SEND News and Reforms
- Written by: Lindsey Rousseau
2 June 2020
The department has been working with colleagues at the Department of Health and Social Care and the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government to introduce an important change to our guidance for education and childcare settings. If education or childcare settings cannot obtain the personal protective equipment (PPE) they need, they should approach their local authority to help.
Local authorities (LAs) should, wherever possible, support them to access local PPE markets and available stock. If the LA is not able to meet the PPE needs of education and childcare providers, the LA should approach their nearest local resilience forum (LRF) which will allocate stock if it is available once the needs of other vital services have been met.
If neither the LA or LRF is able to respond to an education or childcare setting’s unmet urgent need for PPE, the setting will need to make their own judgement in line with their risk assessment as to whether it is safe to continue to operate. If children’s homes, secure children’s homes, residential special schools, or other children’s social care settings have an unmet urgent need for PPE in order to operate safely, they should continue to approach their local resilience forum.
Further information can be found in: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-implementing-protective-measures-in-education-and-childcare-settings
- Written by: Lindsey Rousseau
Vicky Ford MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children and Families, to children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities, their parents/carers and families, and others who support them, about the wider opening of schools, colleges and other educational settings from 1 June 2020.
On 26 May, the Department for Education (DfE) published guidance to help colleagues working in local authorities and educational settings to support the needs of children and young people with SEND through the process of wider opening to more children and young people. The full guidance is available at this link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-send-risk-assessment-guidance
The Council for Disabled Children has also pulled together a wide set of resources to respond to frequently asked questions:
https://councilfordisabledchildren.org.uk/help-resources/resources/covid-19-support-and-guidance.
- Written by: Lindsey Rousseau
Today, (29 May 2020) the Secretary of State has issued a notice to extend the temporary changes to the law on what provision has to be made currently for those with Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans. The temporary changes to the law have been in force since 1 May and are now extended to 30 June. Once the notice expires, the Secretary of State can issue a further notice for a period of up to a month if it would be appropriate and proportionate to do so in the context of coronavirus. DfE SEND division have also taken the opportunity to publish an updated version of Changes to the law on education, health and care needs assessments and plans due to coronavirus.
- Written by: Lindsey Rousseau
From Special Education Needs Division:
On 10 May 2020, the Prime Minister announced that, subject to the government’s five key tests being met at the time, schools, colleges and early years settings, will be opening to more children and young people.
From 1 June at the earliest, we will be asking primary schools to welcome back children in nursery, Reception, year 1 and year 6, alongside priority groups (vulnerable children and children of critical workers). We will also ask nurseries and other early years providers, including childminders, to begin welcoming back all children. From 15 June 2020 at the earliest, we will ask secondary schools, sixth form and further education colleges to offer some face-to-face support to supplement the remote education of year 10 and year 12 students who are due to take key exams next year, alongside the full time provision they are offering to priority groups.
Alternative provision settings should mirror the approach being taken for mainstream schools and also offer some face-to-face support for years 10 and 11 students (as they have no year 12). Special schools, special post-16 institutions and hospital schools will work towards a phased return of more children and young people without a focus on specific year groups. For special schools and hospital schools this applies from 1 June; for special post-16 institutions this applies from 15 June.
New guidance on how this applies to children and young people with SEND has been published and can be found at: Supporting children and young people with SEND as schools and colleges prepare for wider opening
- Written by: Lindsey Rousseau
The Government today announced that the Family Fund will receive funding of £37.3m in 2020-21. This includes £10m which has been allocated to help families in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. More details can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/37-million-to-support-children-with-complex-needs
The Family Fund provides grants to families on low incomes who have disabilities or severe medical conditions. You can find out more about the Family Fund here: https://www.familyfund.org.uk/
- Written by: Lindsey Rousseau
On Thursday 14 May 2020, the DfE published Safe working in education, childcare and children’s social care – guidance about preventing and controlling infection, including the use of PPE in education, childcare and children’s social care settings during the coronavirus outbreak. This guidance reflects advice from Public Health England, and builds on the Coronavirus (COVID-19): implementing protective measures in education and childcare settings guidance which was publshed on 11 May 2020.
On Tuesday 12 May 2020, they published Actions for education and childcare settings to prepare for wider opening from 1 June 2020, which sets out the overarching aims and principles of the next phase, and sets out the next steps for education and childcare providers.
On Monday 11 May 2020, they published the Opening schools and educational settings to more pupils from 1 June: guidance for parents and carers, in the form of a Q&A which sets out the government’s position on more pupils returning to school from 1 June.
DfE are working on further SEND-specific advice for the planned return to educational settings.
- Written by: Lindsey Rousseau
DfE have published a ‘framework’ to help schools plan for the phased re-opening of schools. It includes a number of excerpts which seem particularly relevant to professionals working in schools and services for pupils with Sensory Impairment, copied below:
Agree what returning support is available for vulnerable and/or disadvantaged children (including any dual-registered students) and put in place provision for the return of pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in conjunction with families and other agencies and engage with partners who will help to provide that support, for example, local authorities.
Work with your local authority or trust (and where applicable NHS Clinical Commissioning Group) and families to identify what provision can be reasonably provided for in line with education, health and care (EHC) plans.
Agree ongoing approach for learning offer for vulnerable children and children of critical workers who are in school but not in the returning year groups.
Work with other school based-provision as necessary (for example, nursery, SEN unit) to ensure policies are aligned where they need to be.
Ensure you have considered the impact on staff and pupils with protected characteristics, including race and disability, in developing your approach.
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/actions-for-educational-and-childcare-settings-to-prepare-for-wider-opening-from-1-june-2020/opening-schools-for-more-children-and-young-people-initial-planning-framework-for-schools-in-england
- Written by: Lindsey Rousseau
The government has today published data on the number of children and young people with a statement of special educational needs (SEN) or education, health and care (EHC) plan in England. The publication also provides data on the administration of statements of SEN and EHC plans.
https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/education-health-and-care-plans
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