SEND and Alternative Provision (SENDAP) Change Programme Partnership (CPP)

We are working in partnership with Gloucestershire County Council on the Change Partnership Programme. This programme represents the South-West of England. Both Councils are working with the Department for Education (DfE) and also The Reaching Excellence and Ambition for all Children consortium (REACh).  

REACh is led by PA Consulting in partnership with the Council for Disabled Children, Olive Academies and IMPOWER.

Find further details on parent and carer information on REACh (PDF).

To make sure testing is effective and to understand how the reforms directly impact children, young people and their families, we are working closely with:

• schools
• colleges  
• special schools
• local healthcare providers across the Integrated Care Board
• Swindon SEND Families Voice. This is the recognised parent/carer forum in Swindon
• STEP

Different teams at the council have also been involved.

These include:

• Statutory SEND
• Educational Psychology 
• SEND Operations and Programmes
• Children’s and Adults Social Care
• Early Years
• Advisory Teachers
• Paediatric Therapy

This reform is to try out a national template for Education Health and Care Plans (EHCPs). The EHCP template has been designed by the Department for Education (DfE).

The contents of this new EHCP template includes the same information about: 

• the views of your child or young person
• the needs of your child or young person
• the outcomes for your child or young person
• the provision for your child or young person

All legal requirements for EHCPs stay the same.

This includes:

• if your child can have an EHCP assessment
• giving your child an EHCP
• legal time limits
• your rights to appeal

What is the intention of making the EHCP template reform?

The goal is to make sure EHCPs are more consistent for children, young people and families everywhere in the country. So a child will not need to change their EHCP format when moving from one Local Authority to another.

Activity on testing so far

The EHCP Template has been used first in Swindon since December 2023. It has been used for official assessments of children's needs. At first, only a few people used the new template. Over time, more people started using it as more children were tested.  

At first, parents and young people volunteered to test the new EHCP template. They gave positive feedback. After this, Swindon started using the template for all new official assessments of children's needs.

There have been several feedback sessions with the DfE policy team. Many people from the council and their partners attended. They gave direct feedback on the template. The feedback was about the format, ease of use, accessibility and how well the template works.

Who has been involved in testing and providing feedback the EHCP template?

Children, young people and families have given feedback to the DfE. This is to improve the templates for everyone across the country. Families taking part in testing the template have also given direct feedback to the DfE.  

We want to hear everyone's views on the new national template for EHCP's. We also want views on Swindon's original template. To make sure we capture all views, we are running a survey.

We will also request direct feedback.

Achievements

The Department for Education got feedback from colleagues and partners. So they made standard advice templates for professionals to use. These are for statutory assessments with the new National EHCP template. 

There are templates for:

• schools
• Educational Psychologists  
• Advisory Teachers
• Social Care professionals 
• Health Care providers

Professionals and parents gave feedback on the EHCP template. Overall the feedback was very positive, especially about the layout as needs, provision and outcomes are grouped together.

Future testing

Parents, schools, and partners said they liked the new EHCP template. So, from September 2024, we have been using the new national EHCP template. It will be used for all new EHCP assessments and amended EHCPs. 

We will keep asking people what they think of the template and feedback will be passed to the DfE.

Advisory Tailored Lists give specific information about schools. This helps children, young people, parents, carers and guardians make good choices about where they want their child or young person to go to school.

What is the intention of introducing the Advisory Tailored Lists?

The Advisory Tailored Lists aim to give families easy to understand information on possible school places. This is during the legal assessment process. It helps families make an informed choice on what school they would like to go to. 

The list will be made with input from families. It will be tailored to the child's needs and the support they need to meet those needs.  

The Advisory Tailored Lists suggest schools that may be able to meet a child's educational needs. The lists do not guarantee a place at a school. School places are decided by a separate legal consultation process.

Activity on testing

The SEND Service has been testing Advisory Tailored Lists since April 2024, with a small group of families where the Local Authority have agreed to issue an EHCP following a statutory assessment.

Who has been involved in testing the Advisory Tailored Lists?

Different groups collaborated on this including:

• the SEND Practise Lead from Swindon Borough Council.
• EHCP Coordinators from Swindon Borough Council
• a range of SENCOs.
• Swindon SEND Families Voice – our recognised local parent and carer forum

Future testing

Feedback on Advisory Tailored lists is currently being reviewed. Future testing of this reform will be confirmed in Autumn of 2024.

Sometimes parents and young people don't agree with the choices made by the Local Authority.

Mediation is a voluntary and informal way that the Local Authority, families, and professionals can come together to discuss and try to find solutions to these disagreements. This happens before going through the formal legal appeal process.

To find out more about mediation visit the Disagreement resolution, mediation and tribunal webpage.

What is the strengthened mediation reform?

The DfE is working to make sure mediations are good, happen fast, and everyone comes. As part of the Change Programme Partnership they are trying new ways of working to improve how disagreements get fixed.

Activity on testing

We want to help improve mediations. We will work closely with Swindon SEND information advice and support service (SIAS). SIAS often works with families and the Local Authority to fix disagreements. You do not need an EHCP to use SIAS. More SIAS Coordinators have been hired. This will give more support to the SIAS team. The extra support will last until August 2025.

Who has been involved in Strengthened Mediation?

The SIAS Service, and the Swindon Borough Council SEND Service.

Future testing

At the moment, there are no planned changes to mediation currently through the Change Programme partnership. SIAS Service, and the Swindon Borough Council SEND Service.

The National Data Dashboard is an online tool for children, young people and families. It is also for professionals and community members. The tool has publicly available data on SEND.

The data includes:

• educational attainment
• attendance 
• broader SEND data (such as the number of EHCPs / individuals on SEN Support)

What is the intention of the data dashboard?

The purpose of the National Data Dashboard is to openly share information about SEND within each Local Authority, in order to inform strategic planning and decision making across the Local Area.

Activity on testing

Testing of the National Data Dashboard was overseen by the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Quality Assurance Senior Officer at Swindon Borough Council.

This work started in February 2024. It included different professionals from education, health and social care. It also included the local parent and caregiver forum Swindon SEND Families Voice.

Feedback was given to the Department for Education in April 2024. Feedback forms were used. The forms gave insight into what each area thought of the tool. They included any gaps or areas for improvement.

No more testing has taken place on the National Data Dashboard. This is because the Department for Education is reviewing the tool.

Who has been involved in testing the EHCP template?

STEP, Swindon SEND Families Voice, SENCOs, NHS and SBC colleagues.

Future testing

As of August 2024, there is no further testing on the data dashboard required by Local Authorities. The availability of the National Data Dashboard to the public is yet to be confirmed by the Department for Education.

Multi agency panels are groups made up of many professionals from education, health care, and support services. They help the Local Authority make official decisions they must make by law.

These panels help decide:

• if a child or young person should get an assessment for an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan
• if after an official assessment, a child or young person should get an EHC plan
• how much money will be given for a child or young person's support
• what school or education setting a child or young person will go to
• if a child or young person needs to be re-assessed
• if a child or young person's EHCP should stop

All decisions are made based on the information that is available to the panel. The panel makes sure the decisions follow the SEND Code of Practise 2014 (as well as any other statutory guidance / legislation).

We want to make the right choices so, many professionals, such as managers, EHCP Coordinators, Educational Psychologists, Advisory Teachers, SENCo’s and NHS staff go to the SEND Panel meetings. Swindon SEND Families Voice, a parent/carer support group attend the meeting every three months and provide feedback. This feedback helps make better choices and improves how things work.

What is the multi-agency reform?

The Multi Agency Panels reform will help make better decisions at SEND Panel by making sure decisions follow the law, are consistent and focuses on the child/young person's needs. Decisions will outline what the next steps are. 

The Department for Education will require some professionals to attend the panels. This is to test and improve the panels.

Activity on testing

From Spring 2024 until the end of July 2024, the SEND Service tested a new type of multi-agency panel. This was for all requests for a statutory assessment that we received during this time (for families located in the North of Swindon).

The Statutory SEND North Hub Team leader chaired the panel which included: 

• EHCP Co-ordinators
• Educational Psychologists  
• SENCo's from settings in the North of Swindon.

This is different from our current Panel. The current Panel is chaired by the SEND Statutory Service Manager.

It includes:

• EHCP Co-ordinators
• The Designated Medical Officer
• Education Psychologists
• The Designated Social Care Officer
• Early Years SEND consultants 
• SENCo champions

The goal of this new panel is to make sure decisions on statutory assessments are made effectively and efficiently. Recent increases in demand meant the current SEND Panel could not hear assessment decisions due to lack of capacity.

Future testing

We want to know if the new 2-panel system is better than the old 1-panel system. To find out, we will ask professionals for feedback. We want to know if the new system is more effective, more efficient or if we should go back to using the old 1-panel system.

The Local Area and Local Inclusion Partnerships reform is about making sure all important services and organisations in Swindon work together. They need to plan how to meet the needs of children and young people with SEND.

The reform focuses on the 'local area'. This means services share responsibility. It is not just the Local Authority's responsibility alone. The goal is for everyone to work together to meet the needs of children with SEND.

What is the intention of the Local Area Partnerships reform?

The aim of the development of ‘local inclusion partnerships’ and ‘local inclusion plans.’ This is to make sure many teams from Swindon Borough Council are represented. Also, other local area organisations should be represented. These include education, health and social care. Swindon SEND Families Voice should also be represented. 

This makes sure the partnership working represents the interests and needs of children and young people, their families and carers.

Activity on testing

The Local area already has well established partnership working through the Swindon SEND Strategic Partnership Board. 

This partnership board’s membership consists of a large number of core individuals and services, and has representatives from different organisations who are involved with the local SEND system. The Swindon SEND Strategic Partnership Board already includes all of the colleagues’ representatives that the Department for Education require as part of the Change Programme Partnership testing, and meets every six weeks to come to joint decisions on forward planning for how to support children, young people and families with SEND across the local area. 

Who has been involved in testing the Local Area Partnerships Reform?

Swindon Borough Council, the Bath and North East Somerset, Swindon and Wiltshire Integrated Care Board (BSW ICB), Swindon SEND Families Voice, Education representatives for Primary, Secondary, College and Special Schools.

Achievements

We have already met the Department for Education mandated members for Local Area Partnership meetings. 

Future testing

Swindon SEND Strategic Partnership Board has been in place since 2022. Testing on Partnerships was completed in December 2023 as all members required for Partnerships were included already.