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SEND Pathfinder Report to Children’s Trust

July 3 2012

Jane Marriott, Psychology and Inclusion Service Manager and

Pathfinder Lead Medway Council

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Medway SEND Pathfinder

Pioneering change in assessment and planning for children and young people with complex

needs

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Overview

• Background and Context• Vision• What we have promised to do• Opportunities• Challenges• Actions and timescales

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Background and Context

• SEN Green Paper 2011• Liberating the NHS White Paper 2010• Personal Health Budget Pilots• Support and Aspiration: Progress and

Next Steps 2012

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Pathfinder core activities• Integrated assessment and single assessment

process

• Single Plan 0-25

• Local offer and greater transparency

• Engagement of parents and VCS

• Integration with new NHS structure

• Pooled and aligned budgets

• Cross-boundary issues/process/applicability

• Support to vulnerable CYP: LAC and ethnic minority families

• Value for money: cost of reform

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Pathfinder optional activities

• Personal budget approaches• Age range and employment• Banded funding• Mediation

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What we have promised we’ll do

• Work together with practitioners, parent carers and young people to:– Design single assessment process and

plan– Design personal budget process– Try these out and improve them– Produce a ‘Local Offer’ for Medway

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What do we want to change?

• Better experience for children, young people and families

• Support and resources better targeted to meet need

• More join up and less overlap

• Better outcomes for all

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Scope of testing

• Different complexity• Different ages• New and existing plans• Variety of educational settings incl INMSS• Variety of backgrounds

Governance

Pathfinders

PathfinderWorking Group

(Sign off, info, comms and policy)

Evaluation

Support

Other delivery partners

Strategic partner

EYES PBStrategic delivery

National advisorygroup

Wider stakeholdergroups

Ministers

Pathfinder advisorygroup

Proposed Partnership governance of the SE7 Pathfinder

MedwayPathfinder Governance Structure

SE7 Regional Pathfinder

Steering Group

Vulnerable Children’s Strategic Partnership Group

SEND PathfinderSteering Group

Representation from Education, Health,

Social Care, and Parents

MedwayChildren’s Trust Board

Task & Finish Groups:

•Single Integrated Assessment and Plan – 14 plus•Single Integrated Assessment and Plan – Early Years •Personal Budgets •Local Offer

Links and shared learning with

National Pathfinder (SQW & MM)

Links and shared learning with

National Pathfinder (SQW & MM)

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What have we done already?

• Communication and engagement

– Medway Change Board

– Single Assessment workshops and task groups

– Awareness Raising event March 15

• Designed Single Assessment:

• Early Years/Transition to school

• 14 plus

• Identified 6 families and conducted assessments

• Designing Personal Budget process

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What is different about Medway’s Single Assessment?

• Follows Pathfinder principles agreed with Medway parent-carers:

• Holistic, with family as partners, – strengths-based, – clear accountabilities,– outcomes focussed,– Person-centred

• Integrated assessment

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How will we take it forward?• Trial assessment with 20 families from

May 2012• Develop plan and multi-agency resource

allocation processes• Review and revise process August 2012• Include personal budgets from October

2012• Local Offer by December 2012• Children and Families Bill 2012• SEN Law change 2014 (Draft Bill 2012

Summer)

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Children and Families Bill, 2012

“….will include provision to ensure that services for disabled children and young people and those with SEN are planned and commissioned jointly and that there are clear duties on all of the agencies involved”

(Support &Aspiration Progress and Next Steps, 2012)

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Keeping you informed:

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An easy read:

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Websites for keeping up with developments:Medway Children’s Trustwww.medwaychildrenstrust.co.uk

Medway Parents & Carers Forumwww.medwaypcf.org.uk

SE7www.se7pathfinder.co.uk

Council for Disabled Childrenwww.councilfordisabledchildren.org.uk

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Challenges• Timescale

• Old processes continue

• Additional time for families and practitioners

• Systems to support innovations

• Funding streams

• Sustainability

• Willingness to do things differently

• Buy in from managers – accountability and commitment

• We learn and give accurate message to Government

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Opportunities

• Develop existing areas of good practice• Chance to do something better – and learn

from others nationally• Chance to work with others in Medway• Chance to help shape national policy• Chance to improve outcomes for children

and young people