Children and young people to benefit from SEND pathfinder champions
2 May 2014 03:49 PM
Over 1.5 million
children and young people to benefit from special educational needs and
disability (SEND) pathfinder champions.
Groups of councils across the
country have been announced as pathfinder champions for the government’s
special educational needs and disability (SEND) reforms.
The champions will help teams in
their neighbouring councils prepare for the changes, which will give thousands
of families greater control over the support they receive.
The government has recently
announced the biggest transformation toSEND support for 30 years which
will give families more personalised care and assistance, helping the 1.55
million children and young people in England who have special educational
needs. It will mean a new, joined-up approach from birth to 25, ensuring that
support is made available at the earliest possible point.
Children and young people will
be fully involved in decisions about their care and what they want to achieve,
and new education, health and care (EHC) plans are being introduced for those
with more complex needs.
The government has also
announced a £70 million reform grant for councils as they prepare to
implement these ambitious changes, alongside an updatedSEND code of
practice, which provides a stronger foundation for delivery partners to
introduce the reforms locally.
Children and Families Minister
Edward Timpson said:
With less than 5 months to go
until the introduction of our new reforms, the work of these regional champions
is vital to ensure all local authorities, schools, colleges and health care
services are ready to implement the changes.
Around 1 in 5 children currently
have some form of special educational needs or disability; our ambition is for
every child and young person to lead happy and fulfilled lives, with greater
choice and control over their support.
The regions and their champions
are:
- North East: Darlington will lead
in this area
- Yorkshire and Humber: North
Yorkshire, Calderdale and York City lead in this area
- North West: Wigan, Manchester,
Stockport, Salford and Lancashire lead in this area
- East Midlands: Leicester City
and Nottinghamshire lead in this area
- West Midlands: Solihull,
Birmingham City, Coventry City, Dudley, Sandwell, Staffordshire, Telford and
Wrekin, Walsall, Warwickshire, Wolverhampton and Worcestershire lead in this
area
- South West: Cornwall, Portsmouth
and Southampton lead in this area
- East of England: Hertfordshire
and Bedford lead in this area
- London 1: Bromley, Bexley and
Enfield lead in this area
- London 2: SE7 consortium which
consists of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, West Sussex, Medway, Hampshire,
Kent and Surrey lead in this area
- South East: SE7 consortium which
consists of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, West Sussex, Medway, Hampshire,
Kent and Surrey lead in this area
Thirty-one councils have been
test-driving the government’s reforms since October 2011, and now the new
pathfinder champions will act as the first point of contact for other councils,
ensuring each region is ready for the reforms coming into effect from September
2014.
Alongside their regional support
roles, certain champions will take on one or more national champion roles in
areas where they have already developed particular strengths and expertise,
including taking a leading role at national events.
These reforms are part of the
Children and Families Act, through which the government is:
- replacing special educational
needs statements and learning disability assessments with a new birth-to-25
education, health and care plan - setting out in one place all the support
families will receive
- requiring better co-operation
between councils and health services to make sure services for children and
young people with SEND are jointly planned and commissioned, giving
parents and young people with education, health and care plans the offer of a
personal budget - putting families firmly in charge of the care they
receive
- requiring councils to publish a
‘local offer’ showing the support available to all disabled
children and young people and their families in the area - not just those with
educational needs
- introducing mediation for
disputes and trialling, giving children and young people the right to appeal if
they are unhappy with their support
- introducing a new legal right
for children and young people with an education, health and care plan to
express a preference for state academies, free schools and further education
colleges - currently limited to maintained mainstream and special
schools
Notes to
editors
In October
2011, DfE set up 20 trials with 31 ‘pathfinder’ local
authorities to test the proposals in the SEND green paper. The aim
was to improve the support available to children and young people with special
educational needs and disabilities.
The proposals being testing
include the introduction of a new single assessment process, an education,
health and care (EHC) plan and personal budgets for children, young people and
families with SEND.
SEND pathfinder champions
will act as the first point of contact for local authorities and partners
within their region and provide a link to the wider free support available from
specialist delivery partners funded by the Department for
Education.
SEND pathfinder champions
will provide a minimum of 2, one-to-one support days to each authority in their
region, sharing effective approaches from other areas, not just their own.
Additional support days will be provided in some areas on a targeted basis.
Local authorities can choose to pool their one-to-one support days to have
tailored workshops with other authorities.
Topics covered in one-to-one
support days and workshops will be based on local needs and will
include:
- developing the local
offer
- developing the assessment
process and education, health and care plan;
- working effectively with parents
and young people
- preparing for
adulthood
- joint commissioning across
agencies including the health service
Valuable tools such as
the SEND code of practice will soon be available to councils to start
implementing the reforms, and short guides of the code will be made for
parents, young people, teachers and health workers. A draft code is already available.
Information packs which
describe existing good practice
from the SENDpathfinder programme are also
available.
The full list of
regional SEND pathfinder champions can be found at the SENDpathfinder
website.
In the North East, Darlington
will be the champion lead local authority in conjunction with Early Support
(subject to discussions on the details of the support
package).
The South West region will be
divided into 2 with the regional champion role being delivered by a partnership
of Cornwall, Portsmouth and Southampton supported by Mott MacDonald. Further
details of the regional split will be made available on the pathfinder website
shortly.
National champions have been
appointed from the SEND pathfinder
champions to cover 8 national themes.
The national champions will
provide additional support and expertise through:
- developing practical tools and
resources to complement the existing pathfinder champion information packs,
which will become more practical ‘how to’ guides
- providing key note presentations
and/or facilitating workshops at national events that are targeted at key
stakeholder groups supporting the wider implementation
- providing additional call-off
support to other regional SEND pathfinder champions, where
needed