1. 7 November 2011 SEN and Disability Marketplace Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre Theme 4 Workshop 1 Learning from Early Support Elizabeth Andrews Associate Consultant Council for Disabled Children

2. Overview What the Green Paper says and promises Early Support and key working at the heart of current development What Early Support provides now and planned development in 2011-2013 Resources to help and who to contact Questions and issues

3. What the Green Paper says and promises

4. What the Green Paper says: Early Support ‘Early Support is highly regarded by parents and professionals alike and has been proven to make a significant difference to families… Early Support has been used by many local authorities for families with disabled babies or children under 5, but the approach of clear information and resources with parents holding the plan for their child’s support is relevant to older children too.’ Support and aspiration: a new approach to special educational needs and disability

5. What the Green Paper promises: Early Support ‘ The Department for Education will fund voluntary and community sector organisations to maintain the existing Early Support resources, including the training materials, and amend them in partnership with parents to extend their use to families with school-aged children. ’ Support and aspiration: a new approach to special educational needs and disability

6. What the Green Paper says: Key workers ‘ Parents with disabled children are likely to face higher levels of stress and they value the practical and emotional support of a key worker. Key workers can help to reduce this stress, help parents to navigate the system and help them agree the right support for their child. Most local authorities are already using key working to some extent. Although some local authorities use dedicated key workers, most train professionals who are already in contact with the family, such as a health visitor or social worker, to act as a key worker. ’ Support and aspiration: a new approach to special educational needs and disability

7. What the green paper promises: Key workers ‘ The Department for Education will fund the voluntary and community sector to provide free training on key working for a range of professionals … and will test the role of key workers in the single assessment process and ‘ Education, Health and Care Plan ’ in the pathfinder areas as well as their role in supporting parents with increased control over funding for their child ’ s support. ’ Support and aspiration: a new approach to special educational needs and disability

8. How this fits into broader Green Paper principles and working ‘Working together with parents right from the start to support the child’s learning and development and can have huge benefits for the child’s achievement and wellbeing. Learning from parents and sharing information with them can give professionals a much better understanding of how best to support a child.’ ‘ Services will work together with the family to agree a straightforward, single plan that reflects the family ’ s ambitions for their child from early years to adulthood, which is reviewed regularly to reflect their changing needs, and is clear about who is responsible for provision. ’ Support and aspiration: a new approach to special educational needs and disability

9. The positive impact of Early Support

10. What do we know about the positive impact of Early Support? The evaluation of Early Support commissioned by Government concluded that, ’ from the perspective of both parents and professionals, Early Support is a successful programme that has had demonstrable positive effects on the quality of service provision, the wellbeing of families and the appropriate support and development of disable children. ’ It was described as ‘ one of the government ’ s great success stories in relation to disabled children ’ by the Parliamentary Hearings on Services for Disabled Children in 2006

11. People who use it say … ‘ Family Service Plans mean that parents go away with a piece of paper that says, “ We will do this, this and this ” with dates for delivery. That ’ s been really powerful from the perspective of parents and it ’ s really helped professionals to come together and work more collaboratively. ’ Senior Commissioning Manager for Disabled Children and Children with Long Term Conditions ‘ Care co-ordination for me is about having the Care Plan...You ’ ve got it and you ’ ve got timescales. You know who ’ s doing what and when they ’ re doing it by. ’ Parent and Chair, Parent Forums

12. People who use it say … ‘ A key thing about Early Support has been the strength of engagement with parents. It led directly to the formation of our Parent Forum, which gives families a collective opportunity to influence and be involved in the development of the services that they require. ’ Service Manager - Special & Additional Needs ‘Early Support is not a programme. It’s part and parcel of the way services should work with children and young people with SEND. It’s not additional. It’s the way services should be delivered and it should just be a part of what we do.’ Service Manager - Special & Additional Needs

13. Relevance for older children and young people? ‘ We all recognise the need for a single plan for transition, but we can ’ t agree yet on how far other processes can be compromised to achieve a single plan. Sometimes there are very entrenched attitudes to be un-picked. We ’ re trying to use learning from ES Family Service Plans to say, “ This is how you achieve it. ” The way we deliver Team Around the Child support and Family Service Plans for younger children is ‘ multiple assessments, but one plan ’ and it works... the focus is on planning with and for the whole family. At transition, young people will have a more independent voice supported by their family but a single plan at transition should look similar. ’ Manager of an Integrated Service for Disabled Children

14. Relevance for older children and young people? ‘ What we ’ ve learnt is that the coordinating role and oversight of multi-agency services is important and highly valued by families. Our Key Workers and Key Worker Coordinators have a newly developed ability to look holistically and more widely at a family ’ s situation and to maintain oversight of what ’ s happening with all the different agencies involved. That ability has grown directly from the practice of Early Support with younger children. ’ Key Worker Coordinator

15. Early Support and Key Working at the heart of current development

16. Experience developing holistic support and partnership with families Single gateway into the system and multi agency referral panels Experience using Family Service Plans Experience using Team Around the Child approaches and meetings Early Support and key working at the heart of developing EHC plans Early Support principles and experience Achievement for All Transition Support Programme Existing arrangements for statutory assessment and review Individual budgets Single assessment and planning process 0-25

17. Early Support and key working at the heart of current development Core element of reform: A single education health and care plan from birth to 25 years old, focusing on whether outcomes for disabled children and their parents have been improved Core element of reform: Strong partnership between all local services and agencies working together to help disabled children and those with SEN Core element of reform: Developing the role of parents and voluntary and community sector organisations in a new system Core element of reform: Personal budgets for parents of disabled children and those with SEN so they can choose which services best suit the needs of their children The experience, principles and practice of Early Support help with all of this

18. Common principles Early SupportGreen PaperNSF and AHDC Working in partnership with families at every level Giving families controlFamilies routinely involved in making informed decisions about their child’s treatment, care and support and in shaping services Information for familiesGiving families control: clear information Information and transparency Integrated, multi-agency service delivery Services working together for families Holistic, multi-agency and coordinated assessment and services Help with coordination and negotiating the system, including key working, where appropriate Supporting families through the system Assessments should include consideration of the need for a key worker or lead professional TrainingEmpowering local professionals to develop collaborative, innovative and high quality services Assessment, referral, treatment and on-going care delivered by staff with the right skills

19. What Early Support offers now and planned development in 2011-2013

20. What Early Support provides now Multi-agency joint planning and decision making with families Information for families and two- way exchange of information with families Help for families with co-ordination, supported by key working where appropriate Training for professionals working for Education, health and Social Care services and for families All developed in partnership with families and local services and piloted and refined in 45 x Early Support Pathfinder areas in 2005 and 2006 then through a national programme Background Information Booklets Information for Parents Booklets Developmental journals Working in Partnership Training for use of materials like the Service Audit Tool and developmental Journals Parent Workshops Family ServicePlans Family File

21. Projected development 2011-2013 Up-dating of all current programme materials for the under 5s Development of current programme materials for use with children and young people Up-dating of Early Support training and extension for use with families with older children and young people Development and delivery of new national training in key working All developed in partnership with families, young people and local services and ‘piloted’ in pathfinder areas as part of broader SEN Green Paper testing of the role of key workers in the single assessment process and ‘Education, Health and Care Plan’.

22. Resources to help

23. Resources to help: CDC reflective material

24. Resources: The Early Support and Key Working Consortium The appointment of the Early Support and Key Working Consortium to lead these developments has recently been announced The Consortium wishes to establish early contact with all Green Paper pathfinder areas and also warmly invites all local areas and trainers with experience of using and extending Early Support up the age range to make contact with them The Director of the Early Support and Key Working Consortium is Kim Bevan Contact: kim@estrust.org.uk The Consortium is also represented in the Marketplace today. Please speak with Gill Haynes or Kim to find out more.

25. Questions and issues

26. Who needs what and when?

27. What will the scope of Education, Health and Care Plans be? Support for learningMedical/health careEquipmentShort breaksWork experienceAssessments/referralsSupport for the family … and who will be responsible for convening joint planning meetings with young people and families?

28. How will support for local areas be coordinated? Early Support principles and experience Achievement for All Transition Support Programme Existing arrangements for statutory assessment and review Individual budgets Single assessment and planning process 0-25

29. Over to you…