Special educational needs reforms set out

The draft reforms, which were laid out in Parliament yesterday, focus on joint commissioning of services and the introduction of Education, Health and Care Plans, which are designed to make support more streamlined and integrated than the current statement and learning difficulty assessment.

The proposals to reform provision for children and young people with special educational needs were first set out in the Special Educational Needs and Disability Green Paper, Support and Aspiration, published in March 2011. This was followed by the Next Steps document in May of this year.

The reforms will be included in the draft Children and Families Bill, expected to be published later this month.

Currently, the reforms are being tested in 20 pathfinder areas, covering 31 local authorities.

A number of case studies describing the experiences of pathfinders are now available to download on the Food for Thought pages of the SEND Pathfinder website. Further case studies will be added in the next few days.

Other draft clauses include placing a requirement on local authorities to publish a local offer of services for disabled children and those with special educational needs, and the introduction a personal budget for parents of children with SEN to give them more control over support.

Academies, including Free Schools are to also have the same duties as maintained schools in safeguarding the education of children with SEN. This will mean that parents, young people and children are on the same footing whether they attend a maintained school, Academy or Free School.

The Government says it welcomes views and feedback on the draft clauses, and will continue to learn from its pathfinder programme, before introducing legislation at a later date.

The Department for Education is also inviting disabled children and those with special educational needs to join the Young People’s Advisory Group, which will advise the Government on the SEN and Disability Green Paper reform programme.

Commenting on the plans, Anne Fox, director of The Communication Trust, said, ‘The Children and Families Bill and the good intentions enshrined within it are welcomed, the devil as always will be in the detail. The Trust is working with its consortium members and partners across the private and public sector to ensure these proposed changes make a positive difference to families.

‘We know that children and young people with SLCN are at risk of being under-identified and not having their needs met because of a postcode lottery of services. It is imperative that they do not lose out, particularly because their difficulties can be 'hidden' or because they slip through the gap between services with no-one taking responsibility. This is why joint commissioning is so vital for these children but legislating for the NHS, local authorities and schools to work together to commission services won't be a silver bullet.’

Contact a Family has also welcomed the publication of the draft provisions.

The charity’s chief executive Srabani Sen said, ‘Securing valuable parliamentary time for this draft legislation sends a strong message that the government is committed to making the vision set out in the SEN & disability green paper a reality. We applaud the government’s decision to put the well-being of children and young people with special educational needs at the heart of this draft legislation. However it is vital to ensure parent carers are well supported too. Assessing and supporting parent carers needs is central to improving the outcomes and participation in everyday life of disabled children and young people.

 ‘Families we speak to tell us they often face a complex web of systems and uncoordinated services. The legal requirement outlined in the draft legislation to promote an integrated approach across education, health and social care services and joint commissioning arrangements will be crucial to families with disabled children. We remain concerned however that the government’s emphasis on providing children who need support in education means disabled children whose primary need is social care or health could still miss out.  Contact a Family will now work with the government to ensure that the entitlement to an Education, Health and Social Care Plan alongside information on locally available services through a local offer is made available for all disabled children and their families.’