Local authority Vision Impairment (VI) education service provision for blind and partially sighted children and young people
Report on findings from RNIB Freedom of Information (FOI) requests 2013
Sue Keil
Evidence and Service Impact
February 2014
Acknowledgements
Summary of findings
Background
Key Findings
1. Introduction
2.Method
3. Findings
3.1Number of responses
3.2VI service management
3.3VI service funding
3.4Number of children and young people on VI service caseloads
3.5Eligibility criteria for VI service support
3.6VI service staffing
3.7Recent changes to VI service organisation, provision and staffing
3.8Future changes to VI service organisation or provision for children
4.Discussion
4.1Number of children and young people with VI
4.2Reduction in provision for pupils with VI
4.3Criteria for determining eligibility for VI service support
4.4Number of QTVIs
4.5Number of TAs
4.6Other staff posts
4.7VI service organisation and funding
5. Conclusion
References
Appendix 1
Local authorities by region
Appendix 2
Appendix 3
Proposed changes to VI services in England
Acknowledgements
This report is the result of a joint project between RNIB Campaigns and Children, Young People and Families Teams. Thanks to Michael Wilson for organising RNIB's Freedom of Information (FOI) request to local authorities and to Kat Clarke for her efforts in ensuring that all local authorities responded and for recording all the replies. Thanks also to Julie Jennings, Rory Cobb and Helen Dearman for their comments on the draft copies of the report.
Summary of findings
Background
In May 2013 RNIB sent a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to all 152 local authorities (LAs) in England asking a range of questions about current and future education provision for children and young people with vision impairment.
The key service in co-ordinating and providing specialist support is the vision impairment (VI) education advisory service. Many VI services have been adversely affected by public sector cuts and a key aim of the FOI request was to benchmark existing provision in each LA against future policy decisions.
All of the 152 local authorities in England responded to the FOI request. As one local authority has no children or young people with vision impairment recorded, the findings are based on returns from 151 LAs in England.
Key Findings
- Almost 25,700 blind and partially sighted children and young people were on VI service caseloads in 2013
- This is over 12,500 more than the number of pupils recorded by DfE as having vision impairment as their primary or secondary SEN
- Since April 2011, 25 LAs (17%) have reduced or withdrawn specialist VI service support for certain groups of children and young people
- The two groups most affected are pupils with complex needs in special schools, and children whose level of vision impairment is no longer considered to be of sufficient severity to meet the criteria for VI service support
- 89% of LAs use the National Sensory Impairment Partnership (NatSIP) criteria - or a modified version - to determine eligibility for VI service support
- The NatSIP criteria combine levels of need with professional assessment
- In a small number of LAs, a pupil's level of visual acuity (VA) appears to be the only criterion for eligibility for specialist VI support
- Having the level of VA as the criterion for support - particularly where the threshold is set high at 6/18 as in some LAs - risks excluding children with good VA but with other types of visual difficulty, or children with 'mild' vision impairment combined with other 'mild' types of SEN
- Support levels should be based on a professional assessment of a child's functional vision
- 630 qualified teachers of pupils with vision impairment (QTVI) were employed by VI services, 57 of whom were in training
- 40 QTVI posts have been lost or frozen over a 3-year period between 2010 and 2013
- Teaching assistants (TAs) were directly employed by the VI service in 96 LAs
- 572 TAs were directly employed by the VI service
- 14 (as FTE) central TA posts have been lost or frozen since April 2011
- Over 2,500 TAs were directly employed by schools
- This is under-represents the true number as several LAs were unable to provide information about the number of TAs employed directly by schools
- This raises the questions - who recruits, trains and supervises TAs in these schools and what is the nature and quality of support they are providing to pupils with VI?
- 113 mobility officers were employed by VI services in 96 LAs
- In a further 13 LAs a children's mobility officer was externally commissioned or employed and/or funded by social care
- It is unclear what mobility provision was made in the remaining 42 LAs
- 27% of LAs had seen changes to the organisation and funding of the VI service since April 2011
- 31% of LAs had proposals in place for future changes in VI service organisation, management and/or funding, or were reviewing the service within the next year.
1. Introduction
In May 2013 RNIB Campaigns department sent a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to all 152 local authorities (LAs) in England asking a range of questions about current and future education provision for children and young people with vision impairment.
The key service in co-ordinating and providing specialist support is the vision impairment (VI) education advisory service. Surveys of VI services carried out in 2010, 2011 and 2012 (Keil and Cobb, 2010; Keil and Cobb, 2011; Keil, 2012) had provided evidence that in many LAs education services to children and young people with vision impairment had already been affected by local authority cuts, implemented in response to the coalition government's 2010 Comprehensive Spending Review. This saw a 7% reduction in central government funding to local councils annually, until 2014. A further spending review in 2013 will see a further 2% cut in 2014/15 and a 10% cut for 2015/16 (Hastings et al, 2013; LGA, 2013). Anecdotal reports to RNIB in late 2012 and early 2013 indicated that many more VI services were under increasing threat of cuts. A key aim of the FOI request therefore, was to benchmark existing provision in each LA against future policy decisions about service provision.
The findings from this FOI request will be used to support RNIB local and national campaigning to protect specialist education services and provision for children and young people with vision impairment.
2.Method
FOI questionnaires were sent to all 152 local authorities (LAs) in England. The breakdown of LAs by region is:
London: 33
North West: 23
South East: 19
South West: 16
Yorkshire and Humberside: 15
West Midlands: 14
North East: 12
Eastern: 11
East Midlands: 9
Further details of the LAs in each region are given in appendix 1.
3. Findings
3.1Number of responses
All of the 152 local authorities in England responded to the FOI request.
One LA responded to the FOI but gave a nil response, stating that:
"[LA] does not use a Visual Impairment Service; we do not have any children or young people on our records that have visual impairments".
The findings detailed in this report therefore, are based on information provided by 151 local authorities in England.
3.1.2Joint arrangements and consortia
Several LAs provide their VI service support via a joint arrangement. There were nine consortia/joint arrangements in total. Two of the consortia provided a single set of figures for the entire consortium as opposed to being broken down by each LA.
Six consortia gave separate caseload and staffing figures for each of the member LAs within their consortium.
One local authority that was part of a joint arrangement of four LAs, gave no caseload or staffing figures; the response to these questions was "information not held". The other three LAs did however, each provide the relevant information.
3.2VI service management
While the majority of VI services appear to have been managed as part of a central, local authority VI, sensory or other type of SEN service, it is apparent that almost one in five were managed under a different type of arrangement.
Table 1: How VI service is managed
How service is managed / Number / %Within local authority sensory service / 65 / 43.0%
Within generic local authority SEN service / 39 / 25.8%
Other / 24 / 15.9%
Separate local authority VI service / 22 / 14.6%
Centrally managed by an external (non-public sector) agency / 1 / 0.7%
Total / 151 / 100%
3.2.1Managed within LA sensory service
Over two in five (43%) of VI services were managed within the local authority sensory service. Additional information was provided by this LA:
"As part of Access to education, Complex Needs CYPF within [LA]."
3.2.2Managed as part of a generic SEN service
One in four (25.8%) were part of a generic SEN service. One LA's response indicated that the VI service was part of a sensory service that in turn, was part of a wider SEN service. Two LAs provided additional information:
"Within the Inclusive Services Team. Within Inclusive Services but with a CountyManager: Sensory and Communication Service. Within the service there are ‘Lead’ Advisory Teachers in each sensory discipline – Hearing Impairment, Visual Impairment and Multi-Sensory Impairment."
"[LA] has an Inclusion Disability Support Service which includes a number of centrally funded services: a Learner Support team of specialist inclusion teachers and HLTAs including QTVIs, Children with Disability Social Workers, Integrated Assessment teams and Educational Psychologists."
3.2.3Managed as a separate VI service
Only 14.6% were part of a separate VI service, although the response below indicates that the VI service in this LA although stand-alone, was part of a hierarchical structure:
"The VI service sits within the Additional and Complex needs Service and is part of a newly formed all age disability service (education and social care ) The team leader is a qualified teacher of VI who also oversees work relating to children with a physical disability and those with SEND who require ICT/AAC to support learning and communication."
3.2.4Other type of management arrangement
Approximately one in six (15.9%) said they had an 'other' management arrangement:
- 6 were part of a sensory service within a joint arrangement
- 3 commissioned another provider, which was either another LA or a voluntary organisation
- One said that the service was commissioned by the LA
- One came within an SEN service but was managed by another LA VI team
- 7 said that the service was managed by a school (see comments in table 2 below)
- 5 were part of another type of LA service (see table 3 below)
3.2.5Centrally managed by external, non-public sector agency
Only one local authority said that the VI service was centrally managed by an external, non-public sector agency. In fact, from additional information provided it appears that in two further LAs, an external, non-public sector agency was responsible for the management of the VI service:
"A Service Level Agreement has been established between [LA and name of organisation]. The [organisation] now manages the Sensory Support Service on behalf of the council."
"The VI team have become a Joint Venture company with [organisation] and [LA]."
Table 2: VI services managed by a school
Region / Details of managementNorth East / The VI Service is part of the Low Incidence Needs Service which is managed by a primary school; this is funded from DSG (Direct Schools Grant).
London / Through a Service Agreement with a local special school
London / SpecialSchool Outreach Service
South East / The VI service is devolved to the management of 12 special schools with a strategic sensory team managed by 1 of the special schools
Yorks and Humber / By LA commissional services from a mainstream primary and secondary school
South West / Managed by special school using delegated funding
North West / As part of a Sensory Support Service that has been delegated to [school]
Table 3: VI services managed by another type of specialist service within the LA
Region / Details of managementNorth West / Within Local Authority Physical and Sensory Service
North West / Within local authority service of Specialist Teaching Teams and Psychology Service
South East / The VI is a specialist team that sits within the LA Special Educational Needs Support Services (SENSS) as part of the low incidence Sensory, Physical & Complex Needs Service
London / As part of the Sensory and Language Impairment Team
Yorks and Humber / Specific VI team within the Specialist Learning Services section of the Education Division of the People Directorate
In total, 30 LAs were part of a consortium or joint arrangement with another LA, giving a total of 9 consortia, as detailed in table 4.
Table 4: Consortiums/joint arrangements/bought in by another service
Number of LAs / Region / Comments1 / 2 / West Midlands / Joint arrangement between the two LAs
2 / 2 / London / LA1 service commissioned from LA2. Managed within LA2 with commissioning oversight from Head of SEN, LA1
3 / 5 / London / The service is based at [school] in LA1 and commissioned from LA1 by the other four LAs
4 / 6 / South East / Although details of the consortium arrangement were not volunteered by any of the LAs that responded, this is known to be an established consortium
5 / 2 / South East / The LA1 VI Service lies within the SEN support service and is professionally team led by LA2's VI team but overall managed by Service Manager for SEN
6 / 3 / South West / LA1 as lead LA, LA2 and LA3 as partners in Joint Arrangement
7 / 4 / South West / As part of a sensory service across the four LAs
8 / 4 / North East / Managed by LA1 as part of joint arrangements.
9 / 2 / East Midlands / LA1 contracts Sensory Impairment Services from LA2
3.3VI service funding
In the majority (82.1%) of VI services funding of specialist support for all pupils with VI was held centrally, although one LAalso selected Option C (indicating that partial delegation of budgets to VI resourced schools also applied) and several other LAs gave caveats:
"The LA has a SLA with a special academy school for MSI support."
"85% dsg, high needs block. 11% council for recharges. 4% income generation."
"Please note it operates a traded service Post-16 with the Colleges."
"Also [option E] in one LA high level of need pupils (weekly support) get some funding which delegated to the school and then recouped."
"If they meet the NatSIP criteria."
"Please note only LA Maintained Schools are centrally funded."
Table 5: How VI service is funded
Number / %Centrally funded by the LA for specialist support for all pupils with VI / 124 / 82.1%
Centrally funded by the LA for high need (statemented) pupils and 'traded services' for all other pupils / 2 / 1.3%
Delegated in part to individual mainstream schools with VI resource provision to fund all support and resources for VI pupils within those schools / 3 / 2.0%
Delegated in full to a special or mainstream school with VI resource provision that then provides outreach to other schools / 5 / 3.3%
Delegated in full to individual schools in the LA who purchase specialist support from the LA under 'traded services' arrangement / - / -
Other type of funding / 17 / 11.3%
Total / 151 / 100%
3.4Number of children and young people on VI service caseloads
3.4.1Number of children and young people
Two consortia provided the total caseload within the consortium rather than separately by LA.
Only one LA failed to provide caseload information, stating that: "information [is] not held". In fact, the LA concerned is part of a consortium of four LAs and the lead authority could presumably have provided the information if requested.
Two (very small) LAs provided a 'nil' return, indicating that they had no children with VI in their area. The figures are therefore based on information provided by 151 LAs in England.
The total number of children and young people on the caseloads of the 151 LAs was 25,698. This is consistent with RNIB's estimate of 25,074 children and young people with vision impairment in England, which was extrapolated from caseload data provided by 84 VI services in 2012 (Keil, 2012).
If we break this total down by region we see that the highest proportions were in London (17.7%) and the North West (15.9%) and the smallest proportion (4.4%) was in the North East.
Table 6: Number of children and young people on VI service caseloads in England in 2013
LA region / Number of CYP with VI / CYP with VI in each region as % of all CYP with VI in England / CYP with VI as % of all 0-16 yr olds in each region / CYP with VI as % of all 0-18 yr olds in each regionLondon / 4,539 / 17.7% / 0.26% / 0.23%
North West / 4,089 / 15.9% / 0.29% / 0.26%
South East / 3,392 / 13.2% / 0.19% / 0.17%
West Midlands / 3,044 / 11.8% / 0.26% / 0.23%
Yorks and Humber / 2,917 / 11.4% / 0.27% / 0.24%
Eastern / 2,371 / 9.2% / 0.20% / 0.18%
South West / 2,210 / 8.6% / 0.22% / 0.20%
East Midlands / 2,004 / 7.8% / 0.22% / 0.20%
North East / 1,132 / 4.4% / 0.23% / 0.20%
Total / 25,698 / 100% / 0.24% / 0.21%
There was some variation between LAs in the age ranges included in the caseload figures. Comments from a few LAs also indicated a degree of variation in whether certain groups of children were included or excluded.
Age ranges included in caseload figures
While most LAs provided no information other than the caseload figure, some identified the age ranges covered:
- 23 supported CYP aged 0-19
- 5 specified 0-18
- 1 had provided numbers for 0-15 only
- 1 had counted 0-25
- 1 had "unknown numbers [for ages] 16 to 25"
Groups of CYP included in caseload figures
Some of the LAs provided further information about the groups they did or did not support and had therefore included or excluded from their caseload figures:
- 6 had included CYP who received monitoring and/or advice/on request only
- 1 made clear that they did not support (and had therefore excluded) CYP with "mild or unilateral visual impairment. This is the total number of children and young people open to our service with moderate, severe or profound visual impairment".
- 2 had included CYP in special schools while another two had excluded this group or did not have information about numbers
- 2 had included children in out-of-authority settings
3.4.2Children and young people with VI as proportion of all CYP
There is general agreement that approximately two in every 1,000 (0.2%) of children and young people from birth to 16 in the UK meet the WHO definition of blind or partially sighted (Cumberland, Pathai and Rahi, 2010; Patient UK, 2013). We would therefore expect to see at least this proportion represented in VI service caseloads. A higher proportion would reflect the fact that children with higher levels of visual acuity may still have functional vision difficulties due for example, to problems with visual processing, reduced visual field, and/or a mild vision impairment combined with other disabilities or SEN which affect their access to learning.
Because of the differences between LAs in the ages of children and young people with VI they supported, it has not been possible to know precisely, the proportion of children and young people with VI there are in each region. We have therefore given two estimates as detailed in table 6. These are the number of children and young people on VI service caseloads as a proportion of all 0-16 year olds and all 0-18 year olds in each region. The total population of children and young people in each region is taken from the ONS mid-2012 population estimates (ONS, 2013).