Features: July 11th, 2014

Phil Neal discusses the impact of the new Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans on local authorities and explains how technology can make it easier for them to meet the needs of children and their families.

When schools start back in September, some new rules will be in place that will transform the way services and support for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) are planned and delivered.

The Children and Families Act 2014 includes the introduction of the new EHC plan, a single plan for children with SEND that will follow them through life, from birth to the age of 25. The reforms are designed to ensure that practitioners working with children and young people with SEND have a much clearer picture of their changing needs.
This is key to improving their life chances.

But what do local authorities need to consider in implementing the EHC plan? And furthermore, what technology is available that will support them in meeting their obligations to children and families?

Planning for success

The idea of channelling special needs provision into one record is not new, but the EHC plan will call for a change in the way local authority staff, teachers, SEN co-ordinators and other agencies work in the future.

The plan will evolve from nursery provision, throughout a child and young person’s life encompassing each stage of their education, as well as the provision of support in the workplace. But making sure the right people have the right information over this time frame could present a challenge for some authorities so effective systems and processes will need to be put in place to support this.

A well-managed plan will help ensure that when Theo starts secondary school, all those in contact with him know that he was diagnosed with ADHD from 5 years-old. They can see when his next review is due, who his social worker is, what services he is already accessing and even keep up to date with his mum and dad’s views on what support he will need when he gets older. The different agencies involved may be required to work together much more closely than they might have done in the past so it is prudent to look at the technology available that will make this simpler for teams.

Bringing the wealth of detail required in the EHC plan together could be easier for those authorities using a management information system that allows data from multiple sources to be recorded and viewed centrally. Staff will then spend less time on the phone seeking out the data they need, freeing up more time for helping children and families.

Putting tailored plans in place

There will be no ‘one size fits all’ when it comes to designing the EHC plan. So, another challenge for authorities will be in ensuring they have the flexibility they require from their IT systems to design EHC plans for children according to local needs.

There are powerful data analysis tools available too that can help staff responsible for the provision of SEND support to understand the needs of children and young people in their communities and identify where additional investment is required to help them progress. Making good use of these tools will help ensure the support being delivered at each stage of a child’s life is making a difference.

Ensuring a smooth flow of information

The new rules on SEND will call for a cultural shift in the way that information on children and young people is shared between the different agencies and practitioners involved with them and their families. Having good data sharing practices in place will be essential to ensuring plans can be easily created and managed. This should enable a health visitor or social worker to log on and record the results of an assessment and see relevant information from schools and colleges as the child gets older.

With some of the deadlines associated with managing the EHC plans changing in relation to things like assessments, correspondence and responding to information requests, on-screen alerts could also be useful when deadlines are approaching or information is overdue.
Importantly, the technology in place will need to support teams in fulfilling their statutory reporting requirements and help all those involved to ensure that the services children receive improve the opportunities available to them.

Children and families at the heart

The reforms place a strong emphasis on ensuring that the views of parents and the child themselves are taken into account in designing and implementing the plan. Although this is likely to be managed differently in each authority area, it is something that needs to be considered in advance of the introduction of the EHC plan.

Assessment and review processes will need to enable the conversations practitioners have with parents and the child to be recorded simply. It is important for information to be captured and stored in a way that makes it easily accessible to all those who need it too.

Allowing practitioners to record notes from interactions with children and families directly into assessment and review systems via a mobile device could be the most efficient and effective way to manage this and help make it a straightforward task.

Supporting schools

Though the introduction of EHC Plans will be from 1st September 2014, the transfer of children from statements to EHC plans will take place over the next few years and this has implications for schools. For children who are already receiving support, schools will need to continue to follow the previous statement until the child’s SEN review. They can then be moved to a new plan.

The revised SEN code of practice will see teachers become more accountable for the progress of all pupils supported by specialist practitioners. As part of the performance management process, they will be judged on how well they tutor pupils with SEN. This will see it becoming increasingly important for school leaders to be able to identify gaps in staff training and ensure teachers benefit from opportunities for professional development. They will then be much better placed to provide the support each child needs to achieve all they are capable of.

The SEN reforms have been introduced to help ensure children with special educational needs and disabilities are identified early and an ongoing plan is put in place that will ultimately improve outcomes for this vulnerable group.

Software is continually being developed that will make it easier for all those working to improve outcomes for children and young people with SEND to meet their needs. Now is a good time to look at how the IT solutions available in your authority can better support you in responding to the changes.

Phil Neal is the managing director at Capita One, whose management information solution is used by 120 local authorities to manage data on children and families.