Implementing the reforms to
special educational needs
and disability
Update – September 2013
NOTE: These slides are for use by DfE/DH, pathfinder champions and other
partners when communicating with local areas about the SEND reforms. They are
a resource bank and should be used selectively/customised depending on the
audience
A reminder: the case for change
The current system is not working for families and children:
Too many children with SEN have their needs picked up late;
Young people with SEN do less well than their peers at school
and college and are more likely to be out of education, training
and employment at 18;
Schools and colleges can focus too much on the SEN label
rather than meeting the child’s needs, and the current
Statements/ Learning Difficulty Assessments do not focus on
life outcomes;
Too many families have to battle to find out what support is
available and in getting the help they need from education,
health and social care services; and
When a young person leaves school for further education, they
enter a very different system which does not carry forward the
rights and protections that exist in the SEN system in schools.
Our vision
Children’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; and
There is greater control for parents and young people over the
services they and their family use.
The SEND Reform Journey
March
2011
• Green Paper: Support and aspiration: A new approach to special educational needs
and disability
May
2012
• Support and aspiration: Progress and next steps
Sept
2012
• Draft provisions published for pre-legislative scrutiny by the Education Select
Committee
Feb
2013
• Government response to pre-legislative scrutiny; and
• Children and Families Bill introduced to Parliament
March
2013
• Indicative draft regulations and a draft Code of Practice published for committee stage
of the Bill, informed by pathfinder learning
Autumn
2013
• Public consultation on regulations and Code of Practice, informed by further pathfinder
learning
Spring
2014
• Royal Assent (subject to Parliamentary approval)
• Issue final Code of Practice
Sept
2014
• Legal changes commence in practice (meeting original Green Paper commitment for
reforms in place by 2014)
Progress update
• The Children and Families Bill (Part 3 - SEN) has progressed
through Commons Committee with thorough scrutiny, and
been debated at Lords second reading.
• Pathfinders continue to play a vital role to:
• Contribute to the draft Regulations and Code of Practice
• Provide case study examples of progress and impact on
families
• The Bill will be scrutinised in Lords Committee next month,
where again pathfinder learning will be crucial.
• Pathfinder champions are up and running, with a number of
regional conferences held in July, and more to come
Legislation - key highlights
New requirement for LAs, health and care services to commission
services jointly, to ensure that the needs of children and young people
are met.
LAs to publish a clear, transparent ‘local offer’ of services, so parents
and young people can understand what is available; developed with
parents and young people.
More streamlined assessment process, co-ordinated across education,
health and care, and involves children and young people and their
families throughout.
New 0-25 Education, Health and Care Plan, replacing the current
system of Statements and Learning Difficulty Assessments, which
reflects the child or young person’s aspirations for the future, as well as
their current needs.
Legislation - key highlights (2)
A new duty on health commissioners to deliver the health elements of
EHC plans.
Option of a personal budget for families and young people with a plan,
extending choice and control over their support.
New statutory protections for young people aged 16-25 in FE,
including right to request particular institution named in their EHC plan
and the right to appeal to the First-tier Tribunal.
A stronger focus on preparing for adulthood including new powers for
LAs to provide children’s services to young people over 18 to improve
transition to adult services.
Academies and Free Schools to have the same SEN duties as
maintained schools.
Legislation – current position
We will shortly be publishing new regulations and a new SEN Code of Practice
for consultation. Both the regulations and the Code have been strongly informed
by pathfinder learning.
The Children and Families Bill has been through Commons Committee stage
and been introduced into the House of Lords. The Lords Committee will consider
the Bill in October.
More than 200 amendments were tabled and debated during the Commons
Committee.
During Commons Committee Stage, the Government introduced an amendment
requiring health commissioners to deliver the health aspects of an EHC Plan.
Debate focused on a number of issues, the most prominent being the provisions
on the scope of the SEN definition, the position of health and social care, the
local offer, inclusion and school choice, personal budgets and post-16
provisions.
Pathfinder progress
• 20 pathfinders, made up of 31 local authorities are leading the
way to develop effective approaches to implementing the reforms.
• 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.
• The pathfinder programme is central to informing new
legislation. The Children and Families Bill has been revised to
reflect pathfinder learning, for example:
Pathfinders’ experience of person centred planning has
influenced the clauses on assessment and EHC plans,
ensuring that parents’ and young people’s views and
aspirations are taken into account at all stages of the process.
• Pathfinder learning and evaluation is feeding into further
development of regulations and the new SEN Code of Practice.
Pathfinder Champions
Each region has a pathfinder champion, to provide advice and support
to non-pathfinder areas as they prepare for implementation of the
reforms:
London
South East
South West
North East
East Midlands
East of England
West Midlands
Yorkshire & Humber
Bromley and Bexley
SE7 (consortium of seven LAs) and Southampton
Wiltshire
Hartlepool
Leicester City
Hertfordshire
Solihull
North Yorkshire and Calderdale
North West
Greater Manchester Group (Wigan, Trafford and
Manchester)
June 2013 - SQW pathfinder evaluation findings
Pathfinders are increasingly family and outcome focussed with
improved multi agency working and holistic single planning.
Parents have been involved fully as part of the assessment and
planning process, through the use of person / family centred approaches
and key working.
New approaches were reported to have increased choice and control
for families.
Challenges for the next phase of pathfinding include: how to scale up
approaches to a whole area in a sustainable way e.g. key working; fully
engaging children and young people; developing approaches that
work for new entrants to the system.
An impact evaluation will be published in September 2013, assessing the
experiences and outcomes achieved by around 200 families with the first
EHC plans.
Pathfinder learning - highlights
Pathfinder learning is being evidenced through a suite of
‘information packs’ demonstrating effective ways to implement the
reforms. The packs are available at www.SENDpathfinder.co.uk
together with additional case studies.
Highlights include:
• Excellent practice in engaging with families, evident from the
beginning of the pathfinder programme.
• Strong examples of good practice are emerging on engaging
children and young people, early years settings, schools
and post 16 institutions.
• Pathfinders are picking up pace in developing their local offers,
taking time to fully involving parents and young people in
drawing up the offer and ensuring it meets their needs. The local
offer needs to be engaging, accessible, transparent and
comprehensive.
12
Pathfinder learning – highlights continued
• There is a culture shift in assessment and planning, with a
growing emphasis on personalisation and multi-agency,
outcomes-based approaches, supported by keyworking.
• Families and young people have welcomed the opportunity to
help design an EHC plan which meets their needs and
aspirations.
• A group of pathfinders has accelerated testing on personal
budgets, focusing on personalisation and understanding
outcomes, clarifying funding and supporting schools and colleges.
Pathfinders are showing what can be achieved, and that putting
these reforms in place takes time, energy and determination.
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Next steps – pathfinders and Bill
Sept
2013
Autumn
2013
Spring
2014
Sept
2014
• Second SQW interim evaluation report published – quantitative
data based on first families with EHCPs
• Next set of pathfinder information packs published
• Public consultation on regulations and Code of Practice, informed
by further pathfinder learning
• Royal Assent (subject to Parliamentary approval)
• Legal changes commence in practice (meeting original Green
Paper commitment for reforms in place by 2014)
Reform partner
Expertise
and coproduction
Information
and
engagement
Support for
the VCSE
sector
• Expertise and advice to government and interested
parties including the public and voluntary sectors
• Identifying and supporting evidence on what works to
inform policy and practice
• Developing networks to promote engagement with the
reforms
• Creating an information exchange on SEN and disability
and the reforms
• A Countdown to Change Programme
• Building capacity and engagement with the reform
process
15
Challenges for implementation –
assessment and planning
• Engagement of children and young people.
• Developing co-ordination of assessment across partners
including health and social care – full end to end process.
• Resourcing and accountability for EHCPs.
• Refining formats of EHCPs: defining outcomes well; clear
and specific provision; meeting expected legal
requirements.
• Developing sustainable, whole area, 0-25 approaches
which keep families and young people at the centre of the
process - training requirements for keyworking.
Next steps for all areas
• The pathfinders have shown that the workforce development and
culture change needed to implement the reforms take 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.
Now is the time to engage with the pathfinder champion in your
region and think about the steps you need to take to prepare for
implementation.
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ADDITIONAL SLIDES IF
NEEDED
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Changes following pre-leg scrutiny
Overarching
• Involvement of children, young people and their parent-carers
at the heart of legislation, including assessments and the
local offer
• Parent protections maintained and extended: e.g. requesting
an assessment
Mediation
• Arrangement for parents and young people to receive
information on mediation
• Can opt to try mediation or to go straight to appeal
Local offer
• Involve children young people and parents in reviewing the
local offer
• LAs to publish comments about the local offer and what
action they will take to respond
• Consult parent-carers and young people when reviewing
provision
Changes following pre-leg scrutiny (2)
Health
• Developing proposals for providing co-ordinated information,
advice and support for parents and young people across
education, health and social care; and ensuring that local
authorities consider support parents need to navigate the
assessment process
• Provision in the Bill for joint commissioning arrangements and
regulations on assessments to include such support.
Code of
Practice
• Code of Practice approved by Parliament (by negative resolution)
Post-16
• EHC Plans can continue whilst on an Apprenticeship where
appropriate
• Youth Offending Teams in co-operation duties
• ISPs included in scope of Bill
The Mandate : from the Government to the NHS
Commissioning Board: April 2013 to March 2015
• Sets priorities for the NHS for the coming two years.
• The NHS Commissioning Board is legally required to pursue the
objectives in the Mandate. CCGs have a statutory duty to act
consistently with the Mandate (and meet any commissioning
guidance the Board chooses to issue to deliver against the
Mandate).
• The Mandate states:
“…there is a particular need for improvement, working in
partnership across different services… in supporting children and
young people with special educational needs or disabilities. The
Board’s objective is to ensure that they have access to the
services identified in their agreed care plan, and that parents of
children who could benefit have the option of a personal budget
based on a single assessment across health, social care and
education.”
21
How Joint Strategic Needs Assessments and
Joint Commissioning inter-relate
EHC personal budgets
• Once an LA confirms a plan is necessary, a parent or young person
can request an EHC personal budget. This is an amount of money
identified to achieve outcomes agreed in an EHC plan.
• It may be managed in three ways:
1. The local authority manages the funds and commissions the
support specified in the EHC plan (sometimes called “notional
arrangements”).
2. The funds are paid to a third party to manage on behalf of the
parent or young person.
3. The funds are paid to the parent or young person as a direct
payment, and they buy the provision specified in the plan.
• An EHC personal budget should cover only the special individualised
provision made available through the EHC plan.
23
Funding EHC Personal Budgets
• Base funding, notional SEN budget
and high-needs block funding enable
schools and colleges to provide
teaching and support arrangements
for all of their pupils and students.
• If individual needs exceed the level
of provision the school or college
normally provides, additional funds:
Health
provision
High-needs
block
Personal
budget
if agreed by
school/college
School or
college
budget
Social care
provision
• can definitely come from funding provided by the LA from their
high-needs block
• can possibly come from funding managed by a school or
college, if the head or principal agrees.
• It is normally these additional funds, beyond the normal provision the
school would deliver as set out in the local offer, that would be offered
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as part of an EHC personal budget.
Post 16 changes in Bill
• Local authorities to involve post-16 institutions when reviewing
their special educational provision and developing their local offer;
• Enable post-16 institutions to request an assessment of education,
health and care needs;
• Allow young people to express a preference for a particular school,
FE college or ISP (including Free Schools and Academies) and
require that institution to admit them;
• Require local authorities to consult schools, colleges and ISPs
about young people they would like to place with them, and send a
copy of their EHC Plan to them;
• FE colleges and ISPs must have regard to the Code of Practice;
• Local authorities can provide children’s services to young people
over 18.