SENSAP

The local authority’s Special Educational Needs Statutory Assessment and Provision team.

The SENSAP team is the local authority’s Special Educational Needs Statutory Assessment and Provision team.

SENSAP’s aim is to enable children and young people with complex Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) to access the right educational support and provision and to achieve their life aspirations.

The SENSAP team have a number of functions, including:

  • creating Education Health and Care Plans
  • Monitoring and quality assuring special educational provision within educational
    settings
  • Managing the delegation of funds to educational settings
  • Supporting accessibility in educational settings for students with disabilities

For general enquiries and more information about EHCPs, monitoring and quality assurance, you can contact SENSAP at sensap@leeds.gov.uk or call 0113 376 0062

SENSAP

SENSAP staffing structure

Click here to view the SENSAP staffing structure

SEN Casework Officer

A SEN Casework Officer's role is to facilitate an Education, Health and Care (EHC) Assessment from start to finish, and then to maintain the EHC Plan afterwards through an annual review.

Personal Advice

SEN Casework Officers are not advice providers themselves, but pull together various pieces of advice from the family and from professionals and services who are working with the child or young person.

Schools and Educational Placements

SEN Casework Officers can help families to understand their options in relation to placements in schools and educational settings for children and young people with EHC Plans. They will work with educational settings to determine whether they can meet their needs and offer a place. Where this isn't possible they will find an alternative suitable option.

Bringing People Together

SEN Casework Officers can help to coordinate different individuals and services to contribute to child or young person's EHC Plan, such as seeking advice from health professionals or social workers, where they are involved. SEN Casework Officers can signpost families on how to make referrals to other local services who may need to become involved to support the child or young person.

Click here to view the 'what is an SEN casework officer' document

SEN Casework Officer School Allocations (Pre-school to Year 10)

Officers are allocated to Leeds maintained schools and academies, roughly in areas of schools (known as Families of Schools). Children and young people attending an independent school, a school outside of Leeds, or not on the roll of a school, will usually be allocated to the officer of the school most recently attended. Children who have not yet started school will usually be allocated based on the nearest Leeds school to their home address.

Click here to view the list of Leeds schools and the assigned SEN Casework Officer.

SENSAP contact details

Email: sensap@leeds.gov.uk

Phone: 0113 376 0062

  • Monday: 8:30 till 17:00
  • Tuesday: 8:30 till 17:00
  • Wednesday: 11:00 till 17:00
  • Thursday: 8:30 till 17:00
  • Friday: 8:30 till 16:30

SENSAP update - November 2024

SENSAP have embedded a Multi-Agency SEND Panel and this will now run on a weekly basis as a Multi-Agency Panel.  This is a decision-making panel attended by representatives from a range of agencies and partners, including but not limited to Health, Social Care, Education and Education Psychology.  

The Parent/Carer Forum will moderate the outcomes of this Panel on a termly basis to ensure that their views are represented and to promote consistent decision making.  

SENSAP have already started to consult for phase transfer places (Nursery 2, Year 6, Year 11) for September 2025 and are working to meet the deadlines of 15th February to finalise EHCPs for children and young people (CYP)  under the age of 16 and 31st March for CYP over the age of 16.

SENSAP are working to clear the number of overdue cases for both assessment and issue and have temporarily engaged additional staff to support with this. Our hope is to be able to process all requests in a timely manner, within the statutory timescales, to ensure that all children and young people in Leeds, who have SEND receive the support they require to meet their needs as soon as possible.  The Educational Psychology Team has also engaged additional and temporary Educational Psychologists to support them in clearing overdue cases.

The number of cases continues to increase, reflecting the national trend, and each Casework Officer has experienced an increase in workload; they remain committed to providing the best possible service to Leeds families and educational settings.  SENSAP would like to thank families and settings for their patience and co-operation during this time and to reassure everyone of our commitment to working together in the best interest of CYP with SEND in Leeds.

The digital professional form is due to be launched this week for professionals to request an EHCNA (assessment).  Links to associated websites will also be updated with information on this process.  Digital forms for parent, carers and young people will follow in the near future.  This is a time of change and innovation for SENSAP and we are looking forward to being able to improve our service to you.