Agenda item

The Sub-Committee will receive a report on the progress to date in implementing the reforms brought about by the Children and Families Act 2014 in respect of children and young people aged 0-25 with SEND.

The Sub-Committee received a report setting out the progress to date in implementing the reforms brought about by the Children and Families Act 2014 in respect of children and young people aged 0-25 with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).  It noted that the Act came into force in September 2014 and this was the biggest reform of support across Education, Health and Social Care for children with SEND.

It was noted that some aspects of the legislation sought to bring about a cultural shift towards person centred approaches, greater inclusion of children and their families and some specific tasks and functions that must be acted upon.  Officers stated that the implementation was half way through with an end date for implementation and completion of March 2018.

All Local Authorities are required to publish in one place a clear and easy-to-understand “local offer” of education, health and social care services to support children and young people with SEND and their families.  Havering had a local offer, however had received feedback from users and their families, and was looking to review and refine the information available.  A Local Offer Panel and Steering Group had been established and continued to meet to oversee the future updating and development of the local offer.

The Sub-Committee noted that the Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans had replaced the Statements of SEN and Learning Difficulty Assessments (LDA).  The process of assessment and EHC planning had commenced for all new arrangements and work was underway to convert all existing statmetns to new EHC plans.  The plans were now more outcome focused and better for the child.  Officers stated that approximately a third of conversations had taken place in half the time period.  It was noted that not all plans were in the correct format and positive feedback had been received from partners on improvements.

Personal Budgets were an allocation of resources to meet the needs of the child.  These could be used in different ways with some necessary for a social care requirement.  A personal budget could be requested when the local authority had agreed to a statutory EHC assessment and confirmed that an EHC plan will be prepared.  It was noted that currently EHC plans were being sent to parents/ carers with a tick against No for Personal Budgets.  Officers would investigate this issue.

Joint Commissioning was a strategic approach to planning and delivering services in a holistic way.  It was a way for different partners commissioning education, health and care provision to deliver positive outcomes for children and young people with SEND.  A Joint Commissioning working group had met regularly since November 2013 and had been instrumental in forging strong links with the Havering Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG).  This had aided the appointment of the Joint Children’s Commissioner in May 2015, working both for the Local Authority and the CCG.

Officers agreed that there was further work to be done in this area and had identified a number of projects and opportunities for re-commisioning including Speech and Language Therapy, Special School Nursing and Childen and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS).

The Sub-Committee noted that the engagement and participation of children, young people and parent carers was central to the reforms and was the driver behind the other work streams.  A marked shift from consultation to full co-production had been seen.  Local parent forums had been established and had been involved since the start, in planning and implementation of reforms under the Children and Families Act.  It was anticipated that regular termly meetings would be held to discuss the priorities and progress in an open productive way.

It was noted that the Act sets out substantial new rights and protectiosn for young people that do not exist in the previous system.  Officer explained that this was transitional and new protocols had recently been signed off.  This needed to be timely and flexible to the needs of the individual, and was essential that it started early in children with complex needs.  Extensive work had taken place around additional Post-16 SEND provisions.  The multi-agency approach which had been adopted would support developing personalised pathways.  Independence skills, employment opportunities and individualised programmes would be at the heart of these pathways.

The Chairman asked that details of the different forums mentioned within the report were circulated setting out partners on each group, their remit and whom they engage with.

The Chair of Positive Parents was present at the meeting and made a number of observations about the report and its content. These included an assurance that parents would be involved in the working group for the local offer, to ensure that it was meaningful.  It was noted that the local offer did not currently signpost to out of borough provisions and it was not clear for special schools.

Officers stated that a broader approach may be necessary to ensure that these issues were included.  The local offer only included information that was readily available.  However officers were keen to establish a steering group.  The Chairman asked that this be established as soon as possible.

It was noted that schools were not consistent with their approach to EHC plans, and there was no engagement with providers (e.g. physiotherapists).  It was further noted that the plans often have information missing.  Officers stated that monitoring would be put in place to ensure that plans are written with the child at the centre.  The Chair of Positive Parents added that the plans could only be used once agreed by the parents and all parties, this was not the case for a number of plans where only education were involved and there was no input from health or social care.  It was suggested that the voice of the child was not considered as often they were not asked for their views.  It was important that efforts were made to engage the child in the assessment, even for only 10 minutes. 

The Chairman suggested that the children involved be invited to a future meeting of the Sub-Committee to discuss their experiences.

Other areas of concern included ensuring that there were trained and independent supports to assist parents together with the issues of personal budgets which, up until now, had not been allocated to anyone given the forms have the “no” box already ticked.  This had been raised on a number of occasions but no action had been taken.  Officers stated that Personal Budget Protocol had been drafted and this would be built upon.

The Sub-Committee thanked officers for the informative report.