Our ambition is for children to live happily within their home, attend their school and be a part of their community. As partners take a One Family Approach across North Lincolnshire, we want children, young people and families to be able to build upon their strengths, their resilience to find or be enabled to find solutions when things are not going so well. They should be able to access available information, advice, and guidance and be enabled to maximise their life chances.

We want all children and families to have a sense of belonging and equality of opportunity and through our integrated working, we will enable those more in need to achieve positive outcomes. Where there are significant concerns, we want children, young people and families to be able to access swift, creative and flexible help so they can remain independent.

We will protect children and young people with an aim to build resilience and help them remain in their families, their schools and their communities.

In North Lincolnshire, children, young people, families and communities are at the heart of what we do. Our One Family Approach aims to create a system that works for all children, young people and families where we work together to provide and commission integrated services for children and young people. The One Family Approach – Helping Children and Families in North Lincolnshire 2020/24 sets out how services support children, young people and families to participate, find help online and in their networks and communities, to be resilient and stay independent.

The One Family Approach brings together our local ambitions for children. We want children, young people and families to be supported by a workforce that is resilient, confident, and competent and with authorisation to do what they think is the right thing to do without escalating children and families unnecessarily through a range of organisational systems and referral pathways when the day to day contact with trusted professionals can make the difference.

We will listen to families, work to build upon the child and family’s strengths, help them find solutions and only when necessary consult with others to seek assurance, check they’re doing the right thing and continue to support the child and family.

We will prioritise services to our most vulnerable children and young people to ensure that they have fair and equitable opportunities to be the best they can be, irrespective of their background and circumstances.

We will develop an integrated workforce, one that works with the whole family and where we reduce unnecessary duplication of professionals involved with a child and family.

We will do so by implementing an agreed practice model, based in psychological approach to consultation and formulation where the initial contact both with the child and family and or professional is one of enablement.

To ensure the very best chance that all of our children and young people in North Lincolnshire will achieve the very best outcomes (including those with SEND), partners within North Lincolnshire have agreed a One Family Approach to defining and co-ordinating support and provision. This is a ‘graduated approach’ model whereby levels of need can be defined as:

• Universal (self-help and enablement) – where there is an entitlement and access for everyone (eg schools, Family Hubs, leisure facilities, etc)
• Targeted (focused and preventative) – where there is a need for some additional support or sign-posting. This may be single agency (informal targeted) without the need for a full assessment or plan. Or it may be Early Help (targeted formal) with an assessment and co-ordinated plan in place to support full access to universal provision and the successful achievement of identified goals and outcomes
• Specialist (Protection) – where assessment has identified a need for more specialist support or service. Such as might be the case with a child or young person who has more complex needs and requires an EHCP.

Where children and young people are vulnerable or disadvantaged, it is our ambition that we will all go the extra mile to ensure that they reach their individual potential. This driving ambition is often very evident at individual professional / provider level. Or in our partnership or multi-agency working to secure the very best outcomes. We want to ensure that vulnerable or disadvantaged children and young people (including those with SEND) achieve outstanding outcomes across the full range of measures, including:

• Attendance and participation rates – including reduced Fixed Term Exclusion and Permanent Exclusion.
• Learning outcomes (across all Key Stages).
• Progression into Education, Employment and Training (EET) beyond 16 and 19 including Higher Education.
• Good health and emotional well-being.
• Preparation for Adulthood.

Employment and Careers

North Lincolnshire’s Skills and Employability Plan 2017 – 2022 sets out a clear commitment to supporting our most vulnerable young people and adults( including those with additional needs) into training and employment and enabling progression by:

• Promoting a culture of life-long learning in North Lincolnshire.
• Transforming customer information to support self-navigation in skills and employment.
• Ensuring access to excellent careers education, information, advice and guidance.
• Encouraging innovation and enterprise amongst young people.
• Driving the confidence and capability of businesses to recruit and retain people with additional needs.
• Developing clear progression pathways for groups who have vulnerabilities.

Good Health

In order to support young people with SEND with their health / medical needs we want to ensure that:

• Young people are supported to manage their own health as they move into adulthood.
• Young people with learning disabilities from 14 years of age onwards have an opportunity to access an Annual Health Check with their GP (with a specific Health Plan in place to support them should this be required).
• Health professionals use person-centred approaches and continue to work in partnership with education and social care colleagues as part of the EHCP process.
• Health services and support beyond 16 and 19 include robust transition arrangements for young adults who have complex health needs and / or long-term conditions.
• There are clear step-down procedures in place where young people have spent significant periods accessing health interventions at regional and specialist hospitals.
• Young people have the opportunity to participate in physical activity and make healthier lifestyle choices that will improve their long-term health and well-being.

Independent Lives

In order to support young people with SEND plan for their independent life we want to ensure that:

• The current range of supported and independent living opportunities is developed further with appropriate and accessible information so that young people and their families can make informed decisions about the future.
• Schools, colleges and other post-16 providers include a particular focus upon skills for life and independent living options so that young people and their families have the tools and resources they need to fully understand what is available. This may include mock applications for housing and researching housing options in their own area.
• Young people with complex needs in specialist education placements (including out of area) have the same access to skills for life and independent living options.

Friends, Relationships and Community

In order to support children and young people with SEND form appropriate friendships and relationships, and be safe, confident and independent in the community we want to ensure that:

• Children and young people have opportunities to spend time with their peers outside of school and college through the full range of short break activities, inclusive mainstream leisure activities and through voluntary clubs and societies in the community.
• Short breaks for disabled children and young people have appropriate opportunities for increasing independence and confidence so that the transition to adult opportunities is seamless and represents progression – building upon the ‘Do Something Different’ programme.
• Disabled young people have knowledge of and appropriate access to a Personal Budget as this enables greater independence, choice and control.
• There are opportunities to access Independent Travel Training where this would aid independence and confidence.
• There is increased promotion and awareness of community resources through the Local Offer (eg Community Hubs and Access Points). So that children and young people with SEND and their families access information and support within their local communities.

In North Lincolnshire the views of children, young people, parents and carers are truly valued. The council and its partners are committed to working together to ensure that ‘nothing about you is without you’. And that children, young people with SEND and their parents and carers are at the centre of all that we do.

Through the One Family Approach, we are committed to engaging with children, young people, parents and carers at an individual, service and strategic level.

• Individual – children and young people are involved in decisions that affect their lives (including assessments, plans and reviews).
• Service – children and young people have an opportunity to feedback on services and are consulted upon service changes (including service review and service redesign).
• Strategic – information gathered from individual and service level engagement is fed into priority setting, strategies and plans. And children and young people are supported and encouraged to get involved in things that matter to them.

Engagement with Parents and Carers

The Parents’ Involvement and Participation Forum (PIP), which has its own PIP Forum Website  plays two important roles:

1. Ensuring that parents and carers are involved at a strategic level.
2. Ensuring that there is outreach and communication with the wider group of parents and carers within North Lincolnshire.

Increasingly, families and communities must take greater responsibility for their own well-being. And for finding solutions to help achieve positive outcomes.

Helping Children and Families recognises that families may require different levels of support at different times. And much of this support will already be there within the family or community.

Families know themselves and their children the best. So it is important that any support provided:

• encourages self-resilience and self-reliance
• builds upon strengths and self-solution-finding, and
• removes the potential for dependency and intrusive intervention.

A key factor to ensuring improved outcomes for our SEND children and young people is that we have a workforce (across the full range of services and provision from universal to specialist) that is equipped with the:

• appropriate skills
• knowledge
• experience, and
• qualifications

to meet the needs of our children and young people with SEND.

Moreover, that we have:

• a workforce that has inclusive practice
• and high aspiration right at the centre

North Lincolnshire has a strong record of recruiting and developing a skilled, professional workforce capable of making a real difference to the lives of children and young people in the area.

Our ambition is that every member of the children’s workforce is:

• equipped to meet a broad range of children’s learning and developmental needs at the first point of contact
• to be able to work confidently with families to build their capacity and to ensure that the right support is available at the right time and in the right place

On behalf of the Integrated Children’s Trust partners, we are pleased to introduce our North Lincolnshire Children’s Commissioning Strategy 2020/24. The strategy clarifies our integrated One Family Approach and commissioning intent in relation to health, social care and education for children, young people and families.

On behalf of the Integrated Adults Partnership, we are pleased to introduce our North Lincolnshire Integrated Commissioning Strategy for Adults 2020/24.The strategy clarifies our integrated approach and commissioning intent in relation to health and social care for adults (including young adults) in North Lincolnshire.