SEND & AP (Alternative Provision) Change Programme
In March 2023 the government released its SEND and Alternative Provision Improvement Plan. The Improvement Plan listed a range of reforms that the government intends to introduce to improve the support available for children and young people with SEND.
In order to test and trial the proposed reforms, the government is working with a small number of authorities, including Leeds City Council to undertake a Change Programme. There are several ongoing workstreams that Leeds will be piloting over the next few years. Further details about these workstreams will be made available as soon as possible.
EHC Plan Standardisation pilot
One of the workstreams is to trial the proposal for a new, national standardised EHC Plan template. The Department for Education (DfE) has published a template which they have created following a series of consultations with parent/carer forums, children and young people focus groups, and other stakeholder events.
Rationale
The DfE says that a good EHC Plan will be coproduced, legally compliant, will help a child or and young person achieve outcomes that help them prepare for adulthood. It will be:
- Positive: describing the child/ young person positively, backed with appropriately stretching outcomes which they are supported to achieve.
- Clear: short, focused, plans everyone involved understands, based on clear outcomes and the preparation for adulthood goals which are relevant to the child/ young person and their families. There will be a clear golden thread between ‘need, provision and outcomes’.
- Deliverable: the contents of the plan will be based on good quality advice, focused on ‘live’ issues, have provision that is specified and quantified, and will provide an audit trail.
In detail, that means:
- Personalised to the individual child/ young person
- Positive, clear language: In writing an EHCP, the LA needs to be aware that it is primarily for the child/ young person, the parent and the setting, and should therefore use clear, unambiguous language. Jargon, acronyms, or very specific educational and medical terms should either be avoided or explained in simple terms.
- Concise: EHCPs should be as succinct as possible while ensuring they contain the required information. It may be helpful to draw attention to particular elements of the appended advice, such as detailed intervention strategies, but these should not be repeated at length in the EHCP.
- The template that the DfE has created, they believe, enables EHC Plans to fulfil these essential criteria. The proposal is that once the template is agreed it will be used for every child/young person in every local authority across the country.
Evaluation criteria
The DfE has set out the following success measures, which will test through our evaluations:
For children, young people, parents and carers:
- Did you feel the final plan described you/ your child well (e.g. needs, aspirations, and support)?
- Do you feel it will help you/ your child in their education/ training?
- Was it easy to read and understand?
- How could it be improved?
For schools, settings and other advice providers:
- Is the format of this plan an improvement on previous plans issued by the authority in terms of:
- Accessibility?
- Description of child (or young person’s) strengths, aspirations?
- Description of needs?
- Description of provision - sufficiently detailed, specified, and quantified?
- Will it be manageable for the purpose of annual reviews?
- Did you find that, compared to using your LA's previous template, using this template generally took:
- Less time?
- About the same amount of time?
- More time?
For SEN Casework Officers:
- Did you find the template effective in capturing all the child/ young person’s needs?
- Did you find the template helped you produce quality, lawful plans?
- Is there anything missing from the template?
- Have there been any implications from an equality and diversity perspective?
- Did you find that, compared to using your LA's previous template, using this template generally took:
- Less time?
- About the same amount of time?
- More time?
What's new about it?
Whilst there are a multitude of nuanced changes, there are three main noticeable differences:
- The way it looks: In Leeds we spent lots of time working with our families and children and young people to design the look of our EHC Plans, from the design of the front cover and backgrounds, to the way that titles and headings were written. The DfE's new version is much more stripped back, and is a very basic black and white Word document. Headings are written differently than we had written them, and the design features are different. Each section is a 'heading' which means it can be expanded and contracted in Word documents to make sections more easily accessible and the document easier to read.
- Section A: The new version has a much shorter section A, limited to an absolute maximum of 2 pages (about 3,000 words). We will still be able to copy and paste pictures/photos and the 'raw' views of children and young people where this is provided. It is likely that the bulk of parents' views will remain in the appendices, with summarised highlights appearing in the relevant parts of Section A.
- Needs, provision and outcomes grids: You will see that the main change is that needs will be written alongside the relevant provision and the associated outcomes in a grid format. The theory is that this will support writers and readers to notice and consider the 'golden thread'. When we've tested it this does appear to work well, but does mean that Section B is likely to be much more concise than in previous versions. There is additional focus on Section F, G and H being more specific and quantified, which we agree is very important.
When is this all happening?
All EHC Plans that are written by Leeds City Council from 15/11/2023, at least until Christmas, will be on the new, standardised format. There is a description on the front cover of the EHC Plan which describes the pilot, and explains that, despite it's new look, the EHC Plan is a full, legal, plan which is compliant with the Children and Families Act 2014. It should be given the same weight and rigour as any other EHC Plan.
Parents/carers, schools/settings and other advice providers will be given the opportunity to give their thoughts, comments and feedback on the new template once the plan is finalised. A link to an online form will be in the letter accompanying the final EHC Plan.
SENSAP will be talking about the new format in SENCo networks across the Autumn term. Once the evaluation is complete, evaluation feedback will be consolidated and we will organise a small number of focus groups to share and discuss our findings.
If you have any specific feedback about a specific EHC plan, please continue to go directly to your casework officer.
How can I be involved?
If you receive a new draft EHC Plan between now and Christmas then you are automatically involved in the pilot and we would love for you to provide your feedback. A link to the online form will be in the letter accompanying the child/YP's final EHC Plan.
We are also looking for SENCos and school leaders to be part of the focus groups after Christmas. If you're interested, please click here where there are further details.
What happens after the pilot?
This is a really important opportunity for Leeds families, educational settings and the council to be part of shaping the future of all EHC Plans across the country. We want to make sure we gather as much feedback as possible so that we can advise the DfE from a really strong position. We have been reassured that our feedback will be listened to and acted upon.
It's likely that the eventual template itself won't be introduced nationally for some years yet. Depending upon how the pilot goes we will make a decision as to whether to adopt the template in Leeds, or revert back to the original version. Further information will be made available around April 2024.
Thank you in advance for working with us throughout this pilot.
