SEND Reforms , The role of the voluntary sector
Christine Lenehan
Director , Council for Disabled Children
This presentation will ;
•Highlight key aspects of the SEND reforms
•Look at some key opportunities for the
voluntary sector
•Highlight the CDC offer to the voluntary
sector
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
Principles in practice
•The role of Contact a Family and the
development of NNPCF
•Building networks of children’s voices (see
details through the Making Ourselves Heard
Network )
•The Role of Independent Support
Joint working across agencies
Education, training and social care
provision to be kept under review
Promoting integration and joint
commissioning arrangements
Cooperation across services and
institutions
And in practice …
•The role of the Voluntary Sector on Health
and WellBeing Boards
•Understanding the role of Healthwatch
•The Voluntary Sector as honest broker
•The Voluntary as a joint agency deliverer
Local offer
Information on education, health and care
a local authority expects to be available
Children, young people and parents/carers
must be involved
Review and revise commissioning in light
of comments received on the local offer
In practice
…
•Must be produced in partnership with
families and the voluntary sector
•Is a legal requirement
•Is a developing document which should
inform local planning and priorities
•Must be clear on eligibility criteria
•Have you seen yours ??
Information and advice
Duty on local authorities to provide
information, advice and support
Should be jointly commissioned and cover
education, health and social care
Services extended to disabled children
and young people and those with SEN
So for example …
•In the Independent support tendering process ….
•39 small voluntary organisations won contracts
•8 large voluntary organisations won contracts
•I private sector organisation won
EHC plans - key features
To be drawn up within 20 weeks
Person centred with a focus on outcomes
Include education, health and social care
Extend beyond school, potentially up to 25
Personal budgets included
CDC Council membership
- A unique opportunity to inform and be informed
on a variety of disabled children’s issues
Attend CDC Council Meetings three times a year
Join CDC working groups
Contribute to the responses CDC is making to government consultations
Receive free monthly e-mail newsletter summarising news from disabled
children’s organisations and central government, and updating on
policy and practice issues.
• Free subscription to CDC’s quarterly e-publication, a roundup of essential
policy and practice.
• Regular invitations to workshop sessions/conferences on key policy and
practice issues.
• CDC members can also join and receive information from any of CDC’s
specialist networks, such as the Transition Information Network
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CDC Council membership
• Currently 187 organisations from across England and Wales
are represented
• If you are interested in finding out more about CDC
membership, or would like to subscribe to CDC’s monthly
newsletters and/or quarterly e-bulletins, please email
cdc@ncb.org.uk
Becoming a member
Membership is primarily open to registered charities, however
some voluntary organisations may be eligible for membership if
they:
• Are an organisation established for charitable, humanitarian, or
educational purposes that exists to benefit the community
• Use surplus revenues to achieve its goals rather than to
distribute them as profit or dividends to shareholders
• Have written their aims, objectives and methods of working of
the organisation in a publicly available document
Innovation and Sustainability Grants Programme
• Part of CDC’s work as Strategic Reform Partner to the
Department for Education
• Intention to support both the development of capacity building
across the voluntary and community sector and the
implementation of the SEN and disability reforms
• Over 200 organisations applied in 2013
• 20 organisations selected across England
• £5,000-10,000 over 2 years
• Innovative approaches to supporting the SEND reforms locally
and increase participation of children and young people
• Improve the sustainability of their organisation
• Part of CDC’s wider initiative to support capacity and
sustainability in the voluntary and community sector
Examples of Innovation and Sustainability Projects
• A Kitemarking project, supporting children and young people
to become volunteer Kitemarkers, similar to ‘secret
shoppers’; finding out whether local facilities and services
good places to visit for children and young people with
additional needs and their families.
• The development of a workshop series on employment,
housing, health and social life/friends and relationships for
young people aged 18-25 with Duchenne Muscular
Dystrophy.
• The development and testing of an innovative personal
budgets offer and a film about the work for and with local
youngsters, their families and prospective PA’s.
Innovation and Sustainability Grants Programme
• We will use learning from this to:
- Demonstrate innovative approaches to supporting families
and young people; support the building of sustainability
across the VCS,
- Support the implementation reforms at a local level,
- Learn more about how local voluntary and community
sector organisations can use different models to operate in
financially difficult times, and
- Increase the participation of disabled children, those with
SEN and their families in voluntary organisations
More information
Briefing on the Children and Families Act:
www.councilfordisabledchildren.org.uk/resources/cdcsresources/summary-of-the-children-and-families-act
Special Implementation Edition of the CDC Digest:
www.councilfordisabledchildren.org.uk/resources/cdcsresources/special-edition-cdc-digest
Our website has all the latest resources on the reforms from
CDC, Government and from across the sector:
www.councilfordisabledchildren.org.uk/resources
Any queries regarding resources can be sent to hmackay@ncb.org.uk