www.worcestershire.gov.uk sen reform education health & care planning june 2014 conference sen...

www.worcestershire.gov.uk

SEN ReformEducation Health & Care

Planning

June 2014 Conference

SEN Reform Worcestershire


The purpose of today: 1. Where we are today in terms of planning for implementation of the new

legislation and Code of Practice for Sept 2014.

2. To look at what is the same and what has changed?

3. To consider the new system for assessment

4. The effect on children who already have a Statement – the proposed SEN Conversion Plan

2SEN Reform Worcestershire


Where we are now: • Draft SEN Code of Practice issued October 13

• Substantial changes made in the House of Lords

• Revised Draft SEN Code of Practice – April 14

• Final Code issued June 2014 – has now been laid before Parliament



The legislation – what is the same and what has changed?

Same Changed

Definition of SEN and SEN provision remains substantially the same.

HOWEVER - definition of SEN provision now includes Health and Social Care provision which educates or trains a child or YP

Duty to identify children and YP who have SEN is the same

New legislation is now 0-25 and is outcomes focussed

Duty to provide mainstream provision and the right of parents to insist on mainstream education is the same.

Person centred approach

Personal Budgets introduced

Appeals – mediation certificates required

The duty to specify provision remains the same Statements and LDA’s replaced with EHC Plans

Abolition of IEPS/ SA and SA+

The SENCO must be professionally qualified within 3 years of obtaining the post

Local Offer



What is an EHC assessment /plan?

1. An EHC Plan will include all the child's assessed needs from Education, Health and Social Care in one place and may run from 0 up to 25 years of age.

2. Eligibility remains Education based. It is not a Health and Care Plan . The LA will only need to produce a Plan where it needs to determine SEN Provision. If there is no SEN provision required then there will be no plan, even if the child has Health/Care needs.

3. There is no simple means of redress and appeal on the whole plan. Only the educational aspect can be appealed to the SEN Tribunal , therefore parents who disagree with Social Care/Health aspects of the Plan will have to pursue either mediation or Health and Social Care complaints procedures.



The new system for assessment – when is an EHC Needs assessment appropriate?

• Majority of children and yp will have their needs met within local mainstream settings from within the resources normally available to them (see Ordinarily Available documentation and Local Offer) SEN CoP Para 9.1

• School Funding Reform – notional SEN Budget of £6,000

• A request for an EHC Needs Assessment should therefore only be made where a child is failing to make expected progress following the Assess/Plan/Do/Review cycles AND the special educational provision required to meet the child or young person's needs cannot reasonably be provided from within the resources normally available to their setting. (CoP Para 9.14-15)

• Criteria for Integrated Assessment for Education, Health and Social Care Plan together with Guidelines for requesting the assessment. (see Edulink SEN Reform pages)



How can schools request an EHC Assessment?

• In applying the principles above:

• The child meets the needs criteria relevant to their area of special educational need

• You are able to demonstrate evidence of a graduated response to meeting need and are able to show evaluation of progress.

• You are able to evidence use of School based resources up to the maximum level of £6000 (plus AWPU), in accordance with the Worcestershire Ordinarily Available documentation

• In doing the above you are able to show that the LA needs to determine SEN provision for the child



Documentation that will be required:

• The Statutory Assessment process is now reduced to 20 weeks

• We therefore propose to follow the Solihull Pathfinder model by “frontloading requests” for assessment so we can make a decision straight away



Completing the request: A completed request for an EHC Assessment will include: • Form RS36 – Request for Assessment

• A completed Family Conversation Record (to be completed by the Keyworker – usually the SENCO)

• A Completed medical questionnaire

• Completed views of the Child/Young person

• Copies of all professional reports available



How will the LA make decisions? • Decisions will be made according to the Criteria for EHC Needs

assessment documentation.

• We propose to hold a weekly meeting with Managers from Inclusion and Assessment, Caseworkers and reps from EPS/LST. The request will be presented to the Panel by the Statutory Process team and a decision will be made and communicated to the Family straight away.



What follows? • Caseworker will take agreed cases from weekly meeting and decide

what additional reports are needed• The LA then has 6 weeks to obtain further evidence – this will have

to include advice from an Educational Psychologist and will include health advice if child has medical needs.

• Format for advice from EPS now agreed to fit in with our draft EHC Plan

• Same draft format also given to LST and CCD teams• Health report (if required) – format agreed to fit with EHC plan. • Social care – CIN and LAC plans will be incorporated into the EHC

Plan • Draft Admin process – still TBC



The Process - what is the same and what has changed?

Statement EHC PlanRequest for Statutory Assessment – 6 weeks to decision Request for Statutory Assessment – 6 weeks to decision

Test – whether it is necessary Test – whether it is necessary

Advices – 6 weeks Advices – 6 weeks

After assessment – if no Statement – Note in Lieu sent to parents

After assessment – if no EHC Plan parents sent a summary of evidence

After assessment if Statement is proposed 8 week negotiation period with parent given 15 days for initial response

LA drafts plan – must be issued within 16 weeks. After assessment if EHCP is proposed parent is given 15 days for comment then consultation with School (15 days) and finalisation.

Total 26 weeks Total 20 weeks



The EHC Plan • A draft annotated EHC Plan has been put on the SEN Reform website

• The Plan must include the following sections:



Child and Family details • Name and Address• Parent/carer details• Details of advice sought as part of the

assessment



Section A – Child Profile:

1. Details of the child/Young Person and their family history

2. Child/YP’s aspirations.

3. Details of how the child/YP communicates



Section B • The child or YP’s special educational needs – Note the category BESD

changed to Social, Emotional & Mental Health difficulties.



Section C• Details of the child or young person's health needs which are related to their

special educational needs



Section D • Details of the child or young person's social care needs which are related to

their special educational needs



Sections E – H2 Outcomes

We propose a table format which sets out :

• Outcome Sought for the child• The support required to meet that outcome• The frequency of the support• Details of who will provide the support• The resources needed • Details of the responsible agency



Some more notes on outcomes• EHC plans should be focused on education and training, health and care outcomes

that will enable children and young people to progress in their learning and, as they get older, to be well prepared for adulthood. (CoP Para 9.64)

• When agreeing outcomes, it is important to consider both what is important to the child or young person – what they themselves want to be able to achieve – and what is important for them as judged by others with the child or young person’s best interests at heart

• Outcomes will usually set out what needs to be achieved by the end of a phase or stage of education in order to enable the child or young person to progress successfully to the next phase or stage.



Section I – placement • The name and type of setting



Section J – Personal Budget• A description of the costed support from each

Service that could be taken as a personal budget– Education, Health, and Social Care

• Details of amounts payable by personal budget • Confirmation of whether parents wish to take a

personal budget



Conversion Arrangements • Children and YP who already have Statements of SEN (or an LDA) will

need to have them converted into an EHC Plan.

• Timescales for conversion – Sept 16 for LDA’s or April 18 for Statements.• Options for conversion – End of Key Stage or Phase Transfer

• Statutory Assessments already underway in Sept 2014 will proceed through the old system and will result in a Statement or Note in Lieu. They will therefore be converted at a later point.



Conversion of Statements• The legal test of when a child or young person

requires an EHC plan remains the same as that for a statement under the Education Act 1996.

• Therefore, it is expected that all children and young people who have a statement, who would have continued to have one under the current system, will be transferred to an EHC plan – no child or young person should lose their statement and not have it replaced with an EHC plan simply because the system is changing.



Will ALL Statements and LDAs be Converted to EHC Plans?

No,• Worcestershire have numerous old statements

that record provision of 20 hours and less• Upto 20 hours now deemed to be within the

‘notional’ SEN budget provision i.e. ‘ordinarily available’

• For these statements, there is no longer a need for the LA to determine SEN provision

• In these cases - cessation rather than conversion



Any Questions?• Please write questions on your question sheets

in your packs.• We will then produce a FAQ and answers on the

SEN Reform website. • Alternatively, relevant questions can be raised in

your workshop.



Useful Links• NASEN SEND Gateway

http://www.sendgateway.org.uk/

• SEND PATHFINDERS • www.sendpathfinder.co.uk/

• SEN REFORM IN WORCESTERSHIRE • www.edulink.networcs.net/senreform/Pages/SE

NReformHome.aspx




http://www.sendpathfinder.co.uk/

http://www.sendpathfinder.co.uk/

http://www.edulink.networcs.net/senreform/Pages/SENReformHome.aspx

http://www.edulink.networcs.net/senreform/Pages/SENReformHome.aspx

www.worcestershire.gov.uk sen reform education health & care planning june 2014 conference sen...

Documents

definition of sen provision

samechangeddefinition

mainstream provision

health care provision

social care provision

legal definition of

proposed sen conversion

draft code