Implementing the reforms for special educational needs and disability Key Messages May 2014

The 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 There is greater control for parents and young people over the services they and their family use.

Reforms timeline Early 2013 Late 2013 Children and Families Bill introduced to Parliament Draft regulations and SEN Code of Practice consultation Proposal to reduce statutory assessment timescales from 26 to 20 weeks Early 2013 Second draft of the Code of Practice published and public consultation until early December In East Sussex, work began on new style plans for school starters in 2014 and young people approaching transition (16+) Late 2013 WEB LINK: Code of Practice: http://media.education.gov.uk/assets/files/pdf/s/sen%20code%20of%20practice%20indicative%20draft%20for%20committee.pdf a

Reforms timeline Early 2014 Sept 2014 Royal Assent granted, so the Children and Families Bill became the Children and Families Act Final Consultation on the Code of Practice until 6th May Final Code and regulations to be published Early 2014 Implementation of provisions There will be a period of transition from statements to new style plans – expected completion by April 2018 Sept 2014 a

Our logo a Our logo, which places the child and family firmly in the centre, also shows the range of support available. Services for everyone Targeted services Child and Family Support from your family and community networks Specialist services

What’s happening The reforms will place children, young people (up to the age of 25 if they remain in education) and their families in the centre of our work, using person centred and outcome focused planning. Staff will be expected to work with families to understand their support needs, priorities and aspirations. The Local Offer is a new term to mean the availability of information about services. This work is ongoing and will be primarily web based. We will be working across the services which support children, young people and their families to streamline our work and ensure that everyone is clear about who’s doing what and why. There is a workforce development programme to ensure staff have the necessary practice skills. More information on the Local Offer is at the end of the presentation WEB LINK: Person centred and outcome focussed planning. Staff will be expected to work with families. . . . http://www.eastsussex.gov.uk/childrenandfamilies/specialneeds/sen/pathfinder/assessmentandplanning.htm WEB LINK: Local Offer http://www.eastsussex.gov.uk/childrenandfamilies/specialneeds/localoffer/default.htm

What’s happening From September 2014, most children with SEN will have their needs met within mainstream educational settings. Some will need an SEN support plan, which will be drawn up and reviewed by families and schools. Plan templates and guidance are available on the ESCC website. Children with the highest levels of needs will be assessed for an Education Health & Care (EHC) plan, where evidence shows additional & individual support is needed to support outcomes. The EHC assessment and planning process will include consideration of a personal budget, which many young people and families value as a way to have increased choice and control over their support.   EHC plans are wider than statements in that they cover more than education. The plan is outcome focused to make it possible to see when a child has reached their goals. There are more slides about plans and personal budgets below. WEB LINK: Guidance: http://www.eastsussex.gov.uk/childrenandfamilies/specialneeds/sen/pathfinder/assessmentandplanning.htm WEB LINK: Education Health and Care (EHC) plan - to be added WEB LINK: Personal budget – to be added

Conversions from statements to SEN support and EHC plans We are awaiting the final Code of Practice and regulations, which will give more information about the work to convert existing statements to SEN support or EHC plans. It is anticipated that the work will be phased over a three year period, details of which will be set out in a local transition plan.  

SEND, Safeguarding and Early Help – the synergies Although we have different programmes of change affecting different areas of our work there are key principles between them: Acting earlier where we can to prevent things getting worse Being child, young person, and family centred Using outcome-focused planning to get the best result for children and young people Focusing on family resilience and strengths Working hard to be joined up in our support

Assessment, Planning and Review – key points Where children and young people have both a Special Educational Need, or are disabled, and also need support to be safeguarded from harm they may have more than one assessment or plan in place. This is okay as long as: No-one starts from scratch if there is an existing assessment or plan, and we avoid asking families to tell their story again and again Existing plans and assessments are shared between professionals, with family consent Professionals talk to one another, and make sure things are joined up – for example having joint review or assessment meetings Actions in the plans don’t overlap, duplicate or cause confusion We always check, for example when plans are reviewed, whether things can be brought together in to one plan to make things easier

Why different plans? Type of plan Purpose Lead SEN Support Plan (e.g. School, Early Years or College based plan) Longer-term plan focusing on one particular child and their needs to access learning. Educational setting Education Health and Care (EHC) Plan particular child and the range of needs they have across education, health and care where these require specialist responses Coordinated by ESCC, led by those supporting the child and family Early Help Plan A whole family plan to support families where children and young people are at Level 3 on the Safeguarding Children Continuum of Need. Usually shorter- term. Early Help Keyworker or Targeted Early Help service Family Support Plan / Children in Need Plan / Child Protection Plan Level 4 on the Safeguarding Children Continuum of Need and their a need for social workers to be involved to protect children and young people. Usually shorter-term. Children’s Social Care social worker

Coordinating support for children and young people All children and young people who have an EHC Plan will have a professional leading that plan at some points – and undertaking ‘key working functions’ such as arranging meetings and assessments, communicating with the family, and negotiating with other professionals. This might be someone leading the assessment or it may be someone who is providing ongoing support to that child or family. If this is happening they should be talking to any Early Help or Social Care professionals involved with the child or the rest of their family, and the whole family plan should be shared with them. Where there is a professional leading on support around a child or young person’s SEND then Early Help or Social Care professionals should always consult them and include them in any work that is being done on safeguarding. The family should be clear who is doing what, and how different professionals will communicate with each other Undertaking key working functions is a way of working rather than a service model. It is not the same as being an allocated key worker as in Early Help or the specialist preschool Early Support service. Any practitioner working with the family, child or young person can use the Early Support principles. For more information see ncb.org.uk/early-support

More information East Sussex webpage www.eastsussex.gov.uk/sendreforms East Sussex email address and telephone number: sendreforms@eastsussex.gov.uk 01273 481230 Forms, templates and guidance: czone.eastsussex.gov.uk/sendreforms National website www.pathfinder.co.uk

Optional slides below re Local Offer, Assessment and Planning and Personal Budgets

The Local Offer

The Local Offer The LO will provide information about provision available including education, health and care services, leisure activities and support groups. The Local Offer will: hold information in one place be clear, comprehensive and accessible make services responsive to local needs be developed with service providers and service users

The regional framework across the South East 7 LAs And by level of need: Universal Targeted Specialist The framework sets out: 1: The vision 2: Area wide offer This is divided by age group. . . . Pre-school School age Post 16 3: Settings and service offer Viv to add notes

Principles for our Local Offer Framework Empowering for parent-carers, young people and professionals Principles for our Local Offer Framework Holistic Accessible Co-produced by parent-carers, young people and professionals Starting with what is widely available Factual Viv to add notes Sustainable and sustained Transparent

Every early years’ setting, school, college and service will need to publish their Local Offer What do you need to do Read the guidance on Czone: https://czone.eastsussex.gov.uk/specialneeds/localoffer/Pages/main.aspx Answer the questions that will be the basis of your Local Offer. Have the answers reviewed by stakeholders, including families. Send your answers to localoffer@eastsussex.gov.uk Your own Local Offer will be published on your own website and will be easily identified by adding the Local Offer logo. Service offers will link to the Area Wide Offer.

Assessment and Planning

Child / Family-centred revise outcomes, continue A visual of the process Listen and understand Agree and allocate Plan together Review and learn Collect information Child / Family-centred Allocation questions Confirm entitlement Agree allocation of funding and services - Child / young person and family centred Focus on outcomes Explore all sources of support options Working/not working? Change, revise outcomes, continue This slide shows a process of listening to and understanding the priorities for the family/young person, following which outcomes and any associated resources are agreed and confirmed in the plan. There are separate slides within this set which give more information about personal budgets

Assessment and Planning works like this as well … Whether it’s for provision mapping, SEN support plans in an educational setting or Education, Health and Care assessment and planning. Remember: MOST children or young people with SEN should be supported through high quality, personalised teaching as set out in a provision map or similar SOME children or young people may need additional support which can be set out in an SEN support plan (Early years, school based, college based plan) A FEW children with the most complex needs, may need an Education, Health and Care plan.

Listen to the child/young person and their family – let their voices be heard Understand their concerns Make a note of their strengths and what works for the child or young person Discuss their circles of support Understand their aspirations and the outcomes they want to happen. Have a shared understanding of the language you are using, the information you are collecting and the actions you will be taking

Agree when and how you are going to review the outcomes Work with everyone involved to agree the outcomes you want to achieve for the child or young person – remember SMART Agree the resources that will be allocated to support the child or young person Agree the actions that everyone involved will take (including the child or young person and their parents or carers) Agree when and how you are going to review the outcomes S – specific M – Measurable A – Achievable R – Relevant T – Time limited

Write down how this is going to be done It could be in a provision map It could be in an SEN Support Plan (Early Years/School based/College based plan) It might be in an Education, Health and Care Plan written after a statutory EHC assessment Agree and share the plan with all involved There are guidance and templates to help you with this on Czone

Review progress against the desired outcomes with everyone involved as often as necessary but at least once a term for SEN support plans and once a year for EHC plans What worked? What didn’t? What needs to be adapted or changed? What else could be put in place? Is a plan still needed? Is a higher level of support needed? What actions need to be taken?

Provision mapping or similar Levels of SEN support: Provision mapping or similar MOST children with SEN will have their support set out this way SEN Support Plan Also called an Early Years/School/College based support plan SOME children will need these EHC Plan A FEW children with the most complex needs will have these SETTING LEAD Local Authority lead

Personal Budgets

Personal budgets Everyone with an Education, Health and Care Plan can request a Personal Budget. Where agreed, a budget will be given to support the agreed outcomes. It should be noted however that personal budgets will not be suitable or available for everyone, this will depend on a child’s assessed needs and the outcomes to be achieved. Funding for personal budgets can come from social care, and/or health, and/or education. It is likely that only a small proportion of families will receive a personal budget. Having a personal budget won’t necessarily mean that the family/young person will have the money directly, but it’s about families being fully involved in planning and having clear information about what resources are being provided to support a child/young person’s outcomes.

Personal budgets Through the assessment stage of EHC planning, there will be conversations with the family and where appropriate with the young person, to include resource allocation questions, to establish how much support is needed. Consideration is given to eligibility thresholds to establish what funding is available and from which service/s. This available funding forms an indicative budget. This process enables support needs to be considered against the outcomes set out in the EHC plan. It places the family (and young person where applicable) in the centre of discussions with service providers, including education settings. A personal social care budget will be made available if it is clear that a young person or child is assessed as needing additional and individual support at home and when out and about in the local and wider community. A personal health budget will be made available should a young person or child have complex, long-term and/or a life-limiting condition/s. A personal health budget may also be made available to help with equipment costs or other health services. Children, who are supported through ‘Continuing Care’ funding, will have the right to request a personal health budget from April 2014. From August 2013, the NHS has the legal power to give direct payments. A personal SEN budget is a sum of money made available by a local authority because it is clear that without this additional (top-up) funding it will not be possible to meet the child’s learning support needs. The school/college involved will already have funding for learning support across the school; only pupils or students with more complex learning support needs are likely to need a personal SEN budget. In some circumstances the head teacher/principal and school or college/learning provider may choose to offer some funding towards a personal SEN budget; this will always be the decision of the head teacher.

Personal Budgets work best when making best use of all the supports, activities and opportunities that exist ~ universal, targeted, specialist and family/community. 31 31

Personal budgets There are options for how personal budgets are managed. Some families choose to have their services provided directly to them Some use a broker Some manage the money themselves to arrange the support Whichever option a family choose, they will have the options explained so that they’re clear about what’s available.

Personal Travel Budgets (PTBs) CYP with SEN and disabilities which mean that they cannot use public transport or walk to school or college, have traditionally been offered a taxi as part of the Council’s statutory support. In tandem with the shift towards greater choice and control, parents are now being offered a PTB as a direct monthly payment. The budget can be used however the family would like and without the restrictions of a taxi, as long as their child gets to school or college safely and on time. If this option does not suit the family, hired transport will still be arranged. The question of whether special travel assistance is needed is part of a child’s EHC Plan Assessment and annual review, and is an opportunity to discuss travel options. This should include PTBs and, when ready, the possibility of benefiting from Independent Travel Training (ITT) as an important life skill in the transition to adulthood. A personal social care budget will be made available if it is clear that a young person or child is assessed as needing additional and individual support at home and when out and about in the local and wider community. A personal health budget will be made available should a young person or child have complex, long-term and/or a life-limiting condition/s. A personal health budget may also be made available to help with equipment costs or other health services. Children, who are supported through ‘Continuing Care’ funding, will have the right to request a personal health budget from April 2014. From August 2013, the NHS has the legal power to give direct payments. A personal SEN budget is a sum of money made available by a local authority because it is clear that without this additional (top-up) funding it will not be possible to meet the child’s learning support needs. The school/college involved will already have funding for learning support across the school; only pupils or students with more complex learning support needs are likely to need a personal SEN budget. In some circumstances the head teacher/principal and school or college/learning provider may choose to offer some funding towards a personal SEN budget; this will always be the decision of the head teacher.