Conversion of Statement of Special Educational Needs and Learning
Difficulty Assessments to Education Health and Care Plans:
Process and Action Plan
Introduction:
Currently there are 1400 of statements of Special Education Needs and
approximately 500 Learning Difficulty Assessments (LDAs). MKC is required
to ensure that all statements are converted to Education Health and Care
plans (EHCs) no later than April 2018 and where requested and where young
people are staying in training or education all LDAs by September 2016. This
conversion strategy details plans to ensure that all conversions are achieved
by September 2016.
In order to achieve this there will be four temporary SEN Officers to support
this process between September 2014 and September 2016. This increased
capacity will support settings with the conversions and assist in embedding
the news ways of working throughout the system.
This conversion strategy is being consulted on through the MKC reform
implementation board which includes parent / carer representation.
Principles and Process:
It is proposed that conversions will happen as part of an ‘extended annual
review’ process and therefore will become a transition review. Children and
young people with a transition in the coming year will be prioritised. The
process and extended meeting will follow a person centred approach, in line
with the underpinning principles of the reform. The process for this transition
review will be:
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School / setting sets date for review meeting and will provide the SEN
team with 6 weeks’ notice of meeting date.
The SEN team will send a standard letter to parents / carers / young
people explaining the process and asking for a signed consent form to
be returned to enable the SEN team to begin the EHC needs
assessment process and contact other professionals involved, these
may well be broader than those that have previously been involved in
statement reviews but care will be taken to ensure no duplicate advice
is sought.
The schools / setting using the EHC assessment paperwork will gather
parental and child / young person’s contributions and these will be sent
to the SEN team
The school/setting issue invites for the transfer review meeting
Once the reports have been received, copies will be sent to the parents
/ carers / young person a week in advance of the meeting, along with a
proposed EHC plan.
The format of the meeting will be to review the draft EHC plan, taking
particular account of progress / challenges over the last year and then
setting new targets
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Following the meeting the paperwork will be returned to the SEN team,
where any final collation of information will be completed and a
proposed EHC plan sent out within 8 weeks for any responses /
amendments.
The SEN team will provide direct support through attendance at a number of
the first transition review meetings in each school/setting. The SEN Officer will
agree this with each setting and the team will then provide support as usual
where there are particular concerns / complexities.
It is essential that the process enables a person centred approach, ensuring
that the plan is holistic and that parents and young people are involved as
equal partners and that their voice is central to the process.
Priorities for transferring Statements to EHC plans:
The following cohorts of children, in the following year groups in September
2014 will be priorities for transferring to EHC plans:
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Those in early years 33: Autumn Term
All year 2’s = 94
All year 6’s = 102: Spring / Summer Term
All year 9’s = 128
All year 11’s = 141: Autumn Term
All year 13’s= 53
Total: 551
The above patterns will be repeated from September 2015 with additional
cohorts added to complete the conversions.
There are also two distinct cohorts of children and young people, where the
conversion would take place in the first year whether or not they fall into the
above year groups:
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Home educated children: 12
Children in independent provision / private / Other Local Education
Authority provision: 92
Local authorities must also transfer young people from statements where they
are transferring from a mainstream to a special school and vice versa or
where they move onto post 16 provision. This could include some year 12
students.
It is proposed that we review progress at the end of the autumn term and
consider other cohorts of children and young people in relation to the progress
made.
LDAs to EHC Plans
The priorities for the conversion of LDAs to statements will be the LDAs that
have been written over the last year, currently 200. In line with the
Department of Education Transitional guidance young people will be asked if
they want to transfer to an EHC plan or continue to receive their support via
an LDA.
Any young person can request to have their statement transferred into an
EHC plan and the SEN team will work with post 16 providers and Connexions
to ensure young people are aware of their rights.
Connexions advisers would be supporting and reviewing these young people
with new LDA’s but they would not have previously had annual reviews.
Therefore this process will be built on to enable a transition review meeting as
already outlined.
Advice and Support:
Advice to parents / carers and young people on the conversion process will be
provided through the SEN Team. Independent advice and support is available
via Milton Keynes Parent Partnership.