Written evidence from Royal National Institute of Blind People

Roisin Jacklin (CFA0041)

 

HOUSE OF LORDS CHILDREN AND FAMILIES ACT 2014 SELECT COMMITTEE INQURY

 

RNIB’s response to The House of Lords Select Committee on the Children and Families Act 2014 call for evidence

April 2022

 

This submission will jointly address questions 1 and 5 on the call for evidence.

 

Children with vision impairment in England

In England, there are more than 36,000 children and young people supported by local authority Vision Impairment (VI) specialist education services1

Around 50 per cent of young people with vision impairment have additional special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND)2

Young people aged 16 to 25 who are long term disabled with a seeing difficulty are twice as likely not to be in employment, education or training (NEET)3

 

To what extent has the Children and Families Act (2014) improved the situation for the most vulnerable children, young people and families in England? To the extent that it has not, is this because of the Act itself, its implementation, or challenges which subsequently emerged, whether lasting or temporary?

  1.              At RNIB we are greatly concerned that many children and young people with vision impairment (VI) in England are not receiving the specialist support they need and are entitled to as set out in the Children and Families Act. We agree with the education select committee, that a “significant shortfall in funding is a serious contributory factor to the failure on the part of…local authorities to meet the needs of children and young people with SEND.”

 

  1.              Where a child with VI has been identified as having a special educational need, local authorities are required under section 19(d) of the Children and Families Act 2014 to make sure that the child receives the support they need to facilitate their development and achieve “the best possible educational and other outcomes.” For children and young people with VI, this requires specialist support so they can access education and learn skills which other children pick up incidentally by observing others and visually taking on information. This includes being taught a range of independent learning, mobility, everyday living and social communication skills. Low incidence of VI means that most mainstream teachers or SENCOs will have relatively few opportunities to develop or maintain expertise on vision impairment. Therefore, to learn these skills, children with VI need direct, high quality specialist support. This support comes from Qualified Teachers of Children and Young People with Vision Impairment (QTVIs) and Qualified Habilitation Specialists (QHSs) working both in mainstream settings and specialist schools and colleges.

 

  1.              The Children and Families Act expanded the eligibility for SEND support in 2014. This, however, has not been met with adequate and protected Government funding in the High Needs Block for local authorities to deliver specialist VI education services.

 

  1.              Since 2008, RNIB has sent annual Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to all local authorities in England, to ask about specialist services for children and young people with VI. Through our most recent research carried out in 2021 we have found a system of specialist VI provision under significant pressure. More children and young people with VI require specialist support, yet many services have experienced budget cuts and inconsistent funding. Our research found that more than three quarters of local authorities have had budgets for specialist VI education support cut, or frozen, in the past four years [1]. This is despite an eight per cent increase in the number of children and young people accessing VI services since 2017, indicating that these services need more funding, not less [2].

 

  1.              Our 2021 research also found a lack of resources for local authorities to deliver this crucial provision, with many authorities decreasing or only maintaining the number of specialist teachers they employ. Almost two thirds of local authorities reported a decrease or freeze in Qualified Teachers of Vision Impairment (QTVIs), affecting almost two thirds of children and young people accessing VI support [3].

 

  1.              The research also found low numbers of children and young people with VI accessing habilitation support to develop their mobility, orientation and independent living skills. One in eight children and young people who require essential habilitation support are not getting it and are on a waiting list for assessment [4].

 

  1.              As provision becomes increasingly stretched, access to vital specialist support is likely to be reduced. This could impact not only a child or young person’s education and childhood, but their later life, including their ability to find employment. For example, the search radius for employment of some young people with VI in the Vision Impairment Centre for Teaching and Research’s longitudinal transition study was restricted as they had not been sufficiently supported to apply mobility and orientation skills to new contexts while in education and, as a result, were not confident in travelling to unfamiliar places [5].

 

  1.              In addition to funding, local authorities need to be held to account for their duties as set out in the Children and Families Act through improved accountability within the SEND system. Our FOI research found the criteria for allocating levels of support and for consideration of EHCP assessment varied considerably across local authorities. Some 85% of responding local authorities are meeting the statutory criteria in the Children and Families Act by carrying out EHCP assessments based on a child’s individual needs [6]. Our FOI research questions included an option for authorities to provide any extra information on assessment criteria. Worryingly, 27% of authorities stated a child or young person must meet a specific level of severity/ visual acuity, 11% said they must be failing to make the expected level of progress, 11% said they are expected to attend a special school and a further 9% said they must have additional SEND, in order to meet the criteria for support.

 

  1.              Our research also found the curriculum frameworks used to plan the delivery of education services differed greatly. This variation points to an inconsistent delivery of education support for children and young people with VI, leaving a postcode lottery for the specialist support they need to participate in education and access all the opportunities childhood has to offer.

 

  1.         RNIB and sector partners have developed a Curriculum Framework for Children and Young people with Vision Impairment (CFVI). The CFVI has been developed to support children and young people with vision impairment access an appropriate and equitable education. The framework presents outcomes within 11 skill areas. It provides a vocabulary to be used by children and young people, their families, and professionals in the UK who work with them. A shared vocabulary supports both better communication and purpose. We are eager to engage with the Department for Education to ensure that the framework reaches every child with VI in England, through measures such as being referred to in official guidance or receiving statutory status. We also recommend the CFVI informs Ofsted and QCQ local area SEND inspections.

 

  1.         In the consultation on the newly published SEND Review green paper, we will be calling on the Government to ensure the legal framework of the Children and Families Act and the SEND regulations are implemented. We will be pushing the Department for Education to ensure children and young people with VI are supported to achieve the best possible educational and other outcomes through action to tackle the postcode lottery of specialist VI provision, including ensuring consistency of funding, eligibility criteria and accountability across England. We will also be calling on the Government to provide more funding to local authorities to deliver specialist VI services and ensure there are enough specialists to provide the support children with vision impairment need.

 

About RNIB

The Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) is one of the UK’s leading sight loss charities and the largest community of blind and partially sighted people. Every day 250 people begin to lose their sight. We want society, communities and individuals to see differently about sight loss. In our 150th year RNIB renewed our focus on creating a world where there are no barriers to people with sight loss.

 

References

  1.              Bhangoo, 2022. Still left out of learning: Education provision for children and young people with vision impairment in England, 2021. Available from https://www.rnib.org.uk/left-out-learning
  2.              Ibid.
  3.              Ibid.
  4.              Ibid.
  5.              Hewett, Graeme, McLinden, Chattaway and Keil, 2021. Lost in Transition? The post-school experiences of young people with vision impairment. Vision Impairment Centre for Teaching and Research. Available from https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/Documents/college-social-sciences/education/victar/lost-in-transition.pdf
  6.              Bhangoo, 2022. Still left out of learning: Education provision for children and young people with vision impairment in England, 2021. Available from https://www.rnib.org.uk/left-out-learning 

 

April 2022

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