Agenda item

To consider an update on the implementation of the Special Educational Needs and Disability reforms following the Committee’s previous consideration of this item.

The Committee received a report from the Director of Children’s Services and his representatives, alongside NHS colleagues, providing a post-implementation update on the Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) reforms (Item 6 in the Minute Book).

Members heard an overview of the report from the presenters. Currently the Department were still waiting for OFSTED/the Care Quality Commission to announce a review of the local area’s response to the SEND reforms. This could happen at any point in the next three years. The previous inspection was a pilot inspection.

The data from the 20 week indicator showed that Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) were not being completed quickly enough, and the Department had resultantly implemented a recovery plan to improve the waiting time to completion. Previously 4.5% of EHCPs were being issued within the 20 week deadline against a 60% national figure. This was in part due to the shortened time for completion compared to SEND statements, which allowed 26 weeks overall. The Department had improved the EHCP figure to 45.8%, but there was much further to go to get to the previously achieved compliance rate of 90%+, which was the achieved level pre-reforms.

The report noted that just under 300 SEND statements had not yet started their journey to becoming EHCPs. Now just seven were yet to be started. The emphasis from Hampshire was that the document should be high quality, and not just a ‘cut and paste’ paper exercise, so some of these would go to the end of the March 2018 Government deadline for all statements to be transitioned.

There had been progress with the creation of the online EHCP hub, where the vision was that all parties could log in securely to track the progress of an EHCP assessment. This software was currently in the testing phase, as Hampshire had helped to shape the product as an early adopter. It was hoped that this self-service product would be available for use by September 2018.

A significant piece of work was on-going with schools to reinforce the need for them to ‘assess, plan, do, review’ with children who are identified with having potential SEND needs. The aim of this work was to help schools to aid children and work with their needs locally, with a referral to the EHCP process being only for those whose needs were severe, long term and complex.

The NHS SEND Designated Clinical Officer for 0-25 years provided a brief update to Members on the areas being progressed by the five Hampshire CCGs in relation to this area. Specifically, projects were currently on-going in relation to reviewing the pre-school advisory groups working with services for young children, and working with communication and language specialist teacher advisors. The children and maternity commissioning team were now co-located in Winchester with Hampshire County Council’s Children’s Services in Winchester, which aided joint working and cemented the commitment to working in partnership.

The Committee had previously heard about the early years offer during their previous meeting, and as part of this had understood that additional monies had not been received to expand the SEND offer from 15 to 30 free hours. There were also issues with capacity in the County for SEND specialist early years provision . The mixture of these two issues had resulted in the need for a SEND provision early years strategy, and the outcome of this had been the agreement to provide the additional 15 hours of free entitlement from mainstream early years placements, with plans put in place to support children’s specialist needs. For this year, the approach had worked well, but for future the strategy would be subject to the early years review, in order to explore how parents and providers are being supported, and to develop good practice.

Hampshire had been successful in securing through a bidding process a new 125 place special free school. It was hoped that, with the relevant planning permissions, this facility would be open by September 2020. In further good news, the Samuel Cody special school in Farnborough was being supported to have an additional 50 places for children of primary school age with moderate learning disabilities. The SEND Special School Place Planning strategy would also be looking at provision and designation across the County, considering how existing provision can be adapted to meet growing demand.

In response to questions, Members heard:

• That planning for the additional 15 hours of free early years provision had taken place with parents and carers as part of the natural review process for EHCPs. For children with autism, any changes to their provision will be agreed on an individual case-by-case basis, trying to avoid movement if possible.
• There were a number of EHCP cases going to tribunal, with approximately 70 live cases currently, which the Director agreed was too high. However, within the context of 7,500 EHCPs, this was not a large percentage, but it was in all parties interest to avoid cases from getting to this stage. The Department were committed to working better with families so that the tribunal route was the absolute last resort. Part of the idea of the EHCP hub would be to free up staff capacity from dealing with general queries on the status of EHCPs, in order to spend more time one-to-one with families and carers on EHCP planning.
• In some cases, tribunal may be unavoidable, as the view families take on the support required to meet their child’s needs may not be the most appropriate or cost effective support for the needs identified through the EHCP. The tribunal process is open to any family or carer who does not agree with the support offered to meet an EHCP by the County Council or its partners, and therefore individuals are entitled to use it. The Department does its best to negotiate with families in order to avoid cases getting to this point.
• That part of the aim of the education inclusion service was to help those children who were house or bed bound by the nature of their disability or health issue to be supported to access education, if this was appropriate.
• The outcome being worked towards by the SEND team through EHCPs was for every young person to be supported to take their place in society, and if appropriate, to take up employment and / or further training. Many young people on EHCPs are supported to go on to further education and supported internships, with the choice being theirs to determine what best suited their ambitions.
• For those who have the most profound level of need, the reality was that lifelong access to support would be needed, and therefore a transitional team existed with the aim to transfer care into adult services, and to make this period as seamless for the young person as possible. This is a main focus of EHCP support now extended to those aged up to 25 years. 
• The annual review of the EHCP was intended to be a safety net, with an expectation that this document should be reviewed by the relevant professional whenever most suitable, to ensure that the provision was still appropriate.
• That teacher’s abilities to identify needs in children represented a mixed picture across the County; as not every teacher is skilled at identifying children who may be on the autistic spectrum, or have another SEND need. What the Department wanted to do was build pathways for professionals to use that allowed them to highlight when a child may need help, which puts them on the right course to diagnosis and support, if this is appropriate.

The Chairman thanked the presenters for their presentation, and agreed that any further questions from Members could be sent to the officers via the scrutiny officer.

RESOLVED:

That Members:

1. Note the overview provided.

2. Request a further update in May 2018.