What are the SEND Reforms?
The Children and Families Act, which came into effect from September 2014 introduced the special educational needs and disability reforms, known as SEND.  It required major changes to SEN provision, these are; 

•  Children and families are central to the way a child's needs are assessed, to the support they receive and that they are fully involved at each stage
•  It should make things simpler and more joined up

The four main areas of the reforms are;

• Education, health and care plans
• Hertfordshire Local Offer
• Personal budgets and joint commissioning
• Preparing for adulthood

Download a helpful leaflet produced by the Department of Education and MENCAP - Changes to special educational needs and disability support - Easy read guide for children and young people. 

Working Together
Agencies across Hertfordshire including education services, parents and carer groups, health services and voluntary sector groups are all working together to make these changes happen.

 

 

Care Act 2014
The Care Act is a new law about care and support for adults in England. Because there are a lot of different laws on care and support it is difficult to know what care and support you could get. The 2014 Care Act brings them together under one new law which gives the clear and simple rules and guidance on the law.

An easy read leaflet on the Care Act from the Departrment of Health - The Care Act
 

An introduction to Health Services
Understanding health services can be complicated. The Kings Fund have produced a ‘whistle stop tour’ of the NHS which you may find useful. 

In Hertfordshire there are two clinical commissioning groups (CCG); Herts Valleys CCG whcih covers west Hertfordshire and East and North Herts CCG.  The are also four NHS trusts, which run the hospitals, community and mental health services, and a number of NHS trusts in neighbouring areas (Essex, Buckinghamshire, Bedfordshire and London Boroughs). There are also voluntary groups and charities that provide health services to residents of Hertfordshire. The CCGs along with the County Council are also key partners in the delivery of the Health and Wellbeing Strategy in Hertfordshire. 

 

Education, Health and Care Plans
The Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans are an exciting new way of working that puts children, young people and families – at the very centre of the assessment and planning process, to make sure that their views are not only heard but also understood. This is called person centred planning and is all about increasing choice and control.

This focuses on what is important for children and young people, what they and you want to achieve now and in the future. 

You can apply for an EHC assessment by completing the EHC assessment request form found on the Hertfordshire Local Offer site.

 

 

What is the Hertfordshire Local Offer?
The Hertfordshire local offer is one website site that displays what help there is for children and young people with special educational needs or who have a disability in Hertfordshire.  The Local Offer has two key purposes:

• To provide clear, comprehensive and accessible information about services available and;
• To ensure that local services involve and listen to the wishes and aspirations of local children/young people with special educational needs and their parents and carers, when they develop and review the service they provide.

We hope that the information will enable young people, and  families, to make informed choices around childcare, social care, education and health.

The Local Offer has been co-produced with parents, carers and young people in Hertfordshire, but we need your help to improve it. If you have any suggestions, please email localoffer@hertfordshire.gov.uk

You can also have your say and help shape services by clicking here and joining the SEND online feedback group.

Personalisation 
This is an approach to health, social care, education and support services that sees children, young people, or adults as individuals with unique skills, talents, aspirations, preferences and support needs.  

Personalisation is about putting the individual person in the centre and everyone involved with that child working together as equal partners to support them and enable them to achieve their potential in all areas of life. As equal partners, the child or young person and their family are actively involved.

Co-production
One of the core principles of the SEND reforms is to make sure that children, young people and families are involved in the decision making processes at both an individual and strategic level.  This is soemtimes called ‘co-production’.

“A relationship where professionals and citizens share power to plan and deliver support together, recognising that both partners have vital contributions to make in order to improve quality of life for people and communities.” www.neweconomics.org. 

Personal Budgets
A personal budget is a sum of money made available for children and young people who require additional support over and above what is available to most children through local services. It is not the overall total of all the money that is available to support a child.  Information on the Health Personal Budgets can be found here.

 

Joint Commissioning
Hertfordshire County Council, East and North Herts CCG, Herts Valleys CCG, and NHS England are working together to establish the total resources available for families in order to improve outcomes in the most efficient effective, equitable and sustainable way.
 

Common Assessment Framework (CAF)
The Common Assessment Framework (CAF) is an assessment of your child’s needs. This is often completed by a professional known to the family from early years, health or education.  The CAF helps to record the child and family’s needs and identify what additional support is required. Support could include assistance with benefits, housing, adaptations and equipment, short breaks or child care.

For further information on CAF please speak to someone working with the child/young person within school or health or alternatively contact caf@hertfordshire.gov.uk or Tel: 01438 737575.

Hertfordshire Parent Carer Involvement (HPCI)
HPCI (the parent carer forum for Hertfordshire) works to improve services for all children and young people with SEND in Herts. A key part of this is finding out what parents and carers think of services that their families use.  HPCI is run and led by Hertfordshire parents. It is free to join, further information can be found at www.hertsparentcarers.org.uk

Compliments, Complaints, Concerns
We want to hear what you think of the services that are provided in this area. Your concerns, compliments and complaints provide us with valuable information that helps us to improve our service. We monitor and regularly review all feedback so that we can target our improvement work.

If you want to talk to us about services in hospitals, community services etc, then contact our quality team on;

Telephone: 01707 369697
Address: Patient Safety and Experience Co-ordinator, East and North Herts CCG, Charter House, Parkway, Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire. AL8 6JL
Email: enhccg.quality@nhs.net