Cabinet:

1. Approved the draft policies for further parent and stakeholder consultation.

2. Delegated the decision in respect the final policy to the Director of Children’s Services following consultation with the Deputy Leader, and Cabinet Member for Education, Children and Families.

Councillor Robert Benham, Cabinet lead Member for Education, Children and Families presented the report to Cabinet.

Under the SEND reforms in the Children and Families Act 2014 Education, Health and Care Plans (EHC Plan) replaced Statements of Special Educational Needs. Where a child or young person has been assessed as requiring an EHC Plan, the child’s parent/s or the young person has a right to request a Personal Budget, when the local authority has completed an EHC needs assessment and confirmed that it will prepare an EHC plan.

The key principles of the Code of Practice require ‘greater choice and control for young people and parents over support’. Personal Budgets are one means by which that control can be delivered.

The Code of Practice also states that ‘Local authorities must ensure that children, young people and parents are provided with the information, advice and support necessary to enable them to participate in discussions and decisions about their support. This should include information on their rights and entitlements.  This is a statutory obligation on the Local Authority.

Both policies have undergone an initial consultation with stakeholders, this includes parents and carers.  It is proposed that the draft documents will be subject to further consultation before the final decision.  This consultation will include the following groups:

·       children and young people with special educational needs and the parents of children with special educational needs;

·       children and young people with a disability, and the parents of children with a disability;

·       the governing bodies of maintained schools and maintained nursery schools;

·       the proprietors of Academies 1;

·       the governing bodies, proprietors or principals of post-16 institutions; the governing bodies of non-maintained special schools;

·       the management committees of pupil referral units;

·       the advisory boards of children's centres;

·       the providers of relevant early years education;

·       the youth offending teams that the authority thinks have functions in relation to children or young people for whom it is responsible;

·       voluntary sector organisations

The consultation will run from October, 2018 until December 2018.  Following the consultation process it is expected that the policies will be implemented from January, 2019.

There are over 1000 children in the Borough with EHC Plans, last year 181 of those children had a personal budget.  This year the number has increased to 196.  50% use direct payments.

Safeguarding issues need to be reviewed and Havering have recently had a peer review from L B Greenwich. The Borough is currently working with a group of parents to improve the quality and accessibility of the website.  There will be an electronic hub for families which will incorporate helpful links to assist in the process.

Cabinet:

1. Approved the draft policies for further parent and stakeholder consultation.

2. Delegated the decision in respect the final policy to the Director of Children’s Services following consultation with the Deputy Leader, and Cabinet Member for Education, Children and Families.