SCHOOLS FORUM
11 July 2017
/ ITEM XXDSG Reserves: SEND –Temporary Additional Resources
SUMMARY
1.1 / The challenges of meeting the demands of the SEND Reforms are significant. The Council has committed the SEND Grant of £191,577for 2017-18 to work relating to the SEND reforms. The Council has also committed a further £400,000 from its reserves on meeting with SEND statutory requirements.
1.2 / In relation to the conversions of Statements of SEN to Education, Health and Care Plans, across pre-16 and post-16, around 233 conversions have taken place, with around 941 remaining.
1.3 / There is a risk arising in relation to the statutory requirement to convert the remaining 941 Statements to EHC Plans by 31 March 2018. The DfE, in monitoring meetings, has indicated that Derby is making very good progress and there is confidence in Derby's ability to deliver the SEND reforms and conversions. The conversion deadline does, however, remain extremely challenging and additional resources are needed to ensure that statutory requirements can bet met.
1.4 / The Council is spending around £8 million on high-cost, out of authority placements. It is considered that, insome cases, out of authority placements are not required and the needs of the pupils could be met in Derby City schools. There is a need to review existing out of authority placements to ensure that these are meeting required EHC Plan outcomes.
1.5 / Where a parent chooses to appeal to the SEND tribunal in relation to their child's placement, it is important for the Council to be able to defend the decision it has taken. This requires strong case management and legal representation. If the Council is unable to successfully defend decisions, it is likely that this willresult in high cost court directionsregardingout of authority placements.There are currently 15 pending SEND Tribunal cases and the potential for more is high.
1.6 / The proposal is to make the following temporary appointmentsfor a two-year periodwith a request to useDedicated Schools Grant reserves of £395,073:
Proposed Temporary SEND Posts / Grade-Salary
One SEND / Education Solicitor / L - £39,267
One Conversion and Reviewing Lead Officer (Pre 16 & Post-16) / J - £30,978
Two Conversion and Reviewing Officers (Pre-16) / H - £30,178
One Conversion and Reviewing Casework Officer (Pre 16 & Post-16) / E - £19,048
Total Salary Costs / £149,649
On-costs at 32% / £47,888
Total cost per annum / £197,537
Total cost over two years / £395,073
Further details on the above proposed posts, including salaries and on-costs, are set out in Appendix 2 to this report.
1.7 / Additional SEND resources are required to ensure that the Council can meet the requirements of the SEND reforms and robustly defend decisions on SEND placements at tribunal in order to reduce costly out of authority placements. This report seeks consideration for the allocation of £395,073 of DSG reserves to make the SEND temporary,two-year, appointments set out in Appendix 2 of this report.
RECOMMENDATION
2.1 / Torequest Schools Forum to consider approving the allocation of£395,073of DSG reserves to make the temporary appointments outlined in Appendix 2 of this report, with a view to making future DSG savings.
REASONS FOR RECOMMENDATION
3.1 / The challenges of meeting the demands of the SEND Reforms are significant and the Council is currently spending around £8million on expensive out of authority placements which is funded by the DSG. This report asks that consideration is given to putting additional temporary resources in place to ensure that the Council can meet the requirements of the SEND reforms and robustly defend decisions on SEND placements at Tribunal.
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SCHOOLS FORUM
11 July 2017
SUPPORTING INFORMATION4.1 / The Council has committed the SEND Grant of£191,577for 2017-18 to work relating to the SEND reforms, including on preparing Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plans and the conversion of Special Educational Needs (SEN) Statements to EHC Plans. The Council has also committed a further £400,000 from its reserves on meeting with SEND statutory requirements.
4.2 / The challenges of meeting the demands of the SEND Reforms are significant. The 0-25 Vulnerable Leaners’ Service has been able to deliver the statutory requirements around the 20 week assessment process, the process for Phase Transfers and the transfer from Learning Difficulties Assessments to Education Health and Care Plans but such is the volume that other statutory processes are not meeting statutory deadlines. These are the Conversion and Annual Review Processes. In relation to the conversions of Statements to EHC Plan, across pre-16 and post-16, around 233 conversions have taken place, with around 941 remaining.
4.3 / There is a risk arising in relation to the statutory requirement to convert the remaining 941 Statements to EHC Plans by 31 March 2018. The DfE, in monitoring meetings, has indicated that Derby is making very good progress and there is confidence in Derby's ability to deliver the SEND reforms and conversions. The conversion deadline does, however, remain extremely challenging and additional resources are needed to ensure that statutory requirements can bet met.
4.4 / The Council is spending around £8 million on high-cost, out of authority placements. It is considered that, in some of these cases, out of authority placements are not required and the needs of the pupils could have been met in Derby City schools. Additional resources are proposed to reduce future high-cost out of authority placements where these are not necessary the needs of a child. There is also a need to review existing out of authority placements to ensure that these are meeting with EHC Plan outcomes.
4.5 / Where a parent chooses to appeal to the SEND Tribunal in relation to their child's placement, it is important for the Council to be able to defend the decision it has taken. This requires strong case management and legal representation. If the Council is unable to successfully defend decisions, this is likely to result in high cost directions regarding placements. There is a significant spend of around £8million in relation to SEND out of authority placements and further high cost placements, where they are not necessary, will only compound this.
4.6 / There are currently 15 pending SEND Tribunal cases and the potential for more is high. There is also an increase in legal care proceedings and adults’ work, meaning that the Legal Team does not have sufficient resources to strongly represent the Council at SEND Tribunals. It is understood that Derbyshire County Council has recently appointed four solicitors to meet with demands for preparing and presenting at SEND Tribunals.
4.7 / As background information, it is understood that Derbyshire County Council has recently appointed four solicitors to meet with demands for preparing and presenting at SEND Tribunals. Coventry City Councilhas 3 solicitors covering Adult Services and Education. Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council has no education solicitors but uses barristers to cover tribunal hearings.
4.8 / The proposal is to make the following temporary appointments for a two-year period using Dedicated Schools Grant reserves of £395,073:
Proposed Temporary SEND Posts / Grade-Salary
One SEND / Education Solicitor / L - £39,267
One Conversion and Reviewing Lead Officer (Pre 16 & Post-16) / J - £30,978
Two Conversion and Reviewing Officers (Pre-16) / H - £30,178
One Conversion and Reviewing Casework Officer (Pre 16 & Post-16) / E - £19,048
Total Salary Costs / £149,649
On-costs at 32% / £47,888
Total cost per annum / £197,537
Total cost over two years / £395,073
Further detail on the above proposed posts is set out in Appendix 2 to this report.
4.9 / Additional SEND resources are required to ensure that the Council can meet the requirements of the SEND reforms and robustly defend decisions on SEND placements at tribunal in order to reduce costly out of authority placements. This report seeks approval of the allocation of £395,073 of DSG reserves to make the SEND temporary, two-year, appointments set out in Appendix 2 of this report.
OTHER OPTIONS CONSIDERED
5.1 / The proposal set out in this report is to make temporary appointments, on a two-year basis, with the aim of makingsavings. There is an option to continue with current resources but this is very likely to result in an increasing overspend on SEND placements due to the Council not being able to strongly defend decisions at SEND Tribunals.This report has been approved by the following officers:
Legal officerFinancial officer / Alison Parkin, Head of Finance – People Services
Human Resources officer / None
Estates/Property officer / None
Service Director(s) / Gurmail Nizzer, Acting Service Director of Commissioning
Other(s) / Suanne Lim, Acting Service Director, People Services
For more information contact:
Background papers:
List of appendices: / Gurmail Nizzer, Acting Service Director of Commissioning 01332 642720
None
Appendix 1 – Implications
Appendix 2 – Proposed Temporary SEND Resources.
Appendix 1
IMPLICATIONSFinancial and Value for Money
1.1 / Temporary additional SEND resources are proposed to ensure that the Council can meet the requirements of the SEND reforms and robustly defend decisions on SEND placements at tribunal in order to reduce costly out of authority placements. This report seeks approval of the allocation of £395,073of DSG reserves to make the SEND temporary appointments set out in the table below:On costs
SEND Pre & Post 16 OOA Review posts / Grade / Salary / 32% / Total
Temporary Conversion & Reviewing Officer / J / £30,978 / £9,913 / £40,891
Conversion & Reviewing Casework Officer / E / £19,048 / £6,095 / £25,143
Sub Total / £50,026 / £16,008 / £66,034
SEND Pre 16 / On costs
Grade / Salary / 32% / Total
Temporary Conversion & Reviewing Officer / H / £30,178 / £9,657 / £39,835
Temporary Conversion & Reviewing Officer / H / 30178 / £9,657 / £39,835
£60,356 / £19,314 / £79,670
On costs
Legal Capacity / Grade / Salary / 32% / Total
Temporary Solicitor / L / £39,267 / £12,565 / £51,832
Total cost per annum / £149,649 / £47,888 / £197,537
Total cost over two years / £299,298 / £95,775 / £395,073
Legal
2.1 / Parents have a right to appeal to the Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Tribunal if they disagree with a decision relating to their child's Statement of SEN of Education or Health and Care Plan.Personnel
3.1 / None arising from this report. Recruitment to the proposed posts outlined in this report is subject to the approval of funding.IT
4.1 / None arising from this report.Equalities Impact
5.1 / None arising from this report.Health and Safety
6.1 / None arising from this report.Environmental Sustainability
7.1 / None arising from this report.Property and Asset Management
8.1 / None arising from this report.Risk Management
9.1 / The Council is not currently in a strong position to defend decisions at SEND Tribunals and this is resulting in high cost directions in relation to placements. The risk is that the current £8million overspend on SEND placements continues to increase. The temporary appointments proposed in this report aim to reduce high cost SEND placements, thus reducing the overspend.Corporate objectives and priorities for change
10.1 / This report supports the Council priority outcome of 'Enabling individuals and communities, and Raising achievement and skills'.1
Appendix 2
DSG Funding Request for temporary posts for 2 years:On costs / Comments
SEND Pre & Post 16 OOA Review posts / Grade / Salary / 32% / Total
Temporary Conversion & Reviewing Officer / J / £30,978 / £9,913 / £40,891 / Temporary 24 month post - spend to save, and reduce OOA placements
Conversion & Reviewing Casework Officer / E / £19,048 / £6,095 / £25,143 / Temporary 24 month post - spend to save, and reduce OOA placements
Sub Total / £50,026 / £16,008 / £66,034
SEND Pre 16 / On costs
Grade / Salary / 32% / Total
Temporary Conversion & Reviewing Officer / H / £30,178 / £9,657 / £39,835 / Temporary 24 month post specifically to co-ordinate and support the Pre 16 statement to EHC Plan conversion process.
Temporary Conversion & Reviewing Officer / H / 30178 / £9,657 / £39,835 / Temporary 24 month post specifically to co-ordinate and support the Pre 16 statement to EHC Plan conversion process.
Sub Total / £60,356 / £19,314 / £79,670
On costs
Legal Capacity / Grade / Salary / 32% / Total
Temporary Solicitor / L / £39,267 / £12,565 / £51,832 / Temporary 24 month post to support defending tribunals and reducing OOA placements.
Staffing Costs: / £149,649 / £47,888 / £197,537
Total Request for DSG funding for posts for 2 years: / £299,298 / £95,775 / £395,073
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