Matthew DoddCouncil for Disabled Children

The The Children and Families BillChildren and Families Bill

• An reminder of the main clauses in the Bill

• Key issues for CDC networks

• Next steps

This session:

Definitions and scope

• Clause 20: SEN definition the same

• Disabled children and young people are not included

• Clause 20: distinction between children and young people: – Young person over compulsory school age

but under 25

Local integration of health, care and education

• Clause 25: integrate services to promote well-being

• Clause 27: LAs to keep education & social care under review– Includes SEN provision and children’s and adult

social care– Determination of whether provision is sufficient

• Clause 26: joint commissioning by LAs & CCGs– Put in place joint commissioning arrangements– Including for securing provision in EHC plans– Arrangements for resolving disputes between

parties

• Clause 28: Requirement to co-operate to meet EHC needs:– Includes education, health and social care

Clause 30: Local offer

• Information on the education, health and care services a local authority expects to be available

• Includes services available outside the local area

• Regulations: – what the local offer should include– who should be consulted– Complaints mechanism

Clauses 36-47: Education, health and care assessment & plans

• EHC plans replace statements– Threshold for assessment the same– Threshold for plan the same

• EHC plans extend to FE and training – 139A assessment replaced – Could continue in an apprenticeship or if ‘NEET’

• Regulations may set out:– how it might be combined with other

assessments

• Duty to secure the educational provision set out in EHCP

• Health and social care needs to be recorded in EHCP

• Rights of appeal the same, but include FE

Where are we in process

Key issues for CDC networks

Health in EHC plans

Government health amendments

• Health commissioning bodies must

‘arrange the specified health care provision for the child or young person specified in EHC plans’

• Local authorities must include in EHC plans:

‘the health reasonably required by the learning difficulties and disabilities which result in him or her having special educational needs’.

• Who will have the final say on deciding what health services are reasonably required?

• Will health commissioners be able to prevent the local authority specifying provision and on what basis?

• How can the decision about this part of the plan be challenged and on what basis?

• Will parents and young people need to challenge the local authority or the clinical commissioning group?

Social care in EHC plans

• Local authorities must include in EHC plans:

‘the social care reasonably required by the learning difficulties and disabilities which result in him or her having special educational needs’.

• This is a new and different test for when someone should get social care services (e.g. different from the Children’s Act 1989)

• The Government should use existing social care tests for determining what social care should be included in an EHC plan

Giving SEND Tribunal powers to rule on health and social care

• A parent or young person could be complaining and/or simultaneously to three different bodies

• The Tribunal has indicated that it would be able to hear all three parts of the plan

Inclusion

• Special academies can admit children without EHC plans permanently if agreed in their funding agreement

• Children and young people may be inappropriately placed and this undermines the principle that mainstream settings must be inclusive for all children and young people.

Replacing School Action and School Action Plus

• A graduated response

• Parents at the heart of the process

• A record that can be used to hold schools to account

Young offenders being excluded from the reforms

• One-third of children in custody have a SEN statement, compared to 3% of the general population

• EHC plans and assessments should be available in custody

What’s next?

• Draft regulations - Bill– Local offer– EHC assessments and plans– Personal budgets

• Draft regulations – implementation

• Draft Code of Practice