Anyone heard of changes April 2007

[julieann]

Hi all,

I have recently read that from April 2007 any child statemented for less than 15 hours weekly will no longer be statemented and it will be up to the childs school to decide how many hours help each child needs.

As I am SEN TA to two year 8 girls one for 7 1/2 hours and the other for 10 hours weekly if this is true it will affect my employment. I work at a secondary school and my SENCO hasn't received any paperwork about this. All she can tell me is she is very concerned about it.

Anyone out there heard or know anything?

Julieann

[pumpkinpie]

In our area this is happening. Schools are recieving more sen funding because the first 400 in every statement has been distributed equally to all schools. the idea is that school recieve more sen funding ealy on withoutt the need to statement.

In our area the school still has the funding its just been distributed at an earlier stage.

[JsMum]

I have heard similair and I have heard that SEN funding is critical, and some children will be severly effected if the LEA go with their blanket policies so parents will really need to careful and ipsea might have to be published on the front of everypaper going to help children get what they are entitled to.

 

Funding is a big word lately not just for SEN but for social, health, and education, its certainly going to be a buzz word and one word to frequent is

 

 

" oh we just havent got the funding!!!!"

 

 

JsMum

[Kazzen161]

The bit I have heard is that statements will no longer be required for most children, as schools will have the funding already in their budget (oh yeh!) to provide for their needs.

 

I can't see that they could take away a Statement if it is already in place, although Scotland replaced their record of needs with CSPs.

 

Are you presuming that if left up to the school, they would decrease the hours of support your children receive?

 

Karen

[Bagpuss]

We were told by a lady from Parent Partnership in our area that all children with a statement of 10 hours or less will have their statements withdrawn from March. She said the schools were already meeting these costs themselves. I also raised it at our youngest dd's annual review recently, and her teacher said that she had heard the same. Our dd is in an assessment class, with no hours on her statement, so we are concerned, and her teacher could not say definately what would happen.

[JsMum]

scarey, its not looking too good is it, they really cant phase statements out can they?

[julieann]

The bit I have heard is that statements will no longer be required for most children, as schools will have the funding already in their budget (oh yeh!) to provide for their needs.

 

I can't see that they could take away a Statement if it is already in place, although Scotland replaced their record of needs with CSPs.

 

Are you presuming that if left up to the school, they would decrease the hours of support your children receive?

 

Karen

 

Hi Karen,

My worry is our head doesn't aknowledge that children have learning difficulties. She puts it down to bad behaviour.Money allocated to departments gets used for other things ie: �5,000 replant rose beds!!!!!

Julieann

[julieann]

We were told by a lady from Parent Partnership in our area that all children with a statement of 10 hours or less will have their statements withdrawn from March. She said the schools were already meeting these costs themselves. I also raised it at our youngest dd's annual review recently, and her teacher said that she had heard the same. Our dd is in an assessment class, with no hours on her statement, so we are concerned, and her teacher could not say definately what would happen.

 

Hi Bagpuss,

I was told in September 2005 that our school doesn't employ LSA's as there isn't a need for them. I had to agree to a reduction in pay to support my two year 8 girls. I was told that I'm employed by the LEA and not the actual school.. My contract reads for as long as the girls are statemented. I receive separate wage amounts on one payslip!!!!

Julieann

[madme]

Has anyone read anything official about this? Its just that as far as Im aware there has been no change in the law. If a child statement is withdrawn then surely the parent can appeal to SENDIST? Just because a child receives less than 15 hours doesnt mean that the child doesnt have complex needs requiring a statement. Its about an individual child's needs and not blanket policies - has someone contacted IPSEA re their LEAs proposals?

[Kathryn]

Hi Julieann

 

I think you are in the same LEA as me - nobody seems to know what the heck is going on here and how exactly things will work in April!! I'll let you know if I hear anything.

 

Several LEA's have reorganised their funding in a similar way but there has been no change in the law. A statement is a legal document and an LEA can't just take it away. Parents have always had the right of appeal if an LEA intends to cease to maintain the statement for any reason, and the position is still the same.

 

Julieann, I hope the parents of your two girls are getting good advice about their rights and that they will fight to keep the support in place. This situation illustrates what happens when the legal protection of a statement is not there. SEN support is then subject to the whims of an individual school and its head.

 

K x

[JsMum]

So lets just say that my senco suggests to me that J doesnt need his statement anymore because the school can fund the support he recieves can I appeal, if I can, where does the forms come from, sandist themselves or the LEA?

 

Js statement isnt under threat here, but just propose it where.

 

JsMum

[Kathryn]

Hi J's mum,

 

If the LEA proposed to cease the statement, they would have to give you notice in writing and inform you of your right of appeal, according to schedule 27 paragraph 11 of the Education Act.

 

To do anything else would be illegal.

 

K x

[Kathryn]

Sorry for double post, but I think this section from the SENT AHEAD tribunal guide for parents published by IPSEA is helpful in clarifying things:

 

 

CHANGES IN LEA POLICY

 

Sometimes an LEA changes its special educational needs policy and tells parents that their child will no longer need a statement or no longer "qualifies" for one.

 

It is open to LEA's to have a policy that indicates which children are generally considered to require a statement. In operating such a policy, an LEA is not exempt from the law and if it is still necessary for your child to have a statement, even if he or she does not fall with in new LEA guidelines, the LEA must still maintain it.

 

Similarly, it is open to LEAs to have a funding policy and to make changes to it so that fewer statements are required and more children's needs are met by their school. But such a policy cannot exempt the LEA from the law and if the school is insufficiently funded to meet a child's needs, it will still be necessary for the LEA to maintain a statement, even if that is out of line with the LEA policy.

 

Cases where the LEA are relying on their policy will turn very much on the strength of your evidence on what your child needs by way of special educational provision, and whether the school is in a position to provide this.

[BusyLizzie100]

Has anyone read anything official about this? Its just that as far as Im aware there has been no change in the law. If a child statement is withdrawn then surely the parent can appeal to SENDIST? Just because a child receives less than 15 hours doesnt mean that the child doesnt have complex needs requiring a statement. Its about an individual child's needs and not blanket policies - has someone contacted IPSEA re their LEAs proposals?

 

This is happening in my LEA. Currently DS2 has 12 hours on his Statement, the changes are due to come in in April and no one seems to know how it is going to work. Even the head teacher is unsure. Apparently the Statement remains a legal document but the funding comes through the school SEN budget rather than direct from the LEA. DS1 was awarded Earmarked Pupil Funding to start from Jan 2007, it should last for two years but because of the changes in April his funding finishes at the end of March, then the funding allegedly goes into the school SEN budget.

 

The criteria for assessing the amount of SEN funding a school should receive is based on elements such as the percentage of children receiving free school meals and the school's results at Keystage 1. Not ideal. Problems will also arise when schools do not recognise a child's special needs, that is, the safety net of the statutory assessment and Statementing system will no longer be there. Also, a child's special needs may not be thoroughly investigated, as they should be through the statutory assessment system. For instance, a school not experienced in ASDs may not appreciate a child's difficulties.

 

LEAs argue that they are not taking Statements away, but that they are reducing the amount spent on admin and assessment stuff so that the money can actually go straight to where it is needed, that is, the schools and the children. Statements will be made for children with 'exceptional needs', that is, those who need more than 15 hours of support a week. (Thank you, my children are exceptional enough already!) I'm unclear about the next bit, but I understand SENCOs will meet in a cluster of local schools to discuss which children are 'exceptional' and so need a Statement. Again, a bit of a nightmare for those schools not experienced with SEN or ASDs etc... again, the safety net system has gone.

 

I contacted IPSEA who approached my LEA. IPSEA said that in theory the system is legal and seems as if it shoul work, but it is the practice that will really count. They want to hear if DS2 is no longer getting the support indicated in his Statement. As for DS1, we fought hard to get the EPF in place only to hear that his funding could be seriously undermined.

 

Parent Partnership is holding SEN Workshops to explain the changes in funding - although when I last spoke to them they seemed no clearer as to how it is going to work in practice. The head teacher of my sons' school will be notified of her new SEN budget in March, which doesn't leave her much time to plan or prepare.

 

I am absolutely furious about all of this, not least at the way in which it is being carried out and those concerned are being informed. It is shoddy and incompetent in the extreme and it is the children who will eventually lose out.

 

Lizzie

[phoebe]

So, here I was on a high because we received in the proposed statement that DS would get 10 hours per week support "to be jointly funded by the school and the LEA" and in truth, they may well withdraw the funding in April??????????????????

 

15 days to reply with our views - what can I do now?

 

Meeting in school planned for this afternoon too - HELP ANYONE????

 

Phoebe

[Kathryn]

Hi Phoebe,

 

Don't panic about the April thing - some of us are talking about one particular LEA here (not yours) and what's happening here may not be happening in your area.

 

Just my opinion, but it looks as though your 10 hours will be secure, once the statement is finalised. It doesn't matter how they choose to share out the funding, the LEA still have to make sure it's provided. And you can appeal against the final statement. I think if they were going to make radical changes in April they wouldn't have issued a proposed statement in the first place. Once they give it to you, they can't take it away that easily!

 

Good luck with the meeting

 

K x

[summertime]

this happened in my LEA already and the big problem is that it takes the responsibility away from the LEA and puts it firmly on the school to provide the support, funding comes through as an annual amount to cover all the children in school identified by number of free school meals and things like PANDA and the school can also apply for more funding for children who have higher cost needs so usually applies to children whos statements require 15 hours or more

 

statements are still available but the criteria is much stricter making it much harder to get one

 

one of the ig problms here is the transference (or lack of) funding if a child moves school. we recently had a family of 5 children all with special needs move to our school just after plasc (school census to determin funding) and also after the audit for additional needs funding. all there funding will remain with their previous school leaving us with 5 very needy children and an already over stretched budget but we still somehow have to provide for these children

[UltraMum]

This article at IPSEA may be of interest ...

http://www.ipsea.org.uk/lewishamcomplaint.htm

[pim]

HI Kathryn,

 

As we are in the same county. All I can say it's really bad what is happening.

After a not so nice meeting with school at ds statement review. The school have definiately changed their stance on having DS there. Whether this is for funding reasons (as I'm sure they don't want to fund his 15 hours support out of their own budget), or because DS behaviour is deteriorating or a combination of both. I was also told that only statements with 16 hours or above will be protected. So Ds statement will be OK for a year and after that who knows. It is very difficult for a school to make a case for exceptional needs.

 

I keep arguing that DS needs more support but school say too much support for one child is not good. So looks like nothing has changed and until Ds is really bad then school will say he needs a special school.

 

pim

[Kathryn]

Hi pim,

 

I thought of you today and kept fingers crossed. Sorry it didn't go so well - I know you didn't have high hopes anyway.

 

This new "system" is seriously going to affect the relationship between schools and parents - and maybe set parents against each other in the battle for extra support.

 

This county does my head in - I'm waiting till they actually put something illegal in writing.

 

K x