Do you have questions on the special educational needs and disability (SEND) Review? Ask Minister for Children and Families, Will Quince MP

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Created for Department for Education

The Department for Education is seeking views on the changes they want to make to the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and alternative provision (AP) system in England. For further information visit SEND Review.

Read below for Will Quince's answers to some of your questions.

About Will Quince MP:

“Will Quince is the MP for Colchester and was appointed as a Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Education on 16 September 2021. As Minister for children and families, his responsibilities include children’s social care, families, children in care, children in need, child protection, adoption and care leavers, early years, special educational needs including high needs funding, alternative provision and vulnerable children.”

Here’s what DfE has to say:

“We have listened to many children, young people, parents, teachers and those who work for and advocate for children with special educational needs and disabilities, to ensure our proposals were shaped by those who work within the system and those who should benefit from it. However, it is critical that we hear from even more people to gain invaluable feedback and expertise from a wide range of perspectives before final decisions are made. Our public consultation is open until the 1st of July, and we want everyone to have their say and help to shape the future of the system. For further information visit: http://sendreview.campaign.gov.uk”

Thanks, MNHQ!

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I also wish to donate my prize to @duvetdayforeveryone if I am selected.

@Louise0701 have you spoken to the LA? As it is them that is responsible for ensuring provision in section F is provided. If the 1:1 is specified and quantified in section F you can go down the Judicial Review route to enforce provision. Often the threat is enough but if it’s not contact SOSSEN for help with a pre-action letter.

@AReallyUsefulEngine thank you so much, really appreciate that! I have spoken with the LA but apparently the school have told them he is having the 1-1 stated on his EHCP. He has limited speech so isn’t able to tell me how much time she spends with him each day.

There is mention in the green paper about the lack of cost effectiveness of independent specialist schools. What measure is being used to assess such schools. Is the cost measured in terms of exam results or the life-long caring cost for the individual?

At age 10 when ds1 was excluded from mainstream we had involvement from speech therapists, CAMHS, community paediatrician, police, education psychologist, social care, charities and received DLA. At 18 he lives independently and requires no input from any of these services and has no need for PIP & I expect when he has finished his degree he will get a job and be a contributor rather than a user overall. So, yes, the cost of his specialist school (for children with HFA) was exceedingly expensive but factoring in the fact that he now needs no support from other services I wonder if overall it was the most cost effective measure for children with his profile.

My DD, bright and until secondary school coped..then struggled and gradually withdrew from school...over the next few years had very little support and no alternative education offer. So effectively missed 7 years as now 18. Finally after much fighting she was diagnosed as ASC, ADHD (inatentive) and anxiety.

My question is she is desperate to do GCSE's..but there is no where to do this, so looked at functional maths and English and will have to pay £200 per subject.

What should she do?

@onanotherday If you don't have an EHCP in place you should request a EHC needs assessment. Template letters on IPSEA. If by chance you do, although sounds unlikely, you should call a review. EHCPs can provide support until a young person is 25 so it is definitely worth securing and identifying needs will identify the sort of support and provision your child needs to access education.

@onanotherday I second applying for an EHCNA. When DD was compulsory school age the LA had a duty to provide education under s.19 of the Education Act 1996 but that doesn’t apply post 16.

@OneInEight it is wonderful to hear DS1 is doing so well. I fear there won’t be any regard to potential future costs, only the costs at that point in time, which is very short sighted.

Turned down twice for an EHCP, on the growns that she 'might' cope in HE with support! The fact that she hasn't so far seems to allude them! Also took LA to ombudsman and rejected due to not complaining sooner....probably due to engaging with anyone who would listen..until it became too late. Devon County Council...no wonder OFSTED have put you in special measures! Sadly to late for DD

onanotherday, Ds got his first EHCP at 16, so it's not too late for your Dd. It can go until age 25, if needs be.

@onanotherday as well as complaining to the LGO did you appeal the EHCP refusal via SENDIST? It’s not too late you can apply for an EHCNA now and they can last until 25, or in certain circumstances 26 thanks to a recent ruling.

IPSEA have a Refusal to Assess pack free on their site.

www.ipsea.org.uk/refusal-to-assess-appeals

The threshold to assess is really very low - just 'may have needs that require an EHCP'. It's free to appeal and most parents succeed. By 'most' I mean 'well in excess of 90%'.

How will the proposals help those children whose learning needs are insufficient for an EHCP but whose needs are such (for example, profound dyslexia) that they have trouble accessing the curriculum? Our experience in mainstream schools has been a spectrum of school staff from the well-meaning but ineffective, to the not very well meaning and ineffective. It has required battling for support which - if anything has been done - has rarely been appropriate/targeted/sensitive. We have frequently been made to feel we are being pushy/trying to play the system/being unrealistic. Our DDs time in school is almost done. Too late. She is so bright, but simply feels she is 'no good at learning'. Why does the system feel so adversarial?

A letter dated 23 March from North Northamptonshire Council reveals that from 1 April, early years high needs funding for children with SEND, but without an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP), will no longer be available - a decision taken by its Schools Forum

the green paper talks about the importance of early intervention and also trying to reduce the number of children requiring ehcps. How will this happen in practise if funding decisions like in
northamptonshire are being made in order that councils can balance budgets

@Quietvoiceplease Have you applyies for an EHCNA (and appealed if necessary)? Profound dyslexia and being unable to access the curriculum suggests one may be needed.

Educational psychologists are leaving local authorities in their droves to set up in private practice. Currently 203 EPs are being trained a year (recently up from approx 170), but even this isn’t enough to replace those who are leaving.

Soulbury scale pay since 2010 has in no way kept up with real terms inflation and this is thought to be the main reason EPs are leaving local authorities; as they can then sell their services back to the LA for up to £600/day for EHCNA assessments.

Local authorities, are, therefore, wasting literally hundreds of thousands of pounds on freelance EPs.

Surely the solution is a decent Soulbury pay rise? Do you agree, and, what else are you proposing to halt the recruitment crisis of EPs?

Thank you.

Please provide transparent statistics for current funding for SEND in each county and in England.

Why is there a severe shortage of funding?

. LA s have restricted specialist secondary school choice to just one parental preference . Due to not enough places SEN children are not offered a specialist school place and allocated a mainstream school which cannot meet their needs.

Consequences of which are poor education as mainstream secondary do not teach KS2 or below syllabus and SEN kids are left to struggle and lose confidence and have emotional problems.

How are the severe lack of Educational Consultants,(EP) Child Paediatricians going to be addressed, without these reports/funding parents cannot provide evidence for their child or update EHCP. It is impossible to book an independent EP for an Appeal as there are currently over 880 appeal cases lodged, many of which that will not be heard until late September after the new academic year has started .

The government needs to address this broken system so our SEN children can gain an education to become independent in vocational and academic education to get a job and live independently as possible when adults .

Every SEN child deserves as much support as their neurotypical peers to thrive at school especially.

Congratulations @MadamElderfield for winning the prize draw!

Why does the law allow for a headteacher (of any size school) to also be the SENCO? Do you believe that supports SEN children to access the individual help they need during the school day?

I ask in relation to big city state schools, not smaller village schools.

It’s a total mess for SEN kids at school.

Good afternoon everyone, a pleasure to be with you and thank you Mumsnet for having me and for all the questions on the SEND Review. I am the Minister for Children and Families and have responsibility for the SEND Review and will try and answer as many questions as I can over the course of the next hour. Apologies in advance for any typos!

Hi @MadamElderfield thank you for my first question! In short, yes. We will set national standards for transition, setting clear guidance for timely effective, high-quality transition preparation for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities, as they move throughout school and into FE and out into higher education and employment.

We propose to expand the use of Common Transfer Files to facilitate smooth transition planning. These files would share relevant data between Early Years settings, schools and further education settings about a child or young person’s needs and ensure the right support is in place from Day 1.

Please take part in the consultation, it's so important that we hear your views:

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

Hi @RosstopherGeller thank you for your top questions but please feed in your others as part of the Review, it's so important that we listen and get this right.
We want to provide parents and carers with a clearer understanding of the support that should be available to meet their child’s needs, in line with the national standards, regardless of where they live. We have to end the postcode lottery.
Where specialist provision is most appropriate for a child, we are consulting on proposals for a simplified process where parents will be supported to express an informed preference for a suitable placement from a tailored list of settings, co-produced between LAs and parents, that are appropriate to meet their child’s needs. This aims to give parents and carers clarity on what is available locally, but this may still include independent or out of borough provision where appropriate in order to meet the child’s needs.
Throughout the SEND Review, parents and carers told the me how lengthy, stressful, and often expensive, the tribunal process can be. I get it and want to improve the situation. Our proposals set out in the Green Paper seek to enable issues to be resolved earlier and improve relationships locally by strengthening mediation, including consulting on making it mandatory.
Mediation is effective in the majority of cases. In 2020, 73% of mediation cases were settled without the need to progress to Tribunal.
I'm looking closely at mediation as strong views have been shared and I am listening.
National standards will ensure that there is greater fairness and consistency in decision-making across the country in how needs are identified, assessed, and supported, which will bring clarity and help improve overall parental confidence.
Apologies for the long response but they are good questions and you are right to push me on these issues so we stress test our ideas and proposals.

Hi and thank you for your question @BigLlamaLady. How we define excellence is key. The proposed national standards for SEND will be evidence-based and developed with support from the sector so that the provision, processes and systems are appropriate, affordable, and that children and young people get the right support, at the right place, at the right time.
The Department will take responsibility for overseeing the system, holding both local authorities and providers to account for local delivery in line with the new national standards. They will be supported by new inclusion dashboards that set out the data to understand system performance.
Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission also play a vital role as independent inspectors of schools and local authorities. They will continue to do this, and we will work with them to strengthen their inspections.
I am conscious that we may need to go further here. Accountability is so important.

Hi @duvetdayforeveryone thank you for your question. I assure you that I do care and am interested in your view so appreciate you taking part. Good luck with the £200 and the washing machine!
To answer your question, the proposals set out within the green paper aim to improve the experiences of children and young people with SEND and their parents. Our proposals seek to drive national consistency in how needs are assessed, identified and met across education, health and care through the introduction of national standards. It's why I am working so closely with my counterpart at the Department for Health, Gillian Keegan MP. This will include standards on how and when a child or young person should be identified as requiring SEN Support, and we want to work with stakeholders, including parents and carers, to make sure processes and templates are accessible and user-friendly. We are currently consulting on these proposals and want to hear from everyone to make sure make sure that they work to improve the experience and outcomes of children with SEND, and their families.
Your point about making forms and processes easy to complete and engage with as possible is well made and I'll see what I can do.

Hi @Onionpatch thank you for your question - I note lots of other people have also asked about accountability so I will try and answer as comprehensively as possible - please bear with me! Notably @Unformidable @Iriseup @Doubleraspberry (great usernames!)
Throughout the SEND Review we have heard that accountability is key to deliver better outcomes for children and young people with SEND. In the green paper we have set out clear roles for every partner in the system and strengthened accountability measures. These include:
• A new role for the Department for Education to oversee local delivery by local authorities and academy trusts and intervene to prevent failure.
• National and local inclusion dashboards to give a timely picture of how the system is performing so that issues can be addressed promptly and give transparency to parents and carers.
• In the rare circumstances where collaborative working breaks down, a new power for local authorities to direct trusts to admit a child.
• Working with the Department for Health and Social Care on how statutory responsibilities for SEND should be discharged.
• And make sure that Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission best hold schools and local areas to account for educating and supporting children and young people with SEND.
In conclusion let me say this, I have heard from so many people about the lengths they have had to go to fighting or battling the system just to get their child or children the education they rightly deserve, this has to change and at the heart of this is not just clear consistent national standards but clear accountability and redress mechanisms. This is one area of the Review where I myself question if we have gone far enough so please do share your views with me.

Hi @WilmaFlintstone1 thank you for your question. This is one I get asked a lot when I meet with young people with SEND in FE or who have left school and their parents.

For young people who need to take longer to complete their education or training, such as Level 3 qualifications, arrangements can be made under an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan to allow them to continue in education or training up to age 25.

It's really important that local authorities must not cease to maintain the EHC plan simply because the young person is aged 19 or over – they must take account of whether the education or training outcomes specified in the EHC plan have been achieved.

We are committed to ensuring that all learners, including learners with SEND, have access to a world-class education that sets them up for life and supports them to achieve positive outcomes, including employment.

I often hear how desperate young people with SEND are to work following their education but employers are not giving them a chance. This is hugely frustrating as we know the huge value and asset these young people could and would be to organisations up and down our country.

I've listened and that's why we have invested up to a further £18 million in supported internships over the next three years, aiming to double the capacity of the supported internships programme to provide more young people with EHCPs with the skills they need to secure and sustain paid employment.

We also propose to set national standards in transition that will ensure there are consistently deliverable arrangements in place as children and young people move to their next phase, particularly into further education, employment, and adulthood. The standards will have the preparation for adulthood goals at their heart, and will provide consistency on the quality and effectiveness of transitions for young people.

This is something I am determined to improve on. Young people with SEND have so much to offer and we have to do more to ensure organisations up and down the country see and recognise this potential.