SEN Support and EHC Plans

The Local Offer will ensure that families and practitioners are able to locate what services are available and where these can be accessed so the best level of support can be offered to their child. This allows everyone to make the most of services offered in schools and in the community.

The majority of children and young people with special educational needs can engage, develop and progress with the support from:

• The education provider – schools have designated staff to support children and young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities.
• What is ‘ordinarily available provision’ in school – this is the provision that schools need to make for children and young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities.
• Local Authority support services – teams who specialise in providing support around specific needs.
• The community – support which comes from family, friends and community engagement.

The purpose of SEN support is to help children and young people achieve the outcomes or learning objectives set for them by the school in conjunction with parents and pupils themselves.

Every school must publish an SEN information report about the SEN provision the school makes. You can find this on the school’s website. You can also ask your child’s teacher or the school’s Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCO) for information on the SEN provision made by the school.

The Local Offer published by North Lincolnshire Council also sets out what support it expects early years settings, schools and colleges to make for all children and young people with SEN or disabilities.

SEN support can take many forms, including:

• a special learning programme for your child
• extra help from a teacher or a learning support assistant
• making or changing materials and equipment
• working with your child in a small group
• observing your child in class or at break and keeping records
• helping your child to take part in the class activities
• making sure your child has understood things by encouraging
• them to ask questions and to try something they find difficult
• helping other children work with your child, or play with them at break time
• supporting your child with physical or personal care, such as eating, getting around school safely, toileting or dressing
• advice and/or extra help from specialists such as specialist teachers, educational psychologists and therapists.

You can read some of the guidance that is made available to schools about the range of provision they can make for children and young people at SEN Support here.

When schools want to call in specialists, they should discuss and agree this with parents.

SEN support for children under 5 includes:

• a written progress check when your child is 2 years old
• a child health visitor carrying out a health check for your child if they’re aged 2 to 3
• a written assessment in the summer term of your child’s first year of primary school
• making reasonable adjustments for disabled children, like providing aids like tactile signs.

Nurseries, playgroups and childminders registered with Ofsted follow the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) framework. The framework makes sure that there’s support in place for children with SEND.

Talk to a doctor or health adviser if you think your child has SEND but they do not go to a nursery, playgroup or childminder. They’ll tell you what support options are available.

Talk to the teacher or the SEN co-ordinator (SENCO) if you think your child needs:

• a special learning programme
• extra help from a teacher or assistant
• to work in a smaller group
• observation in class or at break
• help taking part in class activities
• extra encouragement in their learning, for example to ask questions or to try something they find difficult
• help communicating with other children
• support with physical or personal care difficulties, for example eating, getting around school safely or using the toilet.

Contact the college before your child starts further education to make sure that they can meet your child’s needs.

The college and your local authority will talk to your child about the support they need.

This information is about funding for special educational needs (SEN) in mainstream schools. This includes academies and free schools.

Schools should use some of their budget to buy resources and make provision for children who need additional help. This can take many forms. For example, children with SEN might need:

• changes to the curriculum
• special equipment or teaching materials
• the use of additional information technology
• small group work
• support in the classroom
• a base to work in or have quiet time.

Schools and settings follow a Graduated Approach to support children with special educational needs. This is a cycle of assess, plan, do and review, so support can be adjusted as the child's needs become clearer.

• Ordinarily available provision
• The Graduated Approach for Parents and Carers

All mainstream schools receive money for special educational needs support and resources. Schools can decide how to spend this money. This is called “delegated” funding because it is given (delegated) to schools by local authorities or the Education Funding Agency from money they receive from central government. The SEN part of the school’s income is sometimes called the “notional” SEN budget because it is not based on the school’s actual numbers of pupils with special needs, but on a formula.

Funding for SEN provision is from three sources (“Elements”):

Schools get money for each pupil, based on actual pupil numbers. This is called the Age Weighted Pupil Unit (AWPU) and it is part of schools’ delegated funding. Some of this money is for general SEN provision. This might, for example, include the cost of providing the Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCO) and some other resources.

Each local authority sets the AWPU for their schools, and the Education Funding Agency sets the AWPU for academies and free schools. The AWPU differs according to whether the school is primary or secondary etc.

Element 2 funding is SEN-specific, and is to provide SEN support for children who need it. This is support that is additional to or different from the support that most other children get.

The local authority provides this funding for schools it is responsible for, using a formula that determines the amount of money the school gets. The formula gives more money to schools that in the past had more children on free school meals and more children who were not doing as well as others in English and Maths. The Education and Skills Funding Agency provides this funding for academies and free schools.

Element 2 funding is also part of schools’ delegated budget. Government guidance says schools should provide up to the first £6,000 (on top of the AWPU) of additional or different support for those children who need it, including those with an Education, Health and Care plan (or a Statement of Special Educational Need). This does not mean that the school will spend £6,000 on every child with SEN. Sometimes schools use funds to help groups of children. Some children will need less help – and some children may need more.

You can ask your school how it uses its SEN budget to support your child and whether it has enough to make all the provision they need. The local authority also publishes a Local Offer that explains what type of resources this money might be spent on.

Where a school has children needing very expensive provision which might absorb a lot of the SEN support funding, the school can request additional funding. The local authority is responsible for managing Element 3 funding (sometimes called the ‘high needs block’), which can be used to make specific provision for an individual child or a group of children, if the school or academy can show it is necessary.

These funding arrangements do not override the local authority’s duty to your child to ensure they receive any necessary provision that the school itself cannot make. The law says that the local authority must find out via an Education, Health and Care (EHC) needs assessment whether an EHC plan is needed when a child or young person may have SEN that may need the local authority to secure provision. So if your school is unable to make all the provision your child needs, you have the right to ask for an EHC needs assessment

School governors are responsible for the school’s policy on SEN. The headteacher and the SENCO ensure that the policy is put into practice. The SENCO organises support for individual children, but every teacher is responsible for making sure that your child’s special educational needs are met in the classroom.

The SEN Information Report on the school’s website tells you more about the arrangements for SEN support and how to contact the SENCO.

The first step is to talk with your child’s teacher or the SENCO. This may be at a parents’ evening, a support plan meeting or a review. You can ask for a written copy of any support plan in place for your child.

If your child has an Education, Health and Care plan (or Statement of Special Educational Need) it must set out the support and resources that must be provided.

Look for the SEN Information Report on the school website.

This website is a good place to find out about services available locally and the arrangements that schools and others are expected to make for children and young people with SEN.

The Special Educational Needs and Disability Support Service (SENDIASS) can also give you:

more information about SEN support and funding advice about what to do if you are not happy with the support your school is providing information about other organisations, support groups and services that could help information and advice about your rights to request an EHC needs assessment if your child might need more than the school can provide.

An Education, Health and Care Plan is:

• for children and young people (aged up to 25)
• who need more support than is available through special educational needs support

Guidance and training resources are available to support schools, settings and professionals when requesting health advice as part of an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) review process.

Training slides: Requesting health advice for Education, Health and Care Plan Reviews [445KB] PDF - Print only Guidance document: Requesting health advice for Education, Health and Care Plan Reviews [348KB] PDF - Print only

These resources explain the process for requesting health advice to support Education, Health and Care Plan reviews and provide guidance for education settings and professionals involved in the review process.

EHC plans must be reviewed by the local authority every 12 months as a minimum. Reviews must focus on the child or young person’s progress towards achieving the outcomes specified in the EHC plan.

Following the review meeting, the local authority will notify the child’s parent or the young person of the outcome. This will be within four weeks of the review meeting.

More information on reviewing an EHC plan can be found in chapter 9 of the SEND Code of Practice.

It is important that young people start to think about their aspirations as early as possible. Local authorities must ensure that the EHC plan review at Year 9 (and every review thereafter) includes a focus on preparation for adulthood.

Transition planning must be built into the revised EHC plan. It should result in clear outcomes being agreed that are ambitious and stretching.  This should follow consideration of any further education or training that will enable young people to:

• get paid work
• or other opportunities for a positive adult life

Young people should be supported to exercise choice and control over their lives. This includes the four ‘preparing for adulthood’ outcomes:

• moving into paid employment and higher education
• independent living
• having friends and relationships and being part of their communities
• being as healthy as possible

More information on the four ‘preparing for adulthood’ outcomes can be found in chapter 8 of the SEND Code of Practice and the Preparing for Adulthood website. Take a look at the Preparing for Adulthood section of this website too.

A local authority may cease to maintain an EHC plan if it determines that:

• it is no longer necessary for the plan to be maintained
• or if it is no longer responsible for the child or young person

Where a local authority is considering ceasing to maintain an EHC Plan, it must consult with:

• the child’s parent
• or the young person
• and the school or other institution that is named in the EHC plan

In line with preparing young people for adulthood, a local authority must not cease an EHC plan simply because a young person is aged 19 or over. Young people with EHC plans may need longer in education or training to achieve their outcomes and make an effective transition into adulthood.

However, this position does not mean that there is an automatic entitlement to continued support at age 19. Or an expectation that those with an EHC plan should all remain in education until age 25.

A local authority may cease a plan for a 19 to 25-year-old if it decides that it is no longer necessary for the EHC plan to be maintained.

More information and guidance on EHCPs beyond the age of 19 can be found in the SEND 19-25 year olds entitlement to EHC plans

If you need support or advice during these discussions, the local North Lincolnshire Special Educational Needs and Disability SENDIASS will be happy to help you.

We want to make it as easy as possible for customers to let us know their views, including how to make a complaint. Have a look at the document Your Right to Complain

North Lincolnshire’s complaints policy sets out how customers can make a complaint about council services, and how we will respond to and learn from complaints received. You can read the Policy here.

Service specific complaints should be made to the Customer Contact and Relationship Manager.

Further details on ‘How to make a complaint’ as well as the facility to make an on-line complaint about council services are available here.

Independent Service in Yorkshire and Humber

If you feel that discussions have not addressed your concerns you can contact Community Accord for mediation. This is an independent service available to help sort out SEN disagreements in Yorkshire and Humberside. The people involved in the dispute work together to reach an acceptable solution with the help of a mediator. Using the mediation service does not affect your right of appeal to the First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability). You can use mediation at any time during a disagreement.

Parents and young people can appeal to The First Tier Tribunal (SEN and Disability) about EHC needs assessments and EHC plans, following contact with a mediation adviser in most cases.