SEN0851

Written evidence submitted by Children’s Services Development Group (CSDG)

Children’s Services Development Group (CSDG)

1. About CSDG
2. Executive Summary
3. Current and future model of SEND
4. SEND support in mainstream and early years setting
5. Workforce issues for teachers, SENCOs, specialists, early years practitioners and all those who work with children with SEND
6. Education, Health and Care Plans

About CSDG

We are a coalition of leading independent providers of education services, residential care and fostering for children and young people with acute needs, collectively working with all of England’s local authorities. Our members are Pebbles, Compass Community, Polaris, SENAD Group, Horizon Care and Kisimul. All members have over 85% of children’s homes provision and SEND schools are rated Good or Outstanding by Ofsted. Our homes are run by individual management teams with social work experience and the companies which own them are run by CEOs with direct industry experience. CSDG has an independent Chair, Andrew Isaac.

Executive summary

CSDG welcomes the Education Select Committee’s ambition to find long-term solutions to fix the SEND system and improve the outcomes for children and young people with SEND.

In our experience, there will always be a cohort of children and young people with acute needs whose requirements are significantly greater than their SEN peers. Our members are proud to educate these students and ensure their settings can prioritise their needs by tailoring their education services, providing a well-trained workforce that is equipped to support a range of physical, emotional and intellectual needs, and championing innovative new approaches to education.

At the heart of CSDG’s position on SEND is a closer joined up working between the Department for Education, local authorities and education providers, including the independent sector which provides the majority of very high needs placements. We believe this is critical to driving forward improvements and ensuring sufficiency of places in the support that is provided to SEN students, both within mainstream and specialist settings.

In this submission, we present our view of the SEND system, and associated issues such as increased demand, protracted waiting times and increased pressure on schools and local authorities. In the subsequent sections, we offer various solutions to improving the outcomes for children and young people with SEND, especially those with high acuity needs.

Current and future model of SEND

There are broadly two categories of support for children with SEN based on the acuity of their need. Most children and young people will receive additional support at school. Those with the most complex needs, whose Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan cannot be met within a mainstream setting, will receive care and education from a specialist provider such as one of CSDG’s members.

As of January 2024, the number of children and young people with an EHC Plan reached 576,000, an increase of 58,914 (11.4%) from January 2023[1]. While we welcome the increase in the number of pupils whose needs are being identified and evaluated to ensure that they can receive the appropriate level of care and education, this increase has put pressure on a system that is already under strain and recovering from the impact of Covid-19.

Across the country, local authorities, the independent and not-for-profit sectors are responsible for ensuring and overseeing the effective delivery of education and care services for those with SEN. However, there are serious structural challenges that the sector must overcome, with a lack of suitable provision to support a huge spectrum of complex needs and deliver child-centric outcomes.

The sector’s inability to meet increasing demand for EHC Plans and high needs placements has created an issue of placement churn, where children and young people are placed in settings unable to meet their needs and are subject to frequent transfers across settings. In addition to creating unnecessary stress and anxiety for the individual, this has sadly resulted in a breakdown in trust between parents and carers, and education providers.

SEND support in mainstream schools and early years setting

CSDG welcomes the recent clarity from government over its plans to apply VAT to private school fees, with confirmation that for students who attend a specialist school upon recommendation of their EHC Plan and therefore their place is funded by the local authority (LA), the LA will be able to reclaim the VAT they are charged. This clarification is essential and demonstrative of the government’s understanding that SEN students with high acute needs require specialist support that in many cases, can only be met by the independent sector.

CSDG also welcomes the Government’s decision to move the SEN brief into the remit of the Schools Standards Minister, reflective of the ambition to boost the inclusivity of SEN in mainstream education.

Going forwards, CSDG would greatly welcome the opportunity to work more closely with the Department for Education, local authorities and education providers to ensure the needs of all children and young people with SEN can be met in either mainstream or specialist provision, with a sufficiency of suitable placements in all types of settings. This joined-up working will also help with commissioning processes to ensure that appropriate provision is commissioned the first time around to address the issue of placement churn, which historically has been a key contributor to the breakdown between the SEND system and parents and carers of students with SEN.

CSDG believes that a suitable platform for this joined-up working could be the Local SEND and AP Partnerships that were committed to as part of the SEND and AP Improvement Plan to bring together local partners to plan and commission SEN services.

Workforce issues for teachers, SENCOs, specialists, early years practitioners and all those who work with children with SEND

Concerning stories have recently emerged of children and young people with SEN not receiving the right level of education and support which results in poorer outcomes. However, this has triggered a notable increase in sensationalist media reporting on the SEND system in general, which is extremely detrimental to the workforce, most of whom work tirelessly to provide high quality education and deliver the best outcomes for those in their care.

There is already a shortage of education workers with the necessary skills to meet SEND student’s needs, which is a key contributing factor behind the lack of inclusivity and expertise in mainstream settings. CSDG is keen to work with Government to develop a plan to increase the number of SEND teachers – both in mainstream and specialist settings – and boost retention within the existing workforce.

Our members have many examples of best practice that can be shared. Government has a responsibility to ensure that issues relating to the SEND sector can be discussed in the public domain, while maintaining high levels of appreciation for members of staff.

Education, Health and Care Plans

The impact of the 2023 SEND and Alternative Provision Improvement Plan and ways forward

CSDG welcomes the previous government’s decision to bring forward the extensive SEND Review, which culminated in the publication of the SEND and Alternative Provision Improvement Plan. However, these reforms, particularly the National Standards and Change Programme, were being implemented at too slow of a pace to make a significant improvement in the support available to and outcomes achieved for those with SEN.

CSDG recognises that Labour has come into Government while the previous administration was in the process of delivering on the SEND and AP Improvement Plan.

While it is understandable that the new Government wants to implement its own reforms, there were some policies in the Plan that they should continue to bring forward and prioritise. This includes:

•          The Change Programme: Progress should continue to be made with the Change Programme to test and refine key reform proposals, working towards the publication of National Standards for SEND. Given the independent sector plays a significant role in providing education for students with the most complex needs, there should be greater involvement from private providers, particularly in the Regional Expert Partnerships.

•          Planning and registration of SEN services: Registration delays and constraints act as barriers to the development of new specialist school provision. CSDG members would like to see the DfE work in conjunction with the MHCLG to speed up the planning and registration of new SEND schools so the independent sector can help to fill immediate gaps and provide greater certainty over commissioning.

•          Digitalisation of EHC plans: Digitalising plans in a format akin to the NHS app, will enable parents, carers and professionals to upload and view key information regarding a young person’s plan, and help to restore some of the trust that has broken down between families and practitioners over time.

How can excess profit-making in the independent sector be tackled without endangering current provision?

Independent specialist providers have a wealth of knowledge and experience, particularly in the provision of high needs care and education which cannot easily or readily be provided in mainstream settings. CSDG members have ongoing programmes of investment and innovation development within the sector. CSDG believes the new VAT policy, where a local authority (LA) can reclaim the VAT which they are charged if the specialist school place is recommended by an EHC Plan, is a proportionate and a measured approach to increase transparency in the sector. It is our view that there should be no further changes to the VAT.

CSDG believes that the process of testing and refining key SEND reforms should involve the independent sector. To ensure that current provision remains stable, it may be necessary to introduce a framework of banding and price tariffs to the sector, as recommended in the SEND Review and piloted in the nine Regional Experts Partnerships in 2023 via the Change Programme. This will ensure that a standard is set across the whole sector, and that current provision remains stable. The bands should also adopt a needs-based approach that recognises the sector’s role in the provision of high acuity care and support.

January 2025