MULTI AGENCY STRATEGY FOR CHILDREN & YOUNG PEOPLE WITH SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS AND DISABILITIES (SEND)

Final 08.10.14

1 CONTENTS

1. Introduction

1.1 Our Vision 3

1.2 Our Principles 3

1.3 Purpose of Our Strategy 4

1.4 Aims of Our Strategy 4

1.5 What do we mean by Disability/Special Educational Needs? 5

2. Key Messages

2.1 National Context 6

2.2 Local Context 7

3. Needs Assessment

3.1 Contextual Information 8

3.2 Prevalence of Disabilities in children 8

3.3 Children & Young People with Special Educational Needs 9

3.34 Current Provision 11

4. Transforming Services

4.1 Interagency Approach 12

4.2 Joint Commissioning 12

5. Priorities 15

6. Monitoring and Review 16

Appendices

Appendix 1 Governance 17

2 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 OUR VISION

We want to see:

 Every child and young person with Special Educational Need and Disabilities (SEND) in the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale receiving the support they need, when and where they need it.

 Children and young people and their families having access to the same opportunities that non-disabled children and young people take for granted

 The participation of children, young people, families and all relevant stakeholders in service development and the decision-making process

 A diverse range and mix of service providers with a capable and confident workforce, equipped with the skills and experience necessary to support the needs of children and young people with SEND

 A joined up approach to strategic planning and service delivery.

1.2 PRINCIPLES

This strategy has been developed taking account of the following principles:

 Children and young people with SEND should have equal access to services which are of high quality, are sufficient to meet their needs and are available in the local area

 Children and young people with SEND living within the Borough of Rochdale should achieve the best possible outcomes, during childhood and adolescence to provide a solid foundation for adulthood

 Children with SEND and their families are recognised as equal partners, are involved in decisions about them and contribute to the development of services

 The rights of all children and young people with SEND to enjoy the best possible health, be listened to and treated with respect and have their race and cultural identity recognised

 Services will safeguard and promote the well being of children and young people with SEND and protect them from discrimination, abuse and exploitation.

 There is close collaboration including between all agencies (across the public, private and voluntary sectors) to ensure services intervene early and are committed to the development of a skilled workforce at universal, targeted and specialist levels to meet the needs of children and young people with SEND

3  Commissioners and providers across all sectors, work in partnership to deliver integrated services for children and young people with SEND

 Services will be delivered within available resources and deliver best value within relevant frameworks.

1.3 PURPOSE OF OUR STRATEGY

It is without question that children with SEND experience many more challenges in achieving comparable life chances than their non-disabled peers. This strategy seeks to explore ways in which children with SEND and their families are able to maximise the opportunities available to them that contribute to them fulfilling their potential and living quality lives. It will set out how all partners within Rochdale’s Children and Young People’s Partnership will plan together to meet the new legislative requirements of the Children and Families Bill (implemented in September 2014).

1.4 AIMS OF OUR STRATEGY

The aims of the strategy are:

 To describe needs in relation to SEND within the Rochdale Borough and review existing provision

 To identify best practice at national and local levels

 To describe a joint service delivery model that will ensure high quality and best value

 To identify how partners intend to commission services

 To identify key priorities for action and implementation

It seeks to:  Develop provision across the full range of needs for children and young people with SEND

 Encourage a range of providers from across the public, private and voluntary sectors to support the development of services for children and young people with SEND

 Develop the workforce to be able to support children and young people with SEND and their families

 Maximise the use of existing available resources supporting children and young people with SEND through partnership working

 Consult with children, young people and their families, and the range of stakeholders and reflect their views.

4 1.5 WHAT DO WE MEAN BY SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS AND DISABILITY?

For the purpose of this strategy our definitions are as follow:

Special Educational Needs:

A child or young person has SEN if they have a learning difficulty or disability which calls for special educational provision to be made for them. A child of compulsory school age or a young person has a learning difficulty or disability if they: a. have a significantly greater difficulty in learning that the majority of others of the same age; or b. have a disability which prevents or hinders them from making use of educational facilities of a kind generally provided for others of the same age in mainstream schools or mainstream post-16 institutions

A child under compulsory school age has special educational needs if they fall within the definition at a. or b. above or would do so if special educational provision was not made for them.

Disability:

A child will be seen to be disabled if they permanently or temporarily (temporarily being defined as meaning longer than a year): I. are experiencing significant developmental or acquired impairments or delays, in one or more areas of cognitive development, sensory or physical development, communication development, social, behavioural or emotional development, or; II. has a condition which has high probability of resulting in developmental delay or deteriorating functional ability, and; III. whose ability to achieve their potential is impaired due to a wide range of barriers facing them.

Child refers to any child or young person between 0 and 19 years of age. The new Children and Families Bill is clear that SEN legislation in particular will now cover the full 0-25 age range. This is a significant change which means that whilst a young person above 19 remains in education and training the guidance in the SEN Code of Practice must be followed. This strategy should be read with this assumption.

Potential is related to children and young people being as independent as each individual can possibly be and ensuring that they are safe from harm, receive the services to enable them to remain healthy and have every opportunity to do well, enjoy life and make a contribution to society.

5 CHAPTER 2: KEY MESSAGES

2.1 The National Context – Key Drivers

2.1.1 Children and Families Bill 2013: Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Reforms

This Bill takes forward the Coalition Government’s commitments to improve services for vulnerable children and their families. It underpins wider reforms to ensure that all children and young people can succeed, no matter what their background. The Bill became statute in Spring 2014 and was implemented from September 2014; The key areas of the SEND reforms, outlined in the SEND Code of Practice are as follows:

 Placing a high emphasis on the involvement of children, young people and parents at the heart of the reforms.  More streamlined assessment processes, which integrate education, health and care services, and involves children and young people (CYP) and their parents and the introduction of Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCP) for those with the most complex needs. EHC Plans will be available from birth (0) up to 25 years of age.  A requirement for Local Authorities and Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) to commission services jointly to meet the needs of Children and Young People with SEN & Disabilities.  The requirement that Local Authorities publish a ‘local offer’ of services for all Children and Young People with SEND, so it is clear what is available in their area without the need to access specialist assessment and specialist services.  Statutory protections for young people aged 16-25 in Further Education will be introduced and a stronger focus on preparing for adulthood.  Children and young people with a Plan and their families will have the option to take a personal budget with their Plan.  The revised duties will apply in all types of educational provision.

2.1.2 Everyone Counts: Planning for Patients 2014/15 to 2018/19 – is a five year planning framework for National Health Services, setting out how the NHS budget can be invested so as to drive continuous improvement and to make high quality care available for all, now and in the future.

The framework describes that:

“With CCGs assuming responsibility for Special Educational Needs commissioning from September 2014, they will need to work closely with Local Authorities and schools to meet the wider pledge for better health outcomes for children and young people”

6 2.2 Local Context

2.2.1 Joint Commissioning Strategy Children and Young People’s Services 2013-2015

Rochdale Metropolitan Borough Council and Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale Clinical Commissioning Group have agreed a Joint Commissioning Strategy for Children’s Services. This sets out how the local authority and CCG intend to develop joint commissioning arrangements as a means of supporting and enabling the delivery of strategic intentions and plans to improve outcomes and life chances for all children, young people and their families. The commissioning of an integrated service for children with SEN/disabilities is one of three priorities identified within the strategy.

2.2.2 Health and Well Being Strategy 2012-2015

Rochdale Health and Well Being Board (HWBB) has published its’ Health and Well Being Strategy which includes key messages from the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA). Children and Young People and Prevention and Early Intervention are identified as two of the five top priorities within the Borough. In addition the strategy articulates the strategic intention to deliver a programme of Joint Commissioning in key areas to make best use of resources and enable more effective joined up services – children’s services are identified as one of the areas of focus.

2.2.3 Early Help Strategy 2013-2016

Sets out how all partners will work together to plan, commission and deliver a range of provision to support children, young people and their families at the earliest opportunity. This means providing low level services at the right time to meet family’s needs and to keep them in control of resolving their issues and problems. It sets out the intention to commission pathways of care/support to ensure that families receive the right help, in the right place and at the right time. This strategy will clearly set out how our local offer for children and young people with special educational needs and disability forms part of our early help offer in Rochdale.

2.2.4 Children and Young People’s Plan 2014-17

Identifies the key priorities for children and young people in the Rochdale Borough and brings together the key activities being delivered across the Children and Young People’s Partnership that will help to achieve the outcomes associated with each of its priorities. The plan includes actions that support children and young people with SEND.

7 CHAPTER 3: NEEDS ASSESSMENT

3.1 Contextual Information

Currently information about local children with additional needs and SEN/disabilities is available through a number of local sources and agencies. However, there is not a single definitive list of the number of children with SEN/disabilities in the borough. We have used national indicative prevalence figures extrapolated to local data to estimate the incidence of SEN/disabilities provided via ChiMat (National Child and Maternal Health Intelligence Network). Whilst this provides us with a high level estimation of need, it does not provide us with a detailed understanding of the specific need (for example the numbers of children with complex physical disabilities, or an autistic spectrum condition).

The Department for Education (DfE) has stated that:

 Disabled children and young people currently face multiple barriers which make it more difficult for them to achieve their potential, to achieve the outcomes their peers expect and to succeed in education.  29% of disabled children nationally live in poverty.  The educational attainment of disabled children is unacceptably lower than that of non- disabled children and fewer than 50% of schools have accessibility plans.  Disabled young people aged 16-24 are less satisfied with their lives than their peers and there is a tendency for support to fall away at key transition points as young people move from child to adult services.  Families with disabled children report particularly high levels of unmet needs, isolation and stress.  Only 4% of disabled children are supported by social services. A report by the Audit Commission in 2003 found that there was a lottery of provision, inadequate strategic planning, confusing eligibility criteria, and that families were subject to long waits and had to jump through hoops to get support.  The prevalence of severe disability is increasing.

It will be necessary during the life of this strategy to undertake a ‘deep dive analysis’, to allow us to develop a more robust understanding which will allow us to predict growth in areas of need across the population of children & young people identified with special educational needs and/or a disability. This will allow us to developing needs-based commissioning plans to shape/develop services and target resources appropriately.

Rochdale’s Joint Strategic Needs Assessment in relation to children and young people provides a high level outline of children’s needs in the borough. The following information describes what we currently know about children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities within the Borough.

3.2 Prevalence of Disability in Children

The number of disabled children in England is estimated to be between 288,000 and 513,000 by the Thomas Coram Research Unit (TCRU). The mean percentage of disabled children in English local authorities has been estimated to be between 3.0 percent and 5.4 percent, through a survey of all Directors of Children’s Services in England undertaken by the TCRU. If applied to the population

8 of Rochdale this would equate to between 1,428 and 2,570 children experiencing some form of disability.

Age Specific Estimates (population aged 0 to 19 years) with long-standing illness or disability in Rochdale Borough (based on ONS data 2011)

Age (years) Boys Girls Total 0-4 1064 949 2013 5-9 1700 1152 2852 10-14 1400 1273 2673 15-19 1350 1120 2470 0-19 5514 4494 10,008

Age-specific estimates (population aged 0 to 19 years) of severely disabled population in Rochdale Borough

Age (years) Boys Girls Total 0-4 11 6 17 5-9 8 3 11 10-14 6 3 9 15-19 2 1 3 0-19 27 13 40

Prevalence rates by socio-economic background

The prevalence rate of children and adolescents with mild disabilities is found to be higher for those from semi-skilled manual and unskilled manual family backgrounds. The prevalence of children with mild disabilities from professional family backgrounds is lower in comparison to the other socio- economic groups. The rate of severe disability is found to be greatest amongst children from semi- skilled manual family backgrounds, whilst the lowest rates are for children from professional and managerial family backgrounds.

Visual Impairment Data collected from local authority advisory services tend to show prevalence at about 20 children per 10,000. However, the prevalence rate reported by the DCSF based on the individual pupil data collected from schools finds 10.5 per 10,000 whose primary special educational need is a visual or multi-sensory impairment. The table below shows the estimates for Rochdale. It is estimated that will be around 5 children in the borough with a severe impairment/blindness

Visual Impairment Lower Estimate (10.5 per 10,000) 31 Visual Impairment Upper Estimate (20 per 10,000) 60

3.3 Children with Special Educational Needs

In January 2013 there were 6283 pupils identified as having special educational needs in Rochdale schools. This includes:

 1179 pupils with a statements (3.69% of the school population)  1701 pupils at school action plus (5.31%)

9  3403 pupils at school action (10.64%)

The following table shows the percentage of pupils with a statement of special educational needs in the Borough Primary Primary Secondary Secondary All pupils All Pupils 2012 2013 2012 2013 2012 2013 1.9 2.0 2.5 2.5 3.3 3.4

The following three tables illustrate the number of children per thousand school population (and the England comparative figure) by category of special educational need (x denotes no data):

Primary: Category of Special Educational Need Rochdale England Specific Learning Difficulty 3.1 7.5 Moderate Learning Difficulty 13.7 17.2 Severe Learning Difficulty 1.2 1.1 Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulty 0.5 0.4 Behaviour, Emotional and Social Difficulties 9.8 14.6 Speech, Language and Communication Needs 16.8 22.9 Hearing Impairment 2.9 1.8 Visual Impairment 0.8 1.0 Multi- Sensory Impairment 0.2 0.1 Physical Disability 2.2 3.2 Autistic Spectrum Disorder 8.4 5.8 Other Difficulty Disability 2.7 3.3

Secondary: Category of Special Educational Need Rochdale England Specific Learning Difficulty 5.4 13.0 Moderate Learning Difficulty 31.2 18.4 Severe Learning Difficulty 0.6 0.7 Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulty x 0.1 Behaviour, Emotional and Social Difficulties 20.2 23.6 Speech, Language and Communication Needs 6.8 7.5 Hearing Impairment 2.9 2.2 Visual Impairment 1.6 1.2 Multi- Sensory Impairment x 0.1 Physical Disability 3.8 3.0 Autistic Spectrum Disorder 7.4 7.0 Other Difficulty Disability 7.9 n/a

All Special Schools: Category of Special Educational Need Rochdale England Specific Learning Difficulty 17.3 11 Moderate Learning Difficulty 89.1 182.6 Severe Learning Difficulty 237.6 241.3 Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulty 173.3 87.9 Behaviour, Emotional and Social Difficulties 170.8 138.1 Speech, Language and Communication Needs 22.3 49.2 Hearing Impairment x 15.6 Visual Impairment x 8.2 Multi- Sensory Impairment 14.9 2.2

10 Physical Disability 27.2 37 Autistic Spectrum Disorder 247.5 200 Other Difficulty Disability x 7.4

We know that the number of requests for statutory assessment is on the rise and that there were 212 requests in the academic year 2011-12 compared with 174 in the academic year 2009-10.

We also know that more children with statements are moving into our area – 29 in 2013 compared to 14 in 2012, 15 in 2011 and 5 in 2010.

The profile of need of young people is also changing with the most significant special educational needs is changing with communication and interaction needs including speech and language needs and autistic spectrum continuum now being the highest level of need whereas previously this was the category of cognition and learning which includes specific learning difficulties, moderate, severe or profound multiple learning difficulties.

3.4 Current Provision

We have published a local offer within the Rochdale Family Service Directory, of the services and provision that are on offer to children and families with SEND in the Borough. (Rochdale Family Service Directory )

This describes a range of support available without the need to access specialist assessments and services, and provides information to families and practitioners as to how to access additional provision Our local offer has been developed in partnership with the Parent/Carer Forum, schools and partners.

The local offer currently includes information about the range of provision that we currently commission and/or provide under the following headings:

 Suitable childcare  Leisure activities  Short breaks  Parent partnership services  Dispute resolution services  All schools- mainstream and special  Local authority roles and responsibilities  Health services

11 CHAPTER 4: TRANSFORMING SERVICES

4.1 Inter-Agency Approach

Children and Young People with SEND access services across multiple agencies, and are therefore disproportionately affected by poor integration between services and a lack of co-ordinated or joined up commissioning.

We want to ensure that the services we commission and provide for children and young people with SEND and their families are developed in partnership with them; and enable them to take control and lead as ordinary lives as possible. We are committed to ensuring that children and young people with SEND are able to access the universal provision that is available to everybody within the borough, and that they and their families have easy access to a range of additional provision in accordance with their needs when they need it.

We want support for children and young people with SEND to be embedded within our planning and service development for all children and young people within the Borough. As such we will build our model of support upon Rochdale Needs and Response Framework. This is a borough wide framework for all children, young people and their families. It is underpinned by a number of principles which recognise that all service responses must be directed at preventing vulnerability and meeting the needs identified at the lowest level of intervention. The framework recognises that the most effective assessment and service delivery comes through good information sharing, joint assessment of need, joint planning and professional trust within the interagency network.

In figure 1 we have described how our model of support for children and young people with SEND sits within the Needs and Response Framework. This shows how our local offer supports a range of needs, utilising the common assessment framework to co-ordinate multi-agency support around the child/family, and identifies where the local offer may not be sufficient to meet needs and an EHCP assessment plan or other statutory/specialist assessment may be required.

4.2 Joint Commissioning

Rochdale’s Joint Commissioning strategy sets out our intentions to develop joint commissioning arrangements for children’s services. This includes jointly commissioning a comprehensive local offer and the development of a borough wide integrated service for children with SEN/disabilities. We intend that this will build a network of support around children and young people with SEND and their families that will flex and change as families wish in accordance to their needs – recognising that these will vary during childhood, adolescence and into adulthood.

Families should expect to see:  A single point of access to information and services  Information and signposting in relation to our local offer  Person centred integrated assessment/planning (either via the Common Assessment Framework or EHCP (Education, Health Care Plan)  Direct Specialist intervention when it is needed (e.g therapists, educational psychologist, specialist teachers, social workers  Availability of personal budgets for any aspect of the EHCP should they wish it

12  A skilled competent workforce supporting children with SEND to ensure they can access local provision  Clear processes for resolving any disagreements or disputes

13 Figure 1

14 CHAPTER 5: PRIORITIES

We have identified a member of key themes that we will focus on in order to improve support and outcomes for children and young people with SEND:

 improving access to universal services – so that child/young person with SEND can utilise the range of services and support available to any child or your person in the borough

 joint planning, commissioning and delivery of specialist, health, education and social care services with and to children & young people with SEND and their families

 early identification and intervention – so that child/young person and families receive the help and support they need, when they need it, and escalation of need is avoided

 improving the quality of information to children & young people and their parents – so that families can easily find answers to the questions that they have

 refining the local offer – so that it is easily accessible and comprehensive

 improving transition support

 developing personalisation – so that planning and provision is based on the needs of child/young person

 a focus on independence and clarity about support (including health support) for children & young people who need lifelong care

 ensure that SEND is everyone’s business through workforce development – so that practitioners have the confidence, knowledge and skills to support child/young people with SEND

 strengthen data collection and information systems to further support us to fully understand needs in the borough

15 CHAPTER 6: MONITORING AND REVIEW

We have set ourselves an ambitious and challenging agenda especially in times when the public sector is changing and financial constraints abound.

What we do have, however, is a commitment to ensuring that our children & young people with SEND receive services which meet their needs, that their parents and families feel supported and satisfied with our services and that everyone in the Borough has high expectations and high aspirations for our children & young people with SEND

 The strategy will be reviewed annually, and reviewed by the Partnership as necessary.  The Children and Young People SEND Partnership will develop a detailed action plan to support the implementation of this strategy.

The formal governance arrangements are detailed in appendix 1.

16 APPENDIX 1

GOVERNANCE

This strategy has been produced by the Children with SEND Partnership and will be monitored through Rochdale Borough Children’s and Young People’s Partnership.

Governance Diagram

Health & Wellbeing Board

Rochdale Borough Rochdale Borough Safeguarding Children Children and Board Young Peoples Partnership

Children and Young People with Disabilities Partnership

17