Green Paper: Children and Young People with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities: Call for views

Response from the National Parent Partnership Network

The national parent partnership network supports, promotes and develops parent partnership services across the country. Parent partnership services provide information, advice and support for parents of children with SEN and/or disabilities. Minimum standards for PPSs are set out in the SEN Code of Practice and are further exemplified in the DfE’s ‘Increasing Parental Confidence’ document (currently being updated).

NPPN carries out national benchmarking of PPSs on an annual basis and the statistics below pulled from last years report show the reach of PPSs and the vast differences in size and resourcing across the country.

•  Number of parent/carer users 2008 – 2009 was 67,091

•  Budget for PPSs 2009 – 2010 ranged from £13,800 - £510,585 National average £76,068

•  Funding per head of population ranges from 43p - £5.16

•  Staffing levels ranged from 0.4 – 12.6 – National average 2.0

NPPN welcomes this opportunity to give evidence for the Green Paper – we have included here, under priorities 1-4, a snapshot of the work that PPS currently do. We have much more evidence around good practice that we are happy to provide.

We feel that PPSs are well placed organisation to help meet the priorities set out in the Green Paper. Issues such as: Early identification and assessment, funding, family support and involving parents, making the system more transparent and improving diagnosis and assessment are the issues we deal with on a daily basis. These are our ‘bread and butter’.

PPS’s already provide informal and substantial support around health and social care issues and we have included snapshots of this support in our evidence. PPSs are not currently resourced or formally required to provide this support and do so presently as there are such big gaps in the system. PPS are the best placed service to formally fill these gaps but currently do not have the formal responsibility, training or resources to do so other than in their present ad hoc way.

Priority 1 / Better educational outcomes and life chances for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities – from the early years through transition into adult life and employment.
What’s working well? / “At age 7 pupil achievement and adjustment was mainly influenced positively by parental involvement and negatively by material deprivation. By far the strongest positive influence was parental involvement. This factor was far stronger than the effect of social class or school composition” (Desforges, DfES RR433).
Parent partnership services support parental involvement in their child’s education with a flexible menu of practical information, advice and support, including:
·  A helpline for parents to get immediate information and advice
·  Face to face meetings with parents, including home visits where appropriate
·  Support in understanding and completing forms and writing letters
·  Supporting parents in attending school meetings, including attending the meeting with the parent (s)
·  Encouraging parents to talk to their child’s teachers and helping them prepare what to say
·  Supporting parents at meetings with the local authority including multi agency meetings.
·  Signposting parents to other services, voluntary organisations and parent groups that can support them
·  Supporting parent forums to influence policy and practice – see example from Buckinghamshire below:
“Our parent forum has been established since 2000 and in the event of Every Child Matters extended its remit to include health and social care issues with the associated representatives on the group. Issues in these areas come up as often as educational issues. One particular success was when parents formed a sub group to lobby health and a staff freeze for recruiting SAL therapists was lifted. Now under Aiming High (with AH money) and facilitated by our participation worker (this could not be sustained by PPS alone) we have parents involved from the beginning in the tendering for delivery of SALT and OT services in Bucks.”
What are the
challenges / The menu of support outlined above is only provided in those local authorities whose parent partnership service is properly resourced, supported and deployed.
We know from benchmarking that PPS reach only 4% of families who could receive support from them (NPPN benchmarking 2009). We need to look at why parents are not using their PPS service. We know that many have not heard of their local service and PPS, schools and LAs need to be encouraged to ensure that information about PPS is widely disseminated. We also need to ensure that when parents do approach their local service that it has the capacity to support them.
Priority 2 / Better early intervention to prevent problems later.
What’s working well? / Where information about the local parent partnership services is widely available particularly in places where parents go (GP’s surgery’s, health centres, children’s centre’s etc). Parents of pre school children who have, or may have SEN and/or disabilities are able to access a menu of support from the PPS which ensures that their child receives the educational and any other intervention they need before they begin formal education. This works best when PPSs have a physical base or presence in places where parents with young children go.
Hackney PPS is based in the Hackney Ark Children and Young People's Centre for Development and Disability, which is an integrated service for children and families, with staff working from health, education and children’s social care all under one roof. http://www.cityandhackney.nhs.uk/local-services/community-services/young-peoples-centre.aspx
Southwark PPS hold weekly drop in sessions at the Child Development Centre
What are the challenges? / When information about PPS is not widely available in the community and where PPS are based in buildings not used by or accessible to parents, particularly those of young children it can be impossible for parents to access any information, advice or support and it is then far more likely that their child’s needs will not be picked up until they have started formal education.
With increasing pressure on budgets local authorities may seek to reduce costs by locating services in main LA buildings.
Priority 3 / Greater choice for parents in the schools their children attend and the support and services they receive, whether in mainstream or special school setting.
What’s working well / Ensuring that parents are aware of all of the choices they have when looking at provision for their child is a fundamental part of PPS work. The PPS will, through a variety of means including; helpline, face to face support with forms, arranging and accompanying parents on school visits, information sessions for all parents of children in year 5 and supporting parents in appealing where their preferred school has not offered them a place or where the LA has refused to name their choice of school on a statement.
All PPS have access to the NPPN/IPSEA legal training which will ensure that those who are able to do it will have up to date legal knowledge including a section on ‘naming a school’.
What are the challenges? / Increasing choice for parents will also increase the need for support and information about these choices. As many LAs no longer have choice advisers it is likely that PPSs will see a significant increase in their case load. Without any additional resourcing many parents will not have access to the level of support they need and may find it impossible to make a meaningful and/or informed choice for their child.
Some local authorities who may not be confident in their practice seek to restrict their PPS from supporting parents at appeals or tribunals.
Priority 4 / Public services centred on the needs of the family and child in the round, joining up support from education, social care and health, particularly for those with the most severe and complex needs and at key transitions.
What’s working well? / Parent partnership services are in the privileged position of having an informal, supportive and non decision making role in the life of the families they work with and are often in the best position to gather information about all the needs of the child and of their family. PPSs involvement with those families which include children/young people with complex and severe needs is often detailed and long term, with peaks of intense work during transitions, family crisis and exclusions and PPS involvement cannot, of course, simply be restricted to education work. (More information about this work is available in our complex case studies document).
While PPS have a responsibility to give information about health and social care they do not have a formal role in providing the type of detailed information, advice and support they do around education. In reality, with an absence of anyone else to refer parents on to and to ensure the best outcomes for the child and family , PPS support parents through the health and social care systems in a variety of ways, a few of which are detailed below:
“In Oldham help is given by the PPS to existing clients to complete DLA forms – directly (filling out the actual application form on parents behalf) or indirectly (i.e. making notes for parents to use when they complete the form).”
“In South Tyneside we recently helped/worked with the parents of a statemented child with complex health needs and speech and language difficulties in order to secure health service provision. Parents had intended to go to Tribunal in order to secure alternative out of Borough educational provision (which had the desired health services on site and therefore regular access to therapies for their son) but following lengthy negotiations a health package was agreed with health service commissioners, which in turn allowed the young person in question to remain in their LA area with no disruption to his education.”
Sandwell PPS chairs a multi agency ADHD Working Group to look at the breadth of support including health, parenting support, youth support, and social care support required by families affected by ADHD. We have also been involved in advising CAMHS on parents needs within the NICE Guidelines on managing ADHD
Buckinghamshire had a third year social work student on the team for a years placement. She worked successfully on cases that involve children with complex needs and in receipt of health and social care services as well as special education. Parents were exceedingly appreciative of the extended remit and holistic approach.
What are the challenges? / PPSs have no formal role, responsibility or, in many cases, resourcing for providing the level of support that many currently do around health and social care. PPSs have taken on these roles because there are no other comparative services provided for parents around health and/or social care. We think that extending the remit of parent partnership services to provide this level of support could be relatively easy to arrange and would certainly prove more cost effective and ensure a higher quality of service than if new services/systems were set up from scratch. Resources would need to be identified to provide additional staffing and training then we feel confident that parent partnership services would help ensure a joined up system of support for children and families.

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