On the 1st September 2014, the biggest changes for a generation in the field of SEN and Disabilities were introduced in England and Wales by the government. These were part of the 2014 Children and Families Act and arose out of work undertaken by the Department for Education and partners.
The old system of SEN had not substantially changed since the Warnock Report (1978) informed the 1981 Education Act. This had led to the introduction of Statements of SEN, an emphasis on needs, rather than categories of SEN and an increased emphasis on inclusion. For those early years and school age children and young people who met the threshold, Statements of SEN outlined individual needs and the appropriate provision to meet these. There was an associated legal obligation that these would be met within education contexts. In 1993 tribunals were established (now first tier SEN and Disability Tribunal) to rule on any disputes between parents and local authorities on the statutory assessment of SEN or the Statement.
A government Green Paper (DFE 2011) raised significant concerns with the old system, the adversarial nature of it for some families, lack of joined up service delivery and participation in decision making by children, young people (CYP) and their families. Such were already highlighted by the Lamb Inquiry (DCSF, 2009). Many conversations commenced with the provision that was required, rather than looking at needs and working together to meet these. The adversarial nature of interactions were often driven by conversation commencing with desire for particular resources, rather than with problem solving to meet the needs of CYP.
Following the Green Paper work occurred with range of families, charities, for instance the Centre for Child Development (2016) and pathfinder authorities (outlined in Mott MacDonald, 2015) to develop and trial new systems.
There has been much written about the changes, which have been substantial and are described fully in the DFE SEND Code of Practice 0-25 (2015). In summary the major changes have been:
- Significant culture changes, with children/ young people and their families being fully involved in decisions about their own plans and provision within the local area. This was at the level of co-production, far more involvement than past examples of consultation.
- Other, related, culture changes were the person centred nature of assessments of individual CYP, being aspirational about outcomes and having an outcome focus throughout.
- Preparing for adulthood was seen as central, with any approaches having long term aims towards this being successful, even for those who were many years from reaching adulthood.
- The introduction of education, health and care (EHC) plans for those with the most significant special educational needs. Plans are applicable within an education setting and outline how health and care can support the child/ young person’s needs.
- EHC plans are applicable to 0-25 year olds, post statutory school age where the young person is in education or training.
- Early years settings, schools and colleges have new duties, for instance the application of a graduated response to SEN.
- Joined up approaches to SEND, for instance during assessment and strategic joint commissioning.
- Early intervention is seen as key.
- Within the local area a local offer has to be introduced, outlining what is available for children / young people with SEND, and their families, locally. This has to be far more than a list of provision, being a two way conduit of information on the local services and any perceived gaps, to aid joint commissioning.
- New ways of supporting parents and children/ young people, for instance an approach to mediation before a tribunal appeal can be heard.
Over the past two years the initial enthusiasm for the approaches has dimmed in some quarters. The shadow children’s minster in May 2016 announced a review of SEND (Children & Young People Now 10-5-16). This has not currently progressed due to the leadership election within the Labour Party, but demonstrated some concerns that were occurring around how much the old system had changed and if the hoped for reforms were making a difference. Parent led websites such as Special Needs Jungle (2016) have raised issues about the full implementation of the Act, especially the ethos change associated with it and parent/ CYP involvement in their own individual and local area strategic plans.