With support set to significantly change for all children and young adults with a Statement of Special Educational Needs, the focus is currently on how Gloucestershire will implement these changes. A Special Educational Needs Programme Board has been formed and is being sponsored by the Gloucestershire Children’s Partnership and led byTim Browne– Head of Special Educational Needs at Gloucestershire County Council.
The Board is keen to get parent carers more involved in shaping and improving services and two parent carers sit on the Board. There is also a parent carer on each of the six workstreams. These cover the new Education, Health and Care plan, integrated assessment, personal budgets and resource allocation, joint commissioning, monitoring and performance and the ‘Local Offer’.
As well as senior staff from all areas of the council’s Children’s and Adults Services, the Programme Board includes representation from health organisations, primary, secondary and special schools and further education providers.
From September 2014, Government reforms mean that everyone aged 0 to 25 with SEN will have a single plan setting out all the support they will receive from education, health and social care and who is responsible for each part of the plan. This EHC Plan will replace the statement of Special Educational Needs. Individuals and families will have more input into identifying their needs and the support they need to get the most out of life, whether that’s from school, college, health organisations or the county council. The changes are aimed at ensuring that children and young adults receive all the information they need about the services, support and activities available to them locally so they can make their own choices and plan their future with their families and carers.
The council will need to produce information on all the services it expects to be available locally, ‘The Local Offer’, and arrange a personal budget if that is what the family wants. Schools will also be required to publish information on how they meet the needs of their students with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities. Schools, further education and training and health and social care providers will need to work together to co-ordinate this support and a key worker will be assigned to each family.
All of the agencies who work with children and young adults with Special Educational Needs will jointly plan and commission the services that are needed. They will be responsible for monitoring whether these are actually improving the life of the young person and their family and will prepare them for a smooth transition into adult life. All of these changes need to be in place by September 2014 but changes will start to be implemented later this year.
The Special Educational Needs Programme Board is currently developing recommendations for how the changes will be implemented in Gloucestershire and these will be agreed by the Special Educational Needs Programme Board at the end of September. The recommendations will be published in the Autumn at http://www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/extra/SENchanges and this webpage will continue to be updated with the latest information.