| SPOTLIGHT |
The Department for Education has today (2 March) published its SEND and AP Improvement Plan, promising that children and young people across England with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) or in alternative provision (AP) will get “high-quality, early support wherever they live in the country”.
However, the Local Government Association claimed that the measures “do not go far enough” to address cost and demand issues.
The DfE said the SEND and Alternative Provision Improvement Plan, Right Support, Right Place, Right Time confirmed investment in training for thousands of workers – including special educational needs coordinators and educational psychologists – “so children can get the help they need earlier”, alongside thousands of additional specialist school places for those with the greatest needs. Thirty-three new special free schools are approved to be built as of today.
It also said the transformation of the system would be underpinned by new national SEND and AP standards. New guides will be available for professionals to help them provide the right support in line with those national standards but suited to each child’s unique experience, “setting out for example how to make adjustments to classrooms to help a child remain in mainstream education”.
To cut “local bureaucracy”, the process for assessing children and young people’s needs through Education Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) will become “digital-first, quicker and simpler wherever possible”.
Unveiling the Improvement Plan, the DfE highlighted its investment into children and young people with SEND and in AP, with investment increasing by more than 50% compared with 2019-20 – to more than £10bn by 2023-24.
Minister for Children, Families and Wellbeing, Claire Coutinho said: “Parents know that their children only get one shot at education and this can have an enormous impact on their child’s ability to get on with life. Yet for some parents of children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities, getting their child that superb education that everyone deserves can feel like a full-time job.
“The Improvement Plan that we are publishing today sets out systemic reforms to standards, teacher training and access to specialists as well as thousands of new places at specialist schools so that every child gets the help they need.”
The DfE said that a £70m change programme would work over the next two to three years with selected local authorities in nine regions, working alongside families to implement, test and refine longer-term plans – including new digital requirements for local authority EHCP processes and options for strengthening mediation.
The changes will also be underpinned by a strengthened local authority inspection regime joint between Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission, it added.
Additional measures in the Improvement Plan include:
Children’s Commissioner for England Dame Rachel de Souza said: “Children with SEND and their families have, for too long, felt penalised by a system that doesn’t support their needs.
“I am particularly pleased to see this plan’s focus on early help, which will prevent families from reaching breaking point, and the increase in specialist school places so that many more children are able to attend a great school, every day.
“I have called for children’s voices to be at the heart of this plan, so I am encouraged by the move to make EHC Plans digital, standardised, and more focused on what each child wants."
She added: “Our focus must now be on delivering these reforms, in tandem with those for children’s social care, and matching the ambition that children have for themselves.”
Responding to the Improvement Plan, Cllr Louise Gittins, Chair of the Local Government Association’s Children and Young People Board, said: “Councils share the Government’s ambition of making sure every child with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) gets the high-quality support that meets their needs. It is good the Government has set out new national standards which will clarify the support available, and the focus on early intervention will also ensure needs are met more effectively.
“However, while the measures announced will help to fix some of the problems with the current system, they do not go far enough in addressing the fundamental cost and demand issues that result in councils struggling to meet the needs of children with SEND.”
Cllr Gittins added that councils were also concerned over the lack of any plan to give councils additional powers to lead SEND systems effectively.
“We do not believe the Government has the capacity to hold councils, schools and other partners to account for their work supporting children with SEND,” she said.
“Improving levels of mainstream inclusion will be crucial to the success of any reforms, reducing the reliance on costly special schools and other settings. Powers to intervene in schools not supporting children with SEND should be brought forward at the earliest opportunity, but should sit with councils, not the DfE.”
Steve Crocker, President of the Association of Directors of Children’s Services, said: “The SEND and AP system needs a reset to make it work better for all children and families, to strengthen accountabilities and to reduce the insurmountable costs that threaten the financial sustainability of local authorities.
“This improvement plan is a promising start. Improving the experiences and outcomes of children and young people with SEND is a joint endeavour and so we welcome the strengthened role and commitments of health partners as outlined and more consistent offers of support for children and young people who need it.
“However, the plan must go much further and faster in a number of areas. While the response is largely focused on children in school, there is more we must do to re-set the system so it has a sharp focus on outcomes, not just for children today but also for the adults they will become in the future.”
Crocker added: “The additional funding being made available to support the proposals is welcome, but with high needs budget deficits rising there is still not enough money in the system to meet the level of need being seen. The costs associated with the current SEND system are baked in for years to come, this must be addressed.
“Whilst the 2014 SEND reforms were rightly ambitious, they led to a drift away from inclusion in mainstream education and an over reliance on independent specialist provision. We need to re-balance the system in favour of inclusion if we are to see meaningful, lasting reform. Much of this rests upon some of the principles set out in the Schools White Paper yet its status remains unclear.”
The ADCS President called on the government to re-affirm its commitment to the White Paper and implement the proposals that would create a more inclusive education system at the first legislative opportunity.
“We would welcome National Standards to drive inclusivity and ADCS is keen to engage with government in their development. However, without legislative change it is difficult to see how a number of the proposals outlined in the improvement plan can be achieved,” he added.
The ADCS also welcomed the DfE's investment in training, particularly in relation to educational psychologists “where we have long experienced a real shortage”.
