ISSUE: 01/2014 DATE: May 2014

CONTACT US

: www.reachwokingham.com

: Reachwokingham@hotmail.co.uk

: 07917 142 748

WHAT’S INSIDE

Chairs Letter Future Events ................................ 1

Finance Report Past Events .................................... 2

Changes to the Law ....................... 3

Education, Health & Care Plans ...... 4

Local Offer Preparing for adulthood ................ 5

Personal budgets ........................... 6

What REACH have done/will do ..... 7

How YOU can get involved ............. 8

It has been an amazingly busy year for REACH Wokingham; with consultations, information sharing, training for parents & liaising with the council.

I am sure you are all fully aware that in September this year there are significant reforms being introduced regarding our children. These reforms are across the board for education, health and social care.

REACH Wokingham have had significant input into how our borough is moving forward with this. Julie and Judith have championed this for REACH and are now experts in this field. They are involved in all areas of the reforms, including the training of SENCOs, discussions with those implementing change and on a more national level they have attended information sharing sessions with Pathfinders (those who are trialling these reforms). The commitment to this is massive and personally I would like to thank them for taking on this enormous task.

We have consulted with parents every step of the way. You may well feel that there are a lot of surveys and meetings you are invited to. The fundamental reason for a parent’s forum is to consult with parents, and this is a ‘biggy’. Making sure our parents have every opportunity to be informed is extremely important to us.

The SEND reforms are now taking our young people up to the age of 25 and so I am heading up the move to adulthood work for REACH, which involves meetings with council, colleges, health and social care. This has only just begun and there is a request for a small group of parents to join us for a consultation - please consider joining this if your child is in Year 11 or above.

We have run a couple of training sessions for parents, to give them the skills they need when meeting with 'professionals'. These courses were extremely well received and I feel sure everyone who attended them gained confidence when having to manage and attend difficult meetings.

Our coffee mornings continue to run each month with a variety of speakers. Please consider coming to them. Sangita does a great job hosting and there is always a good supply of biscuits and the opportunity to share experiences with each other.

The REACH committee generally meet on a monthly basis. Every member gives generously and each member has taken on a specific task to organise, thus spreading the workload. This has enabled Julie, Judith and me to work on the SEND reforms. The committee is brilliant and I would like to thank each member personally for their support whilst I have been Chair.

Thank You, Lucy Walton

We would like to thank Lucy for all her hard work during her 5 years as Chair and welcome Judith Newman into this role.

FUTURE EVENTS

Coffee mornings – held every month, except August, at Bridges.

Summer event – barbeque at St Anne’s Manor, Monday 9 June. Consultation about information, advice and support.

Autumn – we will hold another information event.

March – family event and AGM.

Further focus group events throughout 2014/15 regarding the SEND Reforms.

Working with parents/schools to increase awareness of SEND reforms and person centred approach.

See our website for full details!

INCOME Department of Education Grant £10,000 Wokingham Borough Council £ 5,000 Expenditure for 2013/2014 £12,111

Balance carried forward £ 2,899 Summary of EXPENDITURE Parent Events £5,500 Admin Costs £1,200 Newsletter/Publicity £1,800 Workshop & Training £3,400 Cluster Group £ 100 We will be applying for a Department of Education Grant for 2014/15 in April for £15,000. There are no guarantees however that we will receive this amount. If successful, the grant will be received in two separate payments across 2014/15. Therefore the balance we are carrying forward of £2,899 will be used in the spring, to fund continuing parent led work over the summer for the SEND reform.

SOME OF OUR PAST EVENTS May – AGM

July – Camp Mohawk – Family day and introduction to SEND Reforms

August/September – Survey of Short Breaks for physically disabled children

October – Meetings training; Local Offer Survey and Consultation event;

November – Consultations – Draft SEN Code of Practice and SEN Resource Units in Wokingham

January – Confidence training; Assessment process focus groups

February – EHCP Focus groups

March – AGM, Family Fun Day and Information on SEND Reforms; Local Offer Website Demo

The law regarding Special Educational Needs is changing. The Children and Families Act contains a large section on Special Educational Needs. The law will come into effect in September 2014. There will be a new Code of Practice too, that will support it. The main changes are highlighted on the following pages (look out for the REACH logo in the yellow boxes for quick fire information!)

STATEMENTS WILL BE REPLACED WITH EDUCATION, HEALTH AND CARE PLANS (EHCP) WHICH WILL COVER AGES 0-25.

This will cover your child’s education, health and social care needs. It will look and feel very

different to existing statements. The assessment process itself will be far more holistic, focusing on the child’s needs and on their aspirations for

the future and how best to achieve these goals. The provision will be more outcome driven; plans will not just state what interventions will

be provided (e.g. physio, 1:1 support etc.) but will also specify what they expect to achieve as a result of this intervention.

NEW LEGISLATION – NEW CULTURE!

There should be more focus on working together - Local Authorities and Health Authorities will

commission services jointly.

Parents and children are at the centre of the process and should be much more involved in

deciding what works best for the child or young person. Their views and knowledge will be at the heart of the assessment process and they will be

more involved in decisions about their future.

There is an expectation that Local Authorities will include parents in developing all aspects of the

new requirements. Parent forums are involved in developing the new processes and consulting with the SEN parent community about how we would

like it to work.

School Action and School

Action Plus will be replaced by a single category called

‘SEN Support.’ There is new guidance for schools and

colleges on adopting a

graduated approach to children with SEN. Parents

should be fully involved in this process.

An EHCP must:

Be focused on the outcomes the child or young person wants to achieve across education, health and care.

Set out how services will work together to meet the child or young person’s needs and support the outcomes.

Cover young people from the age of 0-25 if they are still in education, or an apprenticeship (excluding higher education).

Be completed within 20 weeks from the time an assessment is requested (a reduction from 26 weeks).

Include the special educational provision needed. This should be detailed, specific and should normally be quantified (e.g. in terms of the type of support and who will provide it) and it must be clear how the provision will support the outcomes.

Include the agreed Health and Social Care provision required because of their SEND.

WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO THOSE WHO ALREADY HAVE STATEMENTS?

Everyone with a Statement will get an EHCP eventually.

It won’t happen overnight and it is likely that councils will be given 3 years to transfer Statements into plans.

Children will probably be transferred at the end of key stages i.e. transferring from pre-school to school or years

2, 6, 9 & 11.

WHAT IF YOUR CHILD IS ALREADY IN FURTHER EDUCATION?

If your child is in further education, with funding from a Learning Difficulty Assessment (or S139a) then they will change over to an EHCP within 2 years (as long as they are planning to stay in education or training).

Your EHCP will have all the same legal protections as a Statement.

An assessment for an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) can be requested by the parent;

the young person (if over the age of 16); the school, early years setting or post-16

institution; or any other professional who knows the

child or young person.

WHAT IS THE LOCAL OFFER FOR?

To provide clear, comprehensive and accessible information about support and opportunities available.

To make the SEN provision more responsive to our local needs and aspirations (because the local offer will involve children and young people with SEN, parents and carers, and service providers in its development and review).

The local offer should not just be a directory of existing services.

In theory all the information you need, will be

held in one place.

IT WILL INCLUDE INFORMATION ABOUT:

Schools (what each school can individually provide and what the local authority expects schools to provide for SEN).

School transport. Health services and social care services. Short breaks & leisure activities. Preparing for adulthood. Information, advice and support available. Childcare. Complaints. How to request an assessment for an

EHCP.

The criteria for accessing all these services will have to be clear.

There is a greater focus on preparing for

adulthood in the legislation, and a recognition that this hasn’t worked smoothly

in the past.

Schools will have a duty to ensure pupils have access to independent, impartial careers guidance (covering the full range of

16-18 education & training options, including further education & apprenticeships).

There is an option for the move to adult social care to be delayed, so that it can be

done at a time that is most sensible for that young person, e.g. avoiding a time when

they are working hard for exams.

All agencies should be working together to help young people to achieve success:

to ensure they can live fulfilled adult lives.

to support them to find employment.

to help them access higher education or

training.

to help them make choices about where

they live and the support they need.

to help them make friends and participate

in society.

Schools should be helping pupils to plan for the future from year 9 at the latest. With the new focus on outcomes and aspirations, a young person’s hopes for the future should be considered before then.

GET INVOLVED!

Parents have the opportunity to get involved NOW with how their Local Offer will be published and will also be able to continue to give feedback on the Local Offer and report gaps in services. Local authorities will have a duty to seek and publish comments on the Local Offer and also to respond to the concerns raised.

THERE ARE 4 WAYS A PERSONAL BUDGET CAN BE DELIVERED: 1. Direct payments: families receive money to purchase & manage services themselves.

2. Organised arrangement: the local authority retains the funds & commissions the support specified in the plan.

3. Third party arrangements: funds are paid to another individual or organisation to manage the funds on behalf of the parent/young person.

4. A combination of the above.

Young people with an EHCP and their parents have a right to request a personal budget: Local authorities must offer personal budgets for social care service.

Education personal budgets are likely to only be given for services not routinely provided by the school.

E.g. a special school may routinely include speech therapy in the cost of the placement, so this could not

be separated out into a personal budget, whereas in a mainstream school (which would fund speech

therapy in addition to the normal costs), a personal budget might be possible.

Services available through education personal budgets will be very limited to start with, but this will develop

and expand over time. Details of what will be available through a personal budget will be published in the Local Offer.

From April 2014 everyone receiving NHS continuing healthcare will have the right to ask for a personal health budget (that is very few of us).

If a personal budget is agreed the EHC Plan will set out the details of the needs & outcomes to be met by

the personal budget. It can include funding from education, health and social care.

FOR THOSE CHILDREN WITH AN EDUCATION, HEALTH AND CARE PLAN THERE WILL BE AN OPTION

TO USE PERSONAL BUDGETS FOR SOME ASPECTS OF YOUR CHILD’S CARE.

A personal budget is an amount of money identified by the local authority to deliver all or some of the provision set out in an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP).

Personal budgets will be optional and no family will be forced to take up this option.

Young people with an EHCP and their parents have a right to request a personal budget.

Before September:

The Local Offer needs to be tested. (We have some parents signed up to do this).

The assessment process & plan are currently being piloted with some families.

Wokingham are trying to develop personal budgets that could be used for school transport in some cases.

A pilot is planned for Preparation for Adulthood with some volunteer families.

For the Local Offer, we have:

Collected information from a survey and parent event to find out what parents want from the Local Offer.

Helped devise a set of questions for schools to complete, to ensure parents have the information they want.

Hosted an event with Wokingham Borough Council to allow parents to see a pilot version of the Local Offer and to influence its design.

REACH Wokingham have helped to

shape the SEND reforms locally, ensuring parents views (gathered at our

events and via surveys) are taken into account.

We have parents involved in task groups working on:

The Local Offer

Assessment Process

Education Health & Care Plans

Personal Budgets and

Preparing for Adulthood

We are also part of the main strategy group for the SEND reforms – to look at the

progress of the reforms overall.

We’ve given presentations at several conferences - giving the parents viewpoint of the reforms to professionals.

For the EHCP & Assessment process:

We have worked with Wokingham to develop a process that

o is clear and easy to follow. o puts the child as an individual at

the forefront of the process. o complies with the legal

requirements. We have held 4 focus groups looking in

detail at the proposed EHC Plan and the Assessment process to gather suggestions for further improvements.

After September:

The Local Offer will have to be regularly reviewed with parents. We want to work with schools and parents to encourage them to co-produce their local offer by reviewing it together, ensuring that it is accurate and clear for parents to read. We will continue to make sure that parents get the information they need about the changes that are happening.

It is vital that families have access to good, impartial information,

advice & support (especially with so many changes).

REACH Wokingham will be asking you how this can be best achieved

within Wokingham.

Do we have your details? REACH Wokingham hold a database of parents interested in what we do. If we don’t already have your details then please email reachwokingham@hotmail.co.uk with your name and address. That way you will be amongst the first to hear of any events and consultations we are running. This is especially important at the moment with the absence of regular CAN bulletins. Being on this list means that you can be classed as a member of REACH Wokingham, which entitles you to vote at AGMs and get a bit more involved if you want to. It also means that when we are talking to the local authority or health about the services that affect you, we can tell them exactly how many members we have and therefore how many families we represent. The more members we have, the more persuasive we can be. Any data we hold about you will be stored carefully and never given to any third parties.

Look at all the ways you

can get involved!

What are you waiting for?

Take part in our consultations.

Tell us about your

concerns, difficulties &

positive experiences with services.

Use your experiences to help improve services

for others.

Come to one of our events.

Join our

management committee.

Come to a coffee

morning.

Join task groups

working on particular issues.