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Written evidence from Mrs Nicola Hanson

1. Primarily a parent of 2 children on SEN register, one possibly going for EHCP. I have worked in education, portage and charity sector supporting children and education. I am also a school governor with responsibility for SEN.

Summary of issues I have found with current SEN provision and EHCP’s.

Headlines:

2. lack of professional availability

3. time/cost problems for schools

4. lack of clarity and prevalence of misinformation

5. lottery aspect of whether EHCP’s actually get through- one with lesser needs may get through then next with greater need is not accepted.

6. widening gaps due to waiting lists and criteria for support to be given.

7. issues with blanket funding rather than bespoke which makes it more difficult for small schools in particular.

1. lack of access to support and resources for parents and teachers.

2. lack of access to ed psychs, professionals and signposting for next steps.

3. behavioural issues not always covered despite impact on learning and widening gap. Support unavailable.

8. narrowing of parameters for professionals which is cutting opportunity for multi agency approaches, mainly fuelled by funding and budget cuts.

1. As a parent with a child with SEN, a school governor covering SEN and someone who has worked in education and portage I know there are so many issues and difficulties. First of all people DO care, teachers care, governors care, parents care and all those who work in the education and health sectors really do care about outcomes for children but this care often cannot translate to appropriate support due to lack of funds, lack of knowledge, lack of power, ever narrowing criteria and time due to funding pressures.

2. Often even after an issue has been identified there is no continuity of care as jobs cannot be covered or filled when people leave various posts and so many professionals end up covering more jobs than they are specialised for or have time to do adequately.

3. Whilst working with children with communication difficulties who had awaited a long time on waiting lists to access services, they were working closely and well as part of multi agency practice with speech and language therapists but because of lack of funds when their therapist left the service there was no replacement, everyone worked hard to fill this gap within other agencies but this only increases their waiting lists and time pressures which reduces access to others for support they should be receiving. Each service cut has a knock on effect and the longer a child goes undiagnosed or unsupported the greater the support is needed and the bigger the problem for the child as the gap widens and their confidence diminishes.

4. Early intevention is key but it is just not accessible due to long waiting lists and misinformation (we can’t test for things til they are 7, we need to wait til they have health visitor assessments/eats results etc) often we have to wait until we have failed our children very badly before they meet criteria for support which if given earlier would have meant they never reached these lows.

5. Many Senco’s simply do not have time or knowledge to complete EHCP’ sand so many get rejected it seems like a wasted time for all but the very obvious cases and even then they go in so late the gap has become too wide to ever get back together. In small schools the problem is worse, there is lack of space and physical resources as well as time and teacher/ support staff availability. Small schools are wonderful and should be encouraged as teachers get to really know their children and are well placed to know what support is needed but the budgets are simply not big enough to meet those needs and the way support is funded needs a rethink so that children have fair access to support whatever the size of school and needs should be individually assessed within each school as the current one size fits all fits no one.

6. As a parent, even a relatively well informed and empowered one it is near impossible to get a clear picture of what the next steps should be, what support there is and how it needs to be assessed and protected as even senco’s and heads of educational support departments are unable to give clarity, you get so far down one track then seem to be sent on another so 3 years down the line you don’t feel much further on.

7. The level of work required to get an EHCP means many children who should be put forward are not, and for those whose EHCP are submitted it seems like a total lottery as to whether or not they will be accepted.

8. Some issues such as extreme behaviour stand outside of EHCP if there is no diagnosis which also leaves some children and schools in a no mans land in terms of support.

9. Even those who have EhCPs in place and have had Team around the child meetings, it all counts for nothing when there is no spaces available or resources available due to budget cuts, you may need speech and language support but this is useless unless there is a therapist availae, you may benefit from an educational psychologist but schools cannot afford to access this and then still have left over budget to meet the subsequent identified needs or training for teachers. The child may benefit from counselling but there are no funded spaces available.

10. It is all completely futile unless there is funding available to let the people who care do the job they can see needs to be done and training a available to identify needs and to know where to go with those concerns. There needs to be a centralised sign posting and advisory service so that there are clear next steps, no misinformation causing damaging delays and somewhere were support resources can be easily accessed as even things like creating a visual timetable take up time and therefore funds. We have the knowledge to support so many children in so many ways now let’s share it, share the resources and get funding in place to allow the progress to happen.

April 2018