Transparent SEND Reforms

There are 5 principles of the SEND Local Offer, Accessible, Collaborative, Comprehensive, Transparent, and Up-to-date. ACCTUp, as we call them. They're the principles that we work by too, alongside many councils.

So it's been really interesting to look at some councils SEND Reform Plans, the ones which have been made public. Schoolsweek published an interactive map (I guess it makes it quicker to spot your own council, and your neighbours, and who hasn't made their plan public).

"The DfE said plans were live operations documents owned by local area partnerships, which include health and social care colleagues. It's up to these partnerships whether to publish plans.

By Samantha Booth

https://schoolsweek.co.uk/revealed-what-send-reforms-are-proposed-for-your-area/ (opens in a new tab)

At Pop Pop Studio, we've gone one step further, making a survey tool to interrogate all the SEND Reform Plans, and make a side by side comparison.

So in addition to this week's reading on the SEND Reform Plans, I've added a link to a Survey question, and its answer, across all 40 documents. If you've got a question you'd love answering, let me know.

"But the system is already creaking amid a national shortage of specialists, particularly EPs. Twenty-eight councils said it was "likely" that the risk could materialise, with two rating it as "very likely"."

By Samantha Booth and Ruth Lucas

https://schoolsweek.co.uk/expert-staff-shortages-are-key-threat-to-1-8bn-send-reform-plans/ (opens in a new tab)

Survey question

Does this council's plan name a specific staffing risk to delivering its Experts at Hand offer, such as a shortage of educational psychologists, speech and language therapists or occupational therapists, and does it propose a specific mitigation such as a training pipeline, university partnership or grow your own scheme, or does it not address the risk at all?

"Major system change is being proposed without key stakeholders being able to even see if or how they might be impacted. With the 2014 reforms failing at the point of implementation, despite a very open and collaborative process to that point, one wonders if the Government has failed to take some key learning on board.

By Claire Dorer

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/send-local-authority-reform-plans-special-school-expertise-ansee/ (opens in a new tab)

Survey question

When this council describes its inclusion bases or resourced provision, does it name what would make a place actually work, such as on-site therapy staff, flexible integration with mainstream, or a properly designed space, or does it only give a number of places and a budget?

"Most English local authorities refused to reveal their plans to us ahead of receiving a DfE decision. But analysis of the 40 made available reveals 17 contain scant details on post-16 provision.

By Anviksha Patel

https://feweek.co.uk/councils-send-further-education-to-the-back-of-the-queue (opens in a new tab)

Survey question

When looking at post-16 further education, does the council name specific colleges or providers, with specific costs and dates for new places, and how they will be staffed?

"The plans are fascinating because they start to move the SEND reform conversation from national policy to the reality of local delivery. And that's the bit I'm particularly interested in. Over the next couple of weeks I'm going to do some more work looking across the emerging plans specifically through the lens of leadership, transformation and delivery capacity. Not simply what are local authorities planning, but what capability will they actually need to deliver it?"

By Ryan Miller

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ryanm1_send-reform-from-plan-to-delivery-ive-share-7506008865378017281-RYYM/ (opens in a new tab)

Survey question

Does this council say what capability, leadership or delivery capacity it needs to carry out its plan, or does it only list what it plans to do?

It's been really interesting to see how the SEND reforms are moving from consultation to delivery.

If you've got a Survey question you'd like answered, about the draft SEND reform plans, SEND strategies, or LA inspection reports, let me know and I'll run it for you for free.