Agenda item

(To Follow)

The Head of 0-25 SEN and Disability presented the report which covered four aspects of Croydon’s work with Special Education Needs (SEN) children. One of the elements was the development of the SEN Strategy which was in its draft stage and would be out for consultation from the 3rd of December until mid-January 2019. The consultation programme would include engagement with parents and young people in different settings.

The Strategy, which was being developed following engagement with young people and their families, covered 4 key areas that had been identified as requiring improvement. These were the following:

•Early identification of children with SEN

•Response time and engagement

•Effective partnership working

•Pathways for Post 16 into adulthood and local provision 

The report also covered the performance and changes to the 0-25 SEN service following the restructure and a focus on statutory duties for two teams of Education Health Care Plan (EHCP) co-ordinators for young people aged 0-11 and 11-25. The change had been made to enable transition planning into adulthood at an earlier stage. There had been an increase of EHCP coordinators to the team in order to reduce caseloads and a senior practitioner employed to focus on peer support as well as quality assurance. A business relations team had been employed to develop and improve relationships with schools.

The performance of the team was included in the report which showed 90% of ECHP completed within timeframes in 2017. There had been an increase in ECHP since January 2018 when there were 2600 plans to an increase of over 300 new plans in the last seven months. This increase will have an impact on the number of plans completed within timescale, the results of which will be reported in January 2019.

The report also focussed on funding, which remained challenging for high needs children. The projected overspend in that area this year was £5.2mil which was similar to the previous year, with an accumulated overspend projected at approximately £15mil by the end of 2019. There was in place a five year strategy to reduce the overspend which included local provision and less reliance on the independent sector, better pathways for post 16, a focus on inclusion for SEN children in mainstream schools and increased numbers of needs to be met within these schools.

The Chair highlighted the importance of the means by which Councillors and Members of the Sub-Committee could supply comment and recommendations as part of the consultation process.

It was questioned whether parents would have the opportunity to feed back as part of the consultation and what assurances were in place to ensure that these voices would be heard. Officers advised that there would be sessions held at various locations in the borough in both special schools as well as mainstream schools. The dates of the meetings would be published, parent partnerships would be involved in co-ordinating the forum groups. Members were encouraged to share suggestions and in particular ideas on the transition of post 16 provision.

The Chair went on to suggest that performance measures for children with SEN would be useful such as the transition of young people with Learning Difficulties into employment, evidence of multiagency working and sharing of best practice and the commitment to provision of local support.

There was a concern that as there was a large range of needs for young people with SEN it was important to have information about how the Council was improving the quality of life of young people with different needs. The Strategy also had to be clear on the commitment to the provision of local services.

Officers stated that following the adoption of the Strategy, there would be an implementation plan which would detail how the aspirations of the Strategy would be realised.

A Member highlighted a concern of parents that devolved funding did not always meet the needs of the individual as it was meant to and as it was essential to ensure that it did questioned how the Council would maintain effectiveness. Officers responded that funding for Early Years children would be in place for children starting reception in September 2019 with inclusion funding provision till the end of early years without an ECHP plan being put in place and would be targeted to the individual. The provision of early targeted funding could result in a child not requiring and EHCP plan as well as enabling schools to have greater control of funding and make decisions on allocation of funds for children or to develop specific SEN related services.

It was further questioned how the allocation of funding would be audited effectively by the Council. Officers confirmed that they were currently working with 12 head teachers of various schools to draw up accountability measures which should enable the monitoring of funding allocations.

Additionally an Inclusion Officer had been appointed, with part of the role being to oversee inclusion within schools in relation to the specific amount of funding received through the explicit grant process. There would be a challenge to schools found not to be utilising the funds in the way expected. There would also be various models of accountability such as a Locality SEN Coordinator to investigate inconsistencies in uniformity of practice. The Council would continue work with Head Teachers to ensure resources were appropriately placed.

It was questioned how the Council would cope with increasing demand, with concerns raised about how the devolving of funds would mitigate against costs pressures and increased demand. Officers responded that evidence of demand was being driven by two factors, which were the challenge faced by mainstream schools in terms of finance and funding, and challenges relating to behaviour of pupils. Devolved funding would allow schools to address the need for local provision and procure behavioural support services. The Strategy could not preclude an increase in EHCP plans and in response, the intention would be to devolve funds earlier. Croydon was a growing borough, with many children being born with complex medical needs and as a result a child’s needs must be met at an earlier stage of life. Training in school and the sharing of expertise was vital, this was evident in Teacher Training which had very little SEN component as a result a lot of work was needed to skill up and equip teachers in this area.

It was highlighted that there were an increasing number of young people with SEN who also presented with mental health needs and as such questioned whether these complex needs were factored into the Strategy and if sufficient services were being commissioned to meet these needs. Officers replied that the whole system was looking at ways to support young people with mental health needs as part of the commissioning strategy and this was also evident in the Child Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) refresh. This area of need was part of the ongoing collaborative work with the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG).

It was further noted that despite the strategic drive to ensure local provision for 16-25 year olds, they may need to be placed outside of the borough where their needs could be met. Officers confirmed that it was true in some cases that local provision was not always available but stressed that numbers of pre 16 children in out of borough provision was 15% and 55% for post 16. The strategy provided an opportunity for improvement in the pathways for post 16. Conversations were taking place with settings to explore how needs could be met locally where this had not previously been considered. Officers also confirmed that action taken was based on individual need and the Council wanted to be in a position that if a young person was in out of borough provision, it was because it was the best place for them and not due to lack of local provision.

The Deputy Cabinet Member for Children Young People and Learning assured the Sub-Committee members that there was a lot of good work happening in the service despite financial pressures. There was a national issue with an increase in demand for SEN services, even though there had been a 40% funding cut in Children’s Services. In spite of the challenges experienced, there was an additional provision for 144 SEN places with 75 extra places available at Croydon College for post 16.

In response to a question about whether the Strategy would impose a requirement for assessments to be completed promptly and services made available with limited delay, officers advised that assessment of EHC needs were within timescales. Early assessment in schools would ensure children were supported earlier due to introduction of inclusion and intervention to support settings. Additional training was also being provided for SENCO’s on identification of support needs for reception children.

It was queried what direct role ‘voice of the child’ had in the Strategy and how the intended outcomes could be ensured. Officers replied that the Strategy was informed by the voice of the child. An external agency was employed to engage with young people as part of this project. It was realised that there was a lot of work to be completed on engagement in order to improve pathways. In order to realise outcomes, during reviews and assessment young people put forward their views and these views had to be considered as it was implicit in improving pathways into adulthood. There was however a realisation that the service had to be explicit in this area at an earlier stage. There was concern noted that the voice of the child, choice and inclusion was explicit enough in the strategy document.

The input of partners such as the Health Service in the production of the Strategy given their own pressures was questioned. Officers confirmed in response that the Strategy was being drawn up in conjunction with the Clinical Commissioning Group who would be dealing with feedback received on resourcing.

The Chair thanked officers for their responses to questions.

In reaching its recommendations the Sub-Committee came to the following Conclusions:

i. The Sub-Committee welcomed the opportunity to receive the draft of the SEN Strategy

ii. That there were concerns about how effective the consultation process would be as it was being run during a busy holiday period.

iii. That Members’ would welcome the opportunity to feed into the consultation process.

iv. Support and input from Partners was vital to the success of the Strategy.

v. It was concerning that Croydon had one of the highest rate of 16-25 year olds not in work education or training.

vi. It was difficult to benchmark or measure the outcome of the performance of children with SEN due to the varying complex needs and individual attainment targets set.

vii. The Sub-Committee raised concerns regarding the content of the strategy which appeared to lack definitive details on decisions and actions to be implemented.

viii. The suggestion that an implementation plan would follow the strategy did not provide assurance to the Sub-Committee of the steps and actions that would be taken to deliver on outcomes.

ix. Whilst the objectives of the strategy were clear it was unclear how improvements to the lives of children and families with SEN would be achieved.

The Sub-Committee Resolved to:

i. Recommend to the Council that the Consultation period be extended in light of the busy holiday period in order to afford people more opportunity to be involved.

ii. Recommend that Officers inform Members how they are able to pass on their suggestions and comments as part of the consultation process.

iii. Recommend to the Council that support from the partners (Health, CCG) be made evident within the Strategy.

iv. Recommend to the Council that the final report needed to be written in a way that is clear to the public.

v. Recommend to the Council that it needed to prioritise and target support to 16-25 year olds which was an area that required immediate intervention.

vi. Recommend to the Council that there was a need to be more explicit on accountability for the attainment of SEN.

vii. Recommend that the voice of the child was explicit throughout the Strategy.

viii. Recommend that the Strategy must make clear how it proposed to achieve its intended outcomes.

ix. Recommend that the Strategy is tabled at the meeting of the Sub-Committee on 12 March 2019, prior to the papers being presented at Cabinet.