal budget, which many young people and families value as a way to have increased choice and control over their support.

 

Transfers from statements to SEN support and EHC plans

The final Code of Practice and regulations, which gives more information about the work to transfer existing statements to SEN support or EHC plans has now been published.

Families will be able to get advice from, local authority practitioners, Information for Families or a team of independent supporters. Details of how to contact them will be on our web pages.

The work will be phased over a three year period, details of which will be set out in a local transition plan and published on our web pages.

 

SEND, Safeguarding and Early Help – the synergies

Although we have different programmes of change

affecting different areas of our work there are key

principles between them:• Acting earlier where we can to prevent things getting worse• Being child, young person, and family centred• Using outcome-focused planning to get the best result for children

and young people• Focusing on family resilience and strengths• Working hard to be joined up in our support

Assessment, Planning and Review – key points

Where children and young people have both a Special EducationalNeed, or are disabled, and also need support to be safeguarded fromharm they may have more than one assessment or plan in place. This is okay as long as:

• No-one starts from scratch if there is an existing assessment or plan, and we avoid asking families to tell their story again and again

• Existing plans and assessments are shared between professionals, with family consent

• Professionals talk to one another, and make sure things are joined up – for example having joint review or assessment meetings

• Actions in the plans don’t overlap, duplicate or cause confusion• We always check, for example when plans are reviewed, whether things

can be brought together in to one plan to make things easier

Why different plans?Type of plan Purpose Lead

SEN Support Plan (e.g. School, Early Years or College based plan)

Longer-term plan focusing on one particular child and their needs to accesslearning.

Educational setting

Education Health and Care (EHC) Plan

Longer-term plan focusing on oneparticular child and the range of needsthey have across education, health and care where these require specialist responses

Coordinated by ESCC, led by those supporting the child and family

Early Help Plan A whole family plan to support families where children and young people are at Level 3 on the Safeguarding Children Continuum of Need. Usually shorter-term.

Early Help Keyworker orTargeted Early Help service

Family Support Plan / Children in Need Plan / Child Protection Plan

A whole family plan to support families where children and young people are atLevel 4 on the Safeguarding Children Continuum of Need and their a need for social workers to be involved to protect children and young people. Usually shorter-term.

Children’s Social Care social worker

Coordinating support for children and young people

All children and young people who have an EHC Plan will have a practitioner leading that plan at some points – and undertaking ‘key working functions’ such as arranging meetings and assessments, communicating with the family, and negotiating with other practitioners. This might be someone leading the assessment or it may be someone who is providing ongoing support to that child or family.

– If this is happening they should be talking to any Early Help or Social Care practitioner involved with the child or the rest of their family, and the whole family plan should be shared with them.

– Where there is a practitioner leading on support around a child or young person’s SEND then Early Help or Social Care practitioner should always consult them and include them in any work that is being done on safeguarding.

– The family should be clear who is doing what, and how different practitioners will communicate with each other

More information East Sussex webpage

www.eastsussex.gov.uk/sendreforms

East Sussex email address and telephone

number:

sendreforms@eastsussex.gov.uk

01273 481230

Forms, templates and guidance:

czone.eastsussex.gov.uk/sendreforms

National website

www.pathfinder.co.uk

Optional slides below re Local Offer, Assessment and Planning and Personal

Budgets

The Local Offer

The Local Offer

The LO provides information about provision available including education, health and care services, leisure activities and support groups.

The Local Offer is designed to:

• be clear, comprehensive and accessible

• make services responsive to local needs

• be further developed with service providers and service users

The regional framework across the South East 7 LAs

The framework sets out:

1: The vision

2: Area wide offer

This is divided by age group. . . .• Pre-school• School age• Post 16

3: Settings and service offer

And by level of need:• Universal• Targeted• Specialist

Principles for our Local Offer Framework

Holistic

Factual

Sustainable and

sustained

Empowering for parent-

carers, young people and

professionals

Accessible

Starting with what is widely available

Transparent

Co-produced by parent-

carers, young people and

professionals

Every early years’ setting, school, college and service needs to publish their Local Offer

What do you need to do

• Read the guidance on Czone:

https://czone.eastsussex.gov.uk/specialneeds/localoffer/Pages/main.aspx

• Answer the questions that will be the basis of your Local Offer.

• Have the answers reviewed by stakeholders, including families.

• Send your answers to localoffer@eastsussex.gov.uk

• Keep reviewing your Local Offer and make sure it is up to date.

Your own Local Offer will be published on your own website and will be easily identified by adding the Local Offer logo. Service offers will link to the Area Wide Offer.

Assessment and Planning

A visual of the process

Collect information Child / Family-centred

Allocation questions

Confirm entitlementAgree allocation of funding and services

-

Child / young person and family centredFocus on outcomes

Explore all sources of support options

Listen and understand

Agree and allocate

Plan together

Review and learn

Working/not working?Change,

revise outcomes, continue

Assessment and Planning works like this as well …

Whether it’s for provision mapping, SEN support plans in an educational setting or Education, Health and Care assessment and planning.

Remember:MOST children or young people with SEN should be supported through high quality, personalised teaching as set out in a provision map or similarSOME children or young people may need additional support which can be set out in an SEN support plan (Early years, school based, college based plan)A FEW children with the most complex needs, may need an Education, Health and Care plan.

• Listen to the child/young person and their family – let their voices be heard

• Understand their concerns• Make a note of their strengths and what works for the child or young

person• Discuss their circles of support• Understand their aspirations and the outcomes they want to happen. • Have a shared understanding of the language you are using, the

information you are collecting and the actions you will be taking

• Work with everyone involved to agree the outcomes you want to achieve for the child or young person – remember SMART

• Agree the resources that will be allocated to support the child or young person

• Agree the actions that everyone involved will take (including the child or young person and their parents or carers)

• Agree when and how you are going to review the outcomes

• Write down how this is going to be done• It could be in a provision map• It could be in an SEN Support Plan (Early Years/School

based/College based plan)• It might be in an Education, Health and Care Plan written after a

statutory EHC assessment• Agree and share the plan with all involved• There are guidance and templates to help you with this on Czone

Review progress against the desired outcomes with everyone involved as often as necessary but at least once a term for SEN support plans and once a year for EHC plans•What worked?•What didn’t?•What needs to be adapted or changed?•What else could be put in place?•Is a plan still needed?•Is a higher level of support needed?•What actions need to be taken?

SETTING LEAD

Local Authority lead

Levels of SEN support:

Personal Budgets

Personal budgets

Everyone with an Education, Health and Care Plan can request a Personal Budget. Where agreed, a budget will be given to support the agreed outcomes.

It should be noted however that personal budgets will not be suitable or available for everyone, this will depend on a child’s assessed needs and the outcomes to be achieved. Funding for personal budgets can come from social care, and/or health, and/or education.

It is likely that only a small proportion of families will receive a personal budget.

Having a personal budget won’t necessarily mean that the family/young person will have the money directly, but it’s about families being fully involved in planning and having clear information about what resources are being provided to support a child/young person’s outcomes.

Personal budgets

Through the assessment stage of EHC planning, there will be conversations with the family and where appropriate with the young person, to include resource allocation questions, to establish how much support is needed.

Consideration is given to eligibility thresholds to establish what funding is available and from which service/s. This available funding forms an indicative budget.

This process enables support needs to be considered against the outcomes set out in the EHC plan. It places the family (and young person where applicable) in the centre of discussions with service providers, including education settings.

Personal budgets

There are options for how personal budgets are managed. • Some families choose to have their services provided

directly to them• Some use a broker• Some manage the money themselves to arrange the

support

Whichever option a family choose, they will have the options explained so that they’re clear about what’s available.

Personal Travel Budgets (PTBs)

CYP with SEN and disabilities which mean that they cannot use public transport or walk to school or college, have traditionally been offered a taxi as part of the Council’s statutory support.

In tandem with the shift towards greater choice and control, parents are now being offered a PTB as a direct monthly payment. The budget can be used however the family would like and without the restrictions of a taxi, as long as their child gets to school or college safely and on time. If this option does not suit the family or there are significantly cheaper options available, hired transport will still be arranged.

The question of whether special travel assistance is needed is part of a child’s EHC Plan Assessment and annual review, and is an opportunity to discuss travel options. This should include PTBs and, when ready, the possibility of benefiting from Independent Travel Training (ITT) as an important life skill in the transition to adulthood.