Tower Hamlets Children’s Social Care Response to
Every Disabled Child Matters
NHS Tower Hamlets and Local Authority Charter 2011
1. We know how many disabled children live in our area and all agencies in our area are working together to plan services based on this
knowledge.
Evidence
Status
Lead Officer
Comments
The SEN team maintains data on the above children
Khalida Khan2252 children / young people aged 0-up to 18 are
a The EPS maintains the ASD database in
Service Manager
known to have additional needs, learning difficulties
partnership with others to help predict need
with David Carroll
or a disability. This also includes children and young
and uses this to help plan provision needed.
Head of Education
people with an SEN statement.
1533 out of 2252 children and young people
Psychology Service
Information is reported to the multi agency Disabled
identified with a disability ( April 2011).
Children Strategic Group and Be Healthy
Commissioning and Delivery Group.
Information is shared with the local parents forum
Parents and Carers of Children with Special
Educational needs (PACSEN) ; the Integrated
Services for Children with Disabilities Partnership
Group and the Short Break Providers Forum.
2. We have an identified lead with specific responsibility for services for disabled children and families.
Evidence
The Integrated Service Manager for Disabled
Children
is the senior manager for disabled children.
Mulberry Place
5 Clove crescent
London E14 2BG
Tel 0207 364 2129.
Khalida.khan@towerhamlets.gov.uk
Status
Lead Officer
Comments
Khalida khan
Evidence of partnership work is strong from the Third
Sector, Schools and Statutory Services such as
Health, Education and Social Care. A range of
inclusive and specialist provision is commissioned
within a Framework known as the Family Well Being
Model.
3. We are providing clear information to support choice and control for parents that explains how we provide specialist services and also
make all universal services accessible.
Evidence
Status
Lead Officer
Comments
The following is available from the internet and from
Khalida Khan
A practical Directory for families has been consulted
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the Children and Family Information Service:
The Directory of Services for Disabled Children and
Young People
Short Breaks Self Referral for Disabled Children
Transition into Adulthood Services
upon and will be finalised for publication this year.
Care pathways are also available.
www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/childrenwithdisabilities
The Children with Disabilities Team can be contacted
Mulberry Place
5 Clove crescent
London E14 2BG
Tel 0207 364 2724
4. Parents and carers in our area have access to transparent information on decisions made about their child, and have access to
mechanisms for providing feedback
Evidence
Status
Lead Officer
Comments
Jenny MillerParents Advice Centre
The Parent Advice Centre ( PAC) work closely with
Manager of Parent
30 Greatorex St
PACSEN and families for all children with a disability
Partnership –
London E1 5NP
subject to a Special Educational Needs ( SEN)
Parents Advice
020 7364 6489
statement.
Centre
There are PACSEN members who are part of the
Integrated Services for Children with Disabilities
Partnership Group.
The SEN team provides clear information to parents
and carers about how processes work, how decisions
are made and how they can continue discussions
with the LA through all processes.
The SEN team receives notifications from Health and
others of children thought to have significant SEN.
These are often very young children. The Education
Psychology Service (EPS) responds on behalf of the
Local Authority working with families to determine
the degree of difficulty and type of support needed as
the child enters education provision. EPs encourage
parent and carers to express their views on how their
child is best supported, their preference regarding the
school they would their child to attend.
David Carroll- Head
of EP Service
SEN
Mulberry Place
5 Clove Crescent,
London E14 2BG
Tel 0207 364 1450
www.towerhamlets.gov.uk
5. Disabled children and their families are involved in the planning, commissioning and monitoring of services in our area, including both
specialist and universal services.
Evidence
Status
Lead Officer
Comments
We have PACSEN members who have sat on
Parent
PACSEN
interviewing panels for Social Workers and have also
www.pacsen.org.uk
been involved in short break tendering panels.
hello@pacsen.org.uk
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Through the Children’s Centre Network EPs support
parents of children who have disabilities giving them
the opportunity to discuss their thoughts and feelings.
This is a valuable piece of work enables parents to
feel more in control and better able to care for their
child.
6. Our Parent Carer Forum is instrumental in developing and reviewing services in our area and promoting choice and control for parents.
Evidence
PACSEN is apart of the wider national parent and
carer forum which hold regional cluster meetings to
discuss services, support/concerns and promoting
the parents forum in your local area. PACSEN also
have an up and running website, email address and
mobile telephone. PACSEN members have also been
involved in surveys that will be used as part of
national statistics for Parent Participation by the
government
Status
Lead Officer
Parent
Comments
PACSEN
www.pacsen.org.uk
hello@pacsen.org.uk
07855858409
7. We actively include disabled children and young people in any decisions made about them and the services that they access, that might
affect them.
Evidence
Status
Lead Officer
Comments
We consult with Disabled Children in primary and
Khalida Khan
If you have a child under the age of five or a child
secondary schools ( Fun Days at Mile End Leisure
with disabilities:
Centre) to find out what their priorities are through
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/EYCWD
an annual Disabled Children’s Forum event.
If you are aged 14- 19:
Disabled Children are members of the wider Youth
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/RateMyYouthCentre
Council. Third Sector organisations have user
If you use services for children with disabilities and
forums. In addition, SEN annual reviews have a
would like to tell us how well we are doing:
person centred approach to transition planning for 14
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CWD2
to 19 year olds.
All statutory assessments processes ensure the child
or young persons views are taken into account.
We have training materials for staff capturing the
views of disabled children.
8. Parents in our area benefit from our Parent Partnership Service, which is able to provide impartial advice and support to parents of
disabled children and young people .
Evidence
Through outreach work PACSEN can also sign post
Status
Lead Officer
Jenny Miller
Comments
The EPS has lead EPs who liaise with the Children
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parents to the Parent Partnership service for more
professional support.
with Disabilities team and the Child Development
Team.
The Parents Advice Centre provides advice,
information and support to any parents of disabled
children and runs a number of specialist groups.
9. Our staff receive both disability equality training and training to ensure that they have core competencies to work with disabled children.
Evidence
All local authority staff receive equalities (including
disability) training as part of the Corporate Induction
process and have their development needs
considered as part of the appraisal (PDR) process,
which includes a requirement for each employee
being set at least one equalities related objective.
Disability awareness training is available for all staff
who require it for their roles. Guidance for managers
on reasonable adjustments is also available via our
intranet to help ensure they provide support to our
disabled staff.
Status
In 2011, the Council was successful in retaining its
"Two Ticks" Positive About Disabled People
accreditation following an assessment by Job Centre
Plus. Tower Hamlets were the highest ranked local
authority in the Disability Standard 2009 - a
benchmarking assessment carried out by the
Employers Forum on Disability.
Lead Officer
Mark Keeble- Senior
Business Partner –
Human Relations
( HR)
Comments
Liz Vickery and Lead
Officer Social
Inclusion and Head
of Support for
Learning Service and
Courses are run such as deaf awareness, inclusion
training is run for SENCOS and by Support for
Learning, and EP Service. All EPs employed
undertake training on disability equality as part of
their basic training. Many EPs also provide similar
training directly to schools on request.
David Carroll
10. We have produced a short break services statement that has been drawn up in partnership with disabled children and their parents and
have made it widely available.
Evidence
Our short break service statement is captured in the
Service directory and self referral process. Our
Status
Lead Officer
Khalida Khan
Comments
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eligibility criteria for short breaks is open to families
who require the service. The local authority has in
effect, an open door approach to ensure we meet the
needs of families with additional care responsibilities.
The short break statement was drawn up taking on
board feedback from parents. Our current literature
sets out the core offer and entitlement offer for short
breaks.
In 2010 /11 1380 children and young people either
accessed a short break service or received a short
break grant of £100 ( or both). In total, 995 children
and young people received a short break service in
the financial year of 2010/11.
11. We have regard to the provision of services suitable for disabled children, when assessing the sufficiency and supply of childcare in their
area
Evidence
The sufficiency report for children looked after
ensured that the needs of disabled children were met.
In addition, the local authority has two short break
overnight units run by Third Sector providers to meet
the needs of children with ASD and Complex care
needs. Our current spend on short breaks for
disabled children is £2,244,410
Status
Lead Officer
Comments
Monica Forty- Head
of early years and
Children’s centres.
If you have a child under the age of five or a child
with disabilities:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/EYCWD
If you are aged 14- 19:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/RateMyYouthCentre
If you use services for children with disabilities and
would like to tell us how well we are doing:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CWD2
Children’s Centres have consulted with parents and
provide inclusive provision to meet the needs of
families. Working parents have access to nursery and
childminding provision.
We are currently in the process of undertaking our
childcare sufficiency audit and will be consulting
parents/carers on their childcare requirements which
includes for those with a disabled child. The survey
will go live on the Council's Internet and through early
years settings.
Karen Badgery
External Funding
and Commissioning
Manager
12. We are working together with disabled young people and adult service providers in our area to ensure a smooth transition to adult
services for disabled young people preparing for adulthood.
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Evidence
We have reliable data and good joint working
between Adult and Children’s Services evidenced by
the Transition team. The Careers, Information advice
and Guidance Service and Joint Enterprise and
Training (JET) service work closely. Key partners are
members of an operational steering group. A
strategic transition group overseas the development
of transition services. The group is chaired by a Head
of Service in adults (Health and Disability).
Status
Lead Officer
Comments
Katharine MarksService Head ,
Adults Social Care
The EPS person-centred annual review project is
developing planning and review systems for all
children with statements of SEN so that children and
young people are placed at the heart of the process.
Others especially schools are supported in how they
seek young people’s views on their education
and actively include them in decisions made about
them in school.
EPs liaise with other professionals, such as LA
specialists in the SLS, to ensure that children are well
supported in particular during their transition into new
settings.
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