3 Debates, 1 Week: The Importance of SEND Provision for Young People

Last week saw three debates in parliament about SEND provision, including one that focused on some of the local issues we are facing in Hertfordshire.

We know we are not alone in Hertfordshire in the challenges we face delivering adequate support and provision for children, young people and their families with special educational needs and disabilities. Recent national research and debate confirm that many of the areas we struggle with – the volume of need, increasing legal challenges, and recruiting and retaining specialists – are being felt across the country.

Local Challenges for SEND Provision

However, we are also facing local challenges that impact on our ability to deliver the best outcomes for children and young people with SEND in Hertfordshire.

The subject of High Needs Funding was widely discussed in all the debates last week and we welcome this, along with the clear commitment made by contributors to work towards a better and fairer funding settlement along with reform of at national level. The unequal distribution of funding to local authorities isn’t representative of actual need and the outdated High Needs Funding formula has created an additional challenge in Hertfordshire.

Since the inclusion of disabilities within SEN provision in 2015, Hertfordshire has seen a 223 per cent increase in the number of children with an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP), substantially higher than the 140 per cent increase seen nationally.

While local need continues to outpace the national picture, Hertfordshire remains one of the lowest funded councils in terms of government funding for SEND (currently third lowest nationally out of 151 Local Authorities) which sees Hertfordshire receiving less funding per pupil in what one MP described as ’the postcode lottery of High Needs Funding’ in the recent Westminster Hall debate.

This double-whammy has created additional pressure on Hertfordshire’s SEND system. We are limited in the provision we can provide without sufficient resource, as the need for services increases in volume and complexity.

Whilst we have called for a fairer funding settlement, and continue to do so, we also knew that we needed to take urgent action to tackle delays in the system and improve families’ experiences of our services.

From the Council to the Commons: Making SEND Everyone’s Business

Clear and honest communication between staff delivering SEND services and our political leadership was crucial, acknowledging that our SEND services were not delivering for the children and parents of Hertfordshire. This was a key part of our improvement journey and it led to an injection of £7m of additional investment, prioritised from existing council budgets.  

This additional funding has enabled the implementation of our ‘making SEND everyone’s business’ workforce transformation programme and made possible the recruitment of more than 130 staff, many with lived experience of having a child with special educational needs or disability.

It was this approach to transforming and improving SEND services in Hertfordshire that was referred to as ‘novel and a noteworthy approach’ in the recent Westminster Hall debate.

As part of ‘making SEND everyone’s business’, we have developed a new delivery model, moving away from one team being responsible for delivering statutory SEND duties to several teams in specialist areas holding responsibility. This enables us to better manage our portfolio of EHCPs, with less being managed per staff member according to a nuanced approach in line with children’s needs. For example, teams with specialist knowledge and expertise in supporting our most vulnerable children, such as the Virtual School and the Access & Inclusion Service are now undertaking statutory SEND duties for those who do not have the support of a parent (our Children Looked After) or who do not have the support of a school (our children who are not on roll at a school).

Innovations in SEND Provision 

Our innovative approach to recruitment and workforce development is also helping us to buck the trend in relation to the national recruitment challenge. By centring on recruiting individuals with lived experience and transferable skills, our successful recruitment campaign received more than 950 applications for roles in our SEND service. This ‘widened net’ approach to recruitment has been made possible through the comprehensive induction we are delivering through our innovative training and development offer – the Hertfordshire SEND Academy.

The SEND Academy’s six-week training and induction programme ensures all staff have the right skills, competencies and support in order to do their best work and provide high quality EHCP’s for our children and young people in Hertfordshire. The training blends classroom, self-directed ‘on the job’, and social learning (where participants spend time in their teams, meeting colleagues and partners).

We are now some months down the line from our investment injection and we are already seeing a positive impact from our improvement drive. This includes an increase in the number of EHC assessments being completed within statutory timelines, improvements in the quality of EHC plans that have been audited and increased parental satisfaction with the process of getting an EHCP.

But we know that we are not yet where we want to be. It will take time, more investment and, importantly, national reform towards greater inclusivity in mainstream education before children, young people and their families in Hertfordshire are experiencing the improvements we are making, and the services they deserve.

Final Thoughts

We know that our efforts to innovatively drive forward improvements could be greatly enhanced through the receipt of a fairer funding allocation, which is why we wholeheartedly support a collective call for a fairer and better funded SEND system for all.  This includes a fairer allocation of High Needs Funding, but also a fairer allocation of council funding too, from which we have to fund the delivery of our statutory SEND duties, including also our Educational Psychologists and our transport for children with SEND.

Whilst the challenge is different for local authorities across the country, many of us are facing similar issues. We are keen to share our approach, experiences and learnings to help improve SEND services nationally. Please do get in touch if you are looking to find out how we are trying to do things differently in Hertfordshire.

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