1. SEN and Disability Green Paper Pathfinders

2. Purpose of SEND pathfinders
The SEND pathfinders are working towards the following common objectives:
To develop a new 0-25 assessment process and a single plan which brings together the education, health and social care services on which children and young people who are disabled or have SEN and their families rely and focuses on improving outcomes;
To explore how the voluntary and community sector could explore access to specialist expertise and introduce more independence to the process;
To ensure the full engagement of children, young people and their parents and families, schools and colleges; and
To improve choice and control for children, young people and their families through the use of personal budgets and direct payments.

3. 20 SEND pathfinders (31 local authorities and their Health PCT partners)
Bromley and Bexley
Calderdale
Cornwall and Scilly
Devon
Gateshead
Greenwich
Hartlepool and Darlington
Hertfordshire
Lewisham
Manchester
North Yorkshire
Northamptonshire and Leicester City
Nottingham
Oldham and Rochdale
SE7
Solihull
Southampton
Trafford
Wigan
Wiltshire
Geographical spread
Rural / urban
Size
Partners
SE7 largest consortium
NW consortia

4. The SEND pathfinder story…
Sep 11 Jan 12 April 12 July Oct Jan April onwards
Initial set up - Bids approved, programme launched (end Sept)
Recruitment of families and ongoing engagement - Local governance in place; families recruited for single assessments starting in Feb (all pathfinders by July)
Testing and learning - of assessment and planning process; action learning networks including personal & banded funding, assessment and plan (from March); regular feedback on learning
New offer for children, young people & families – including use of education direct payments; EHC Plans in place; local offers in action
Rollout phase - Final evaluation report (spring 2013). Best practice shared. Possible extension of pathfinders
By 2014 all children currently with statement entitled to EHC Plan and choice of personal budget
Pathfinder programme
18 months

5. Pathfinder Support Team Overview
Our brief is to provide pathfinders regular, specialist advice, support and challenge including:
regular on-site meetings with each pathfinder;
specialist advice (either directly, or by finding the right person to speak to);
facilitation for local and cross-site problem solving;
sharing of learning and emerging thinking across pathfinders, DfE, DH and other stakeholders.
Our underlying principles are to:
support pathfinders across core and optional test areas;
focus on the Green Paper commitments;
build on existing best practice;
provide challenge;
provide a clear support offering which is scaled and appropriate;
make the process of requesting support clear and simple.
Commissioned to support and challenge pathfinders

6. Pathfinders Governance structure
Different for all but with common elements
Lead/Chair
Majority - Local Authority
Some - Health, Parent Carer Forum/Council
Representation from:
Local Authority, health (commissioners & providers), parent carers forum/council, VCS, schools, colleges, parent partnership services, children and young people groups/forums
Strategic decision making & co-production
Work streams / Task groups

7. Pathfinders Examples of family recruitment
40 families
0 – 25 years
Any child whose needs are not met by universal services who has a SEN or disability
Both new and existing cases
Pathfinder 2:
20 families
0 – 5 years
Most complex needs
New cases only
Pathfinder 3:
100 families
0 – 25 years
Any child or young person who currently accesses additional services from health, education or social care
Both new and existing cases

8. Pathfinders Examples of approaches
Family support and help during the process
Dedicated support from an EP
Mentor from VCS
Key worker support from any agency, VCS or parent carer
Timescales for the assessment process
6 – 10 weeks
Less than 20 weeks
Based on the individual but no longer than 26 weeks
Other points
First families recruited
Testing has started
First plan in place by July 2012
First personal budget by Oct 2012
Using family journey maps
Building on CAF
Additional brokerage service from VCS
Parent carer led
Up to 100 families
Large scale workforce development
Wide stakeholder participation

9. Pathfinders Examples of approaches
Family support and help during the process
Key worker role via VCS organisation (small cohort)
Plan Co-ordinator – VCS, Parents and Professionals
Community Key worker
VCS Navigator
Timescales for the assessment process
Less than 19 weeks
Less than 26 weeks to be confirmed through testing
To be confirmed through testing
Other
Providing training for a group of parents and frontline staff in person-centred planning
Test key worker role with families
Exploring how cloud technologies can deliver a intuitive, simple, safe and person focused solution for the EHC plan for families and professional
System wide change
Next - integrated Children’s Services community hubs which will coordinate planning across all services.

10. Pathfinders Emerging themes
Integrated assessments and EHC plan
Who should have a plan, what should it look like
How to ensure the process is transparent with the child/young person and family at the centre
Who is accountable for the delivery of the plan in the multi agency setting
Commitment that it should be the families plan but at what point should/could it become the young persons plan
Referral routes should be open/clear. Range of approaches to referrals e.g. multi-agency panel, extension of CAF approach
It’s important that pathfinders have opportunities to support each other and share learning so we’re glad the programme of working groups and action learning networks is becoming established.

11. Pathfinders Emerging themes
Integrated assessments and EHC plan
National v localism
How to work effectively with a range of VCS organisations during the pathfinder programme
What should the role of VCS organisations be in providing greater independence to the process and to improve families confidence in the system
How to develop the capacity of the VCS now and for the future
How to use the EHC Plan to engage services and providers in more effectively planning for and supporting transition to post-16/post-18 provision
The ‘Filing cabinet’ issue: we understand most pathfinders are planning to keep education, health and care assessments separate and bring the results together in a single plan. This may well make sense, especially given that separate statutory assessments continue to be needed in many cases. We’d like to hear from you today about whether this approach can yield the benefits we are hoping to see from the pathfinders in terms of reducing bureaucracy, cost and time taken to complete assessments, particularly from the child/family and young person’s perspective.

12. Pathfinders Emerging themes
Parent carer participation
Commitment by pathfinders that this is key but what does this look like: strategic voice, co-production, engagement
Role of ‘key worker’ ‘mentor’ ‘trained facilitator’, ‘navigator’
Commitment by most that family choice is key
Role being tested by pathfinders with representation across LA, VCS, heath, social care, community representatives, parent carer representatives
Training, capacity
We talked last time about the concept of keyworking as function rather than a specific job title, and we want to explore that more – particularly in situations where a child might need multiple statutory Plans
Again, the culture change we need to effect in the workforce is a huge challenge

13. Pathfinder Emerging themes
The local offer
Involving local parents and young people in its development
Provide clear information about what support is “normally available” from education, health and social care services to support disabled children and young people and those with SEN, and their families - and how to access it
Provide information on how to seek support beyond provision that is “normally available”
How far should it be prescribed nationally
How does the local offer link with the EHC plan

14. Support team www.sendpathfinder.co.uk
New ‘Food for thought’ section
Pathfinder specific news
Event write-ups
Case studies
Emerging themes ?
Let us know your ideas

15. Keeping in touch Website www.sendpathfinder.co.uk Email
Telephone