SEND Reforms Briefing
Children and Young people co-production event
11th January 2014!
This briefing is the first step in ensuring that children and
young people are properly included in the co-production of
the SEND reforms in Lincolnshire outlined below. In
particular this briefing focusses on the Local Offer.
Context
The proposed Special Educational Needs (SEN) reforms contained in the Children
and Families Bill are the most significant statutory developments since the 1981
Education Act.
Our partnership work to support every child and young person in Lincolnshire to
achieve their potential has been reinforced recently by the publication of the
Government’s plans for improving special educational needs assessment, planning
and provision. These plans are set out in the Children and Families Bill, Draft Code
of Practice and regulations consultation documents published in October.
(https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/special-educational-needs-sen-codeof-practice-and-regulations)
Our Support and Aspiration project is aimed at further integrating our partnership
support for children and young people with special educational needs and delivering
locally the improvements envisaged in the Children and Families Bill. Our Project
will involve children, young people and family representatives as key partners in the
design and delivery of our new integrated approach to special educational needs
assessment and provision. The key elements of the new approach will be:
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A cohesive integrated system giving support to children and young people
with special educational needs from age 0-25 years, where families benefit
from a ‘seamless’ service that delivers support when and where they need it
A system where education, health and care services engage in planning
together and jointly commission support for children, young people and
families
The provision of a clear 'Local Offer' of the services and support available to
children, young people and their families, reviewed regularly with families and
developed in light of any required improvements
The replacement of the current SEN and learning difficulties assessment
systems with a cohesive assessment process, leading where appropriate to a
Education, Health and Care Plan and driven by new statutory timescales to
ensure quicker decisions are made about need and provision
The option for all young people and parents of children with an Education,
Health and Care plan to hold a personal budget to be used for specialist
support
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Improved support for young people in their transition to adulthood
A strengthened mediation and resolution process in cases of dispute about
assessment and/or provision.
We have an established stakeholder group to help drive the co-production of the new
approach in Lincolnshire. The group is focused on involving children, young people,
parents, carers, professionals, voluntary sector and partnership representatives. In
addition there is a programme of meetings and working groups where
representatives will work together on the co-production of all aspects of the new
approach to special educational needs assessment and provision in Lincolnshire.
Work will be carried out from December through to March developing the protocols,
methodologies and practices that will be essential to the success of the
implementation of our priorities within Support and Aspiration. These revised
methodologies will be tested throughout the summer term, involving children, young
people and families in refining the processes prior to the launch of the Local Offer.
This briefing is the first step in ensuring that Children and Young people are properly
included in the co-production of all the reforms outlined above. In particular this
briefing focusses on the Local Offer.
Parents and practitioners are already skilled in communicating with children with
SEN. They will know how to engage children and young people and are best placed
to ensure children are fully involved in the co-production of the Local Offer. There
are no example scenarios here as we want to use the skills, knowledge and
experience of practitioners and parents to help design, develop and review the Local
Offer alongside children and young people.
Children and Young Peoples' Participation Strategy
The Strategy provides a framework for the participation of children in Lincolnshire.
Listening to and acting on the views of children is essential for the development of
relevant and effective services. This applies to services provided uniquely to children
and those provided to the community as a whole.
Those providing services for children and young people can sign-up to the
Participation Charter. The Charter gives the opportunity to express commitment to
the four key principles of participation:
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Children have equal opportunity to be involved
Children are valued
The involvement of children is a visible commitment which is properly
resourced
The involvement of children is monitored, evaluated, reported and improved
Parent Participation Strategy
The aim of this strategy is to confirm our shared values and principles, and how
these will be implemented, monitored and evaluated. The term parent is used
throughout to describe adults who have a parenting role.
The Lincolnshire Children and Young People’s Strategic Partnership (CYPSP)
recognises that mothers, fathers and carers are the biggest single influence on
children’s lives and have the key responsibility for supporting their children to reach
their full potential:
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Parents and carers are the experts on their family’s needs and have a unique
understanding of the needs of their local community. As such they have an
important role to play in influencing the way that services are planned and
delivered.
Services and interventions developed with the support, contributions and
agreement of parents/carers are much more likely to be useful, successful
and cost effective.
Working respectfully with parents and carers encourages parental
engagement with their child’s development and learning, raising aspirations
and boosting their children’s chances of achieving their full potential.
Definitions
Local Offer
Local Authorities must publish a Local Offer by September 2014, setting out in one
place information about provision they expect to be available for children and young
people in their area who have SEN and describing relevant support beyond the local
area.
The purpose of the Local Offer is to improve choice and transparency for families. It
will also be an important resource for professionals in understanding the range of
services and provision available.
The Local Offer will include:
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Education, Health and Care provision for children and young people with SEN
Arrangements for identifying and assessing children and young people with
SEN, including arrangements for requesting an EHC needs assessment;
Other Education provision;
Training provision, including apprenticeships;
Arrangements for travel to and from schools, post-16 institutions and early years
providers;
Support to help children and young people in moving between phases of
education and to prepare for adulthood
The local offer should be collaborative (involving parents, children and young
people in developing and reviewing the local offer), accessible (structured in a way
that relates to young people’s and parents’ needs and easy to understand),
comprehensive (including all support which is available across education, health
and social care from 0 to 25 and how to access it) and transparent (clear about how
decisions are made and who is accountable and responsible for them).
Participation
Participation creates opportunities for children and young people to be involved in
decision making processes on issues which affect them. It is about listening to what
matters most to children and taking their views seriously. An essential element of
taking the views of children and young people seriously is feedback. Adults must tell
them what they plan to do as a result of hearing their views, and why. If no actions
are going to be taken children need to be told, with reasons.
Participation is not just about consulting children and young people on matters that
are high on adults’ agendas. It is a right not an optional extra. It is not a tokengesture towards involving children and young people. It is not ‘ticking the box’ to
impress Ofsted or to help secure a funding bid. It is not the same as consultation,
which is just one method. It is not about always requiring children and young people
to engage in adult structures in order to be heard and taken seriously.
Participation is not always easy and it cannot be rushed; some children and young
people require more time to think and say what they feel, and some need more
support and different methods to choose from and use. Participation is not a ‘bolt on’
to our work, it must be at the heart of it.
Co-production
Co-production, as a method, approach and mind-set, is very different from traditional
models of service provision. It is a way of reminding professionals that outcomes
matter only because citizens want them and that producing better outcomes
depends upon using the skills and expertise of both the professional and the citizen.
It emphasises people as active agents, not passive beneficiaries, and tends to lead
towards better outcomes in the long-term.
Co-production is about:
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Delivering public services with people rather than to them
An equal relationship between professionals, the people using the services,
their families and their neighbours
Empowering citizens to be agents of change
Co-producing the Local Offer
In order to begin our work co-producing the Local Offer for Lincolnshire we would like
to invite you to a half day event to explore the way forward, share an understanding
of what the Local Offer is and start to plan the content.
Saturday 11th January
10.00-12.30
Venue TBC
This day will:
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briefly introduce the SEND reforms, what they are and where they came from
explain the progress the Working groups have made so far
highlight the key role that Children and Young people have in the reforms
identify groups of Children and Young people who will work with us on various
aspects of the Local Offer
provide details of the way forward and work that is needed to ensure the Local
Offer is a high quality, accurate, impartial and accessible resource that all
Children, Young people, families and professionals can use.
To book your place and give us an idea of numbers so we can book a venue, please
contact us by the 17th December with the following details:
Your name:
The names and ages of any children or young people you would like to accompany
you:
Additional requirements:
Your email address or telephone number so we can contact you with details of the
location of the event.
We will contact you before Christmas to confirm the venue.
We would also like to set up a ‘virtual’ group of parents and professionals who can
share good practice and discuss the project. If you would like to be involved with this
group please let us know.
Please book your place by phoning us on 01522 555523 or email us at
participation@lincolnshire.gov.uk