Anyone checked out the SEND Review Green Paper?

[EthelTheAardvark]

www.gov.uk/government/consultations/send-review-right-support-right-place-right-time

Not too optimistic that it's going to improve anything, really. We all know that early intervention would result in fewer EHCPs, it's not exactly news, so how come more hasn't been done about that already?

I have just posted about this on the pub thread. I have read bits of it, not finished it yet. What I have read leaves me feeling even more frustrated than the system already makes me.

I did laugh their proposed solution to the increasing number Tribunals is to make the process more difficult rather than stop LAs acting unlawfully in the first place so parents don’t have to appeal. No doubt DC whose parents struggle to navigate the system as it is will be the hardest hit.

Also the statement that they are going to help children access help more quickly doesn't quite work with compulsory mediation before a tribunal and the suggestion that they are also thinking of some sort of local panel consideration if mediation doesn't resolve everything.

I'm not at all confident that their answer to calls for accountability will achieve anything - it just seems to envisage the DfE taking over eventually if councils misbehave enough. They're not going to want to take over masses of councils, which is what ought to happen if they do the job properly, and I have no faith in the DfE doing much better that LAs anyway.

There are things in this that make me worried:

It sounds like they're planning on making it harder to name a school (you have to pick from a 'list' that will be provided and then get given a place at the first school that has a place??).

There will be a 'panel' to decide if an EHCP needs assessment will be submitted - so does that imply parents will no longer be able to request one themselves?

There's mention that existing EHCPs may be removed if a DC is making good progress.

Sounds like they're looking at removing EHCPs from some DC post 18 and trying to shift them onto adult social care - because that system's working so well.

Compulsory mediation is coming - which could end up being a stalling tactic.

There was also a line about looking at what sections of an EHCP could be 'reviewed'/changed (the cynic in me wonders if it will be Section F!).

Sadly but not unsurprisingly, many of the proposals sound like an exercise in cost-cutting.

Is this supposed to replace the 2014 Code of Practice?

It seems very worrying. So many steps/hurdles to achieve the most basic supports.

It's a consultation on revamping the Children and Families Act 2014, the regulations under that Act, and the Code of Practice. There are indeed some worrying implications, which is why as many people as possible need to go through the proposals carefully and respond to the consultation.

Thanks Ethel. I'm in some local groups that are going through it, so will take some advice and then feed in.