Changes to the Special
Educational Needs system
• Somerset’s Local Offer
• Education Health and Care Plans
• Annual Reviews and the transfer of statements to
EHCPs
• Personal Budgets
• Preparation for Adulthood
Somerset’s Local Offer
Somerset’s Local Offer will be published online by September
1st 2014. Its 2 key purposes are:
1.
2.
To provide clear, comprehensive and accessible
information about the provision available in Somerset
and how you can access it.
To make provision more responsive to local needs
and aspirations by directly involving disabled
children/young people and those with SEN and their
parents in its development and review.
It will not just be a directory of services: the Local Offer page
will link to each service provider’s web page in order to keep
the information accurate and up-to-date
Somerset’s Local Offer
The Local Authority has:
•
Worked with the Parent Carer Forum to identify the
services that should be covered, the information that
parent carers want to see for each of those services
and the manner in which it can be accessed.
•
Somerset Parent Carer Forum and the LA have
agreed the information that all education settings will
be required to provide.
•
All schools have been sent a set of questions and the
deadline for responses is 27th June 2014.
Education, Health and Care
Plans (EHCPs)
EHCPs will replace Statements of SEN; the main differences
between them are:
•
•
•
•
•
EHCPs places the child and family at the centre of the
process
The young person’s views from age 16 are equally
important as parents
EHCPs focus on outcomes, rather than objectives
Timescale for assessment has been shortened from 26 to
20 weeks
The age range has been extended to cover 0-25 years
Education, Health and Care
Plans (EHCPs)
•
The criteria for determining whether an assessment of SEN
is necessary has not changed
•
The Local Authority will consider requests from young
people, parents and schools.
•
The assessment process is still evidence-based
•
The Code of Practice states that the format of the EHCP
will be agreed locally – there is no national template.
Education, Health and Care
Plans (EHCPs)
The different sections of the EHCP will describe:
• The views, interests and aspirations of the child or
young person and their parent.
• Their Special Educational Needs
• Their Health and Care needs that are related to their
SEN and the provision for them
• Long and short term outcomes and SEN provision
• Their Education or training placement
• Whether a Personal Budget has been allocated
Annual Reviews
The mechanics of the Annual Review process has not changed.
• However the key change is to the paperwork but we have been
unable to determine the changes until the assessment of Annual
Reviews is complete.
• Annual Reviews will use the ‘Plan, Do, Review’ process
• It will prompt necessary changes to the Action Plan in the EHCP
• It will allow parents/young people to amend their views and
aspirations contained in the EHCP
• It will make sure the EHCP is reviewed when a young person is at
the end of a Key Stage or approaching a phase transfer.
Annual Reviews
• The Annual Review will play an important part in arranging for
the Local Authority to transfer existing Statements to EHCPs.
• There will be a 4 year programme to complete this transfer
and during this time existing legislation will remain in place
and Statements will continue to be legal documents.
• The LA has to publish an agreed timeframe by 1st September
2014
Personal Budgets
• Personal ‘Education’ Budgets are optional, and any request
to use one has to be agreed with the education setting and
the LA
• The EHCP will identify whether any other personal budget is
held by the child/young person or their family
• If a request is received for a personal education budget the
LA will consult with the education setting.
Personal Budgets
• A personal education budget can include provision
from both the school’s delegated funds and more
specialist provision funded wholly or partly from the
LA’s high needs funding.
• The SEN element of a personal budget will vary,
depending on how services are commissioned and
what schools provide as part of the local offer
Preparing for Adulthood
As Education, Health and Care Plans can be in place for
young people from 0-25, a key function of them will be to
define how that young person will prepare for moving into
adulthood.
• There will be support for young people from Year 9
onwards which will help them develop their aspirations
through the curriculum and extra curricula provision
• ‘Preparing for Adulthood Reviews’ – EHCP Annual
Reviews from Year 9 onwards will include a focus on
preparing for adulthood
• Young People will be supported to prepare for making
their own decisions
Preparing for Adulthood
Young People will have the right to:
• request an assessment;
• make representations about the content of their EHCP;
• request which educational/training setting is named in
their EHCP;
• request a Personal Budget;
• appeal to the First Tier Tribunal (SEN and Disability) if
necessary.
Further Information
For further information, please contact
SENDReforms@somerset.gov.uk
All other new information will be published on the
SEND Reforms website: http://bit.ly/SENDReform