What are the SEND reforms?
What are the SEND reforms?
In Newcastle we have high aspirations for all children and young people with SEND. The way we support children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) changed from 1st September 2014, following the introduction of the Children and Families Act 2014.
Key Changes:
- Education Health and Care (EHC) plans have replaced special educational need statements and will cover children and young people aged 0-25 years.
- Introduction of the 'Local Offer'. The Local Offer is a way of letting families know the services that are available locally and how to access them; from specialist social care services to universal sports activities. It's also a way of finding out which services we need in Newcastle.
- The right for parents or young people to have access to personal budgets.
- A requirement for local authorities and health to work together to plan services.
Partners across Newcastle including education services, young people, parents and carer groups, social care services, health services and voluntary sector groups continue to work together to improve SEND services for Newcastle.
Frequently Asked Questions BSL Video: The Special Education Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Reforms - British Deaf Association
What do these changes mean for parents, children and young people and service providers?
The new SEND reforms aims:
- to get education, health and social care services working together
- to make sure children, young people and families know what help they can get when a child or young person has SEND
- to make sure that different organisations work together to help children and young people with SEND
- to give children and young people and their parents more say about the help they get
- for one overall assessment process to look at what special help a child or young person needs with their education, and their health and social care needs, all at the same time or a child or young person to have one plan for meeting their education, health and social care needs, which can run from birth to 25 if it needs to
- to make sure children, young people and their parents can choose some of the help they need
- to help sort things out if a child or young person or their parent needs to appeal about the help they get
- where possible, to give families the right to a personal budget
The following guidance may be helpful in explaining what the SEND changes mean:
Support for children and young people | SEND Reforms
