The draft SEN Code of Practice is late in being published and there is still no date for it to appear.
Jane McConnell, Chief Executive of the SEN legal advocacy charity, IPSEA, has strong views on the Code as it stands and isn't hopeful the new version, when published, will be any more 'fit for purpose' than the current draft.
It's a complicated, multi-faceted issue and so today, we are grateful to Jane for writing for Special Needs Jungle, detailing her views and what she believes should happen next. It's a long post, but I'm pretty sure your attention will not wander before the end. Please leave your own views in the comments at the bottom.
So, we now have a Children & Families Act 2014 on the statute books waiting to be put into force. The Government continues to be adamant that this will be the on 1st September 2014.
It contains, in Part 3, the skeleton of a new legal framework to support children and young people with SEN to get the education they need. But before this can happen supporting Regulations and a Code of Practice need to go through parliamentary process and be finalised.
The Regulations will add vital details as to how the rights in the Children & Families Act 2014 will operate - provide the flesh on the skeleton. They will contain essentials such as the time limits within which an LA must comply when making decisions on SEN issues; duties on professionals to do what, where, when and how; and details how children and young people with SEN, but who will not be entitled to the new EHC plan, should be supported.
Only once these Regulations are finalised can the final part of the jigsaw, Statutory Guidance in the form of a Code of Practice, be finalised. This should provide practical and clear guidance to LAs, schools and any other parties such as health or social care as to how they should be fulfilling their legal duties towards children and young people. It will give the fine detail – the distinguishing features – of the new SEN system.
For parents and young people this is the most important document of the three formal layers of the new system as it should lay out the whole of the new process in one easy to read and understandable document.
The C & F Act requires the Secretary of State to carry out a consultation on the Code of Practice before it can start going through the parliamentary process to be finalised. It is questionable as to whether this has actually been done yet.
A public consultation on some of the draft Regulations and version of the Code of Practice was held at the end of 2013. However this was before the C & F Act 2014 was finalised and was therefore on proposed legislation which changed quite radically during the Parliamentary process. Since this consultation finished on 6th December 2013 there has not been a response from the DfE made publically as to what was fed back to them on either Regulations or the Code.
So when a revised Code is finally published what should we be looking for? IPSEA have identified a number of “red lights” which if not addressed would mean that the Code is unworkable and not fit for purpose. If any one of these red lights are triggered then the whole process should be stopped until successfully resolved.
Red light 1: Legal duties must be made clear and correctly quoted.
The draft Code contained many inconsistencies and just plain errors in its interpretation of vital sections of the law.
Examples include:
- The legal thresholds – tests - a LA needs to apply when making decisions must be correct. For example when considering whether a child or young person should have a Statutory Assessment of their needs carried out or when an LA should issue an EHC plan for a child or young person.
- The duty on a LA to provide support to families and young people in the SEN system. In the draft Code this was described inconsistently in many different sections - “advice and information” in some places then “advice, information and support” in others. Leaving questions as to whether an LA must provide support in, say, making appeals to the SEND Tribunal.
- The draft Code wrongly stated that you can make a claim of disability discrimination against an LA to the SEND Tribunal. You can’t. Such a claim has to be made to the county court. Such fundamental errors do not instil confidence that the guidance being given is correct.
What needs to happen:
A final draft Code needs careful legal checking and then full public consultation so that those who will have to abide by it can help the Government to identify areas that are still unclear or wrong. Parents and young people also need to be encouraged to give their view as to whether the new system it outlines makes sense and they are able to see how the pieces fit together to provide good, consistent support.
Red light two: Mental capacity
The Children and Families Act 2014 transfers parental rights to young people at the age of 16 years old. Parents will no longer have an automatic right to be involved in decision-making about their child or be able to challenge decisions made by an LA through the SEND tribunal. However the age up to which parents are responsible for their child remains 18 years old.
The potential for conflict created between LAs, schools/ post 16 institutions, parents and young people between the age of 16 to 18 years old is very high. The Code needs to provide clear guidance on what should happen to avoid this for children and their families during these two years. The public draft of the Code skirted over the issue and advised LAs to resolve any conflict by prioritising the views of the young people. This guidance does not address the issue of parental responsibility.
IPSEA questions whether this is actually correct as it seems to clash with the view reflected in social care legislation. The Code should also give clear guidance on the role of parents for young people over the age of 18 years old up to the age of 25 years old where they may not have mental capacity to make decisions for themselves.
Nothing was included in the public draft of the Code as to the test for establishing whether a young person has mental capacity or who should apply it and how. Guidance in the Code should make very clear that parents should automatically be presumed to be the advocate for their child if it is established that they do not have mental capacity to make decisions for themselves. In any event, it should be made clear that parents should always be central to decision-making, be kept informed by LAs and their views given due regard. Only in exceptional circumstances should they not be involved in the process and their views not take precedence over professional views.
It needs to be clear that LAs need to be transparent in such decision making and how they can be held accountable. At the time of the public consultation on the Code, not even the draft regulations on mental capacity had been issued. Any consultation responses relating to mental capacity as an issue in the Code were very limited as many parents' groups were just not aware it was a potential issue.
The upshot is that mental capacity issues have still not been adequately addressed and there has not been public consultation at all on the Mental Capacity Regulations or the new wording proposed for the Code. This is an important and complex legal area, which is therefore complex in practice. It affects our most vulnerable young people. It is therefore important that all those living, working with or advising in relation to these issues have the opportunity to contribute to these discussions and draft wording can only be considered fully when it is seen in the context of the whole draft Code.
What needs to happen:
IPSEA’s view is that getting this right in the Code can only properly be done through public consultation on a new draft of the Code as a whole. Mental Capacity is a burning issue for individual parents and should be of major concern to those groups representing the views of children and young people. This issue is so fundamental that it needs careful addressing. By leaving it “out” of any public consultations to date, many parents are worried that something more sinister is behind Government’s intentions. IPSEA is sure, based on what we know, that this is not the case. A public consultation would get the wording right and allay any fears.
Red light 3: School accountability.
The duties on schools to identify a child’s SEN and put into place support to meet those needs are still unclear. According to DfE, statistics released in October 2013 reveal 83% of all children are identified as having SEN – 1.3 million children will have their needs met only from within schools' or colleges' resources without having to have a formal Statutory Assessment of needs and an EHC plan issued for them.
The public draft of the Code laid out a single category to replace the existing two stages of school support – school action and school action plus - to be called “SEN Support”. However it was confused and inadequate on how this process should be put into practice. The Minister, Ed Timpson, has recently used the phrase “Freedom within a framework” to describe the Government’s approach to issuing Guidance to schools. However the framework is not sufficiently clear in relation to what parents can expect from class teachers, SENcos, school based provision and LA intervention.
The result is in fact “freedom to fail”. Schools and parents will need to know in simple language:
- When does differentiation of the curriculum tip into SEN provision?
- What will the new cycle of planning Assess, Plan Do, Review look like in practice for a child? Is it a formal cycle or an informal process of trial and error? How will it be documented, if at all?
- What interaction can parents expect by way of meetings, verbal or written information about the interventions that have been put in place to support their child, outcomes expected and progress being made? As drafted, this is limited to an initial “note” on a school record of a school and parent meeting to discuss a child being put on the SEN register.
- When should a school request and then a LA intervene with an EHC needs assessment? What or who triggers it on the basis of what criteria? Where will they access this information?
There needs to be a clear process put in place, based on the legislation, for everyone to understand, right from initial teacher training on identifying and supporting SEN to the duty on an LA to intervene.
What needs to happen:
The Code needs to be transparent as to the support children and young people should expect to receive if they do not have an EHC plan in place. It should also give clear guidance on how schools record an individual’s needs, the support put into place, expected outcomes and progress towards them. There needs to be structure round how they are accountable to parents and young people. Once new wording is drafted then it should be publicly consulted upon to ensure it describes a system that works for all that have to put it into action and those who should benefit from it.
Red light four: The requirement for specification.
Although the draft Code stated the legal requirement that provision written into an EHC plan is ‘normally quantified’, it does not explain the full extent of the legal requirement for LAs to specify provision in an EHC plan. This omission alone caused a breakdown in the previous Code’s progress in 2001 through Parliament.
Guidance must make clear that the duty on LAs to specify, means that provision is quantified and qualified and this should usually should be ‘in terms of hours’. It must be clear to LAs, schools, parents and young people who needs to do what, when, how often and when it should be reviewed. This is an existing requirement that parents have relied on in dealings with local authorities and at Tribunal to change vague descriptions of provision into enforceable, specified provision.
Specification is essential if schools and colleges are to be able to determine the correct level of SEN funding that they should be receiving in order to put this provision into place. The need to quantify derives from a clear line of case law and must be included. The Government accepted that the requirement on LAs to specify should remain in the C & F Act 2014 and abandoned the original wording they proposed which sought to change this requirement to one of “setting-out” provision. The Code needs to reflect this very clearly. What needs to happen: The wording of the Code needs to be made very clear. This would be easy to do and specialist groups could advise and support the government to do so.
Red light five: Right to an inclusive education in a mainstream school or college
The Code needs to contain a full description of the right of children with SEN/D to attend mainstream school. The legal test is that it is an absolute right unless that is incompatible with the wishes of their parents or the provision of efficient education for others. The latter exception can only be relied on when there are no reasonable steps which could be taken by the LA to prevent this incompatibility.
These exceptions need to be explained clearly in the Code as in the current guidance (Inclusive Schooling). Assurances that this would be done were given to Lord Low among others pressing this issue as the C & F Act progressed through Parliament. As currently drafted the Code misleads LAs, schools, parents and young people.
What needs to happen:
The wording in the Code needs to reflect the wider duty on LAs to ensure mainstream school and college places are available to children and young people when they want it except in the most extreme of exceptions. Current statutory guidance “Inclusive schooling” does this clearly and needs to be used in wording for the Code as it will be withdrawn when the new system is implemented.
Red light six - Equality:
The new Code is no longer just for children and young people with SEN but also now includes in some sections, duties towards those with a disability. The vast majority of children and young people with SEN will also fall under the separate legal definition of being disabled.
However there will always be a small group who will be identified as being disabled but with no SEN or have SEN but no disability. The interface between equality duties and SEN duties has changed within the new legal framework. Guidance is needed as to how these two parallel areas of law need to be put into practice.
A very current example would be how does the duty on schools to make reasonable adjustments for a disabled child by providing auxiliary aids and services – maybe computer equipment - work practically alongside the duty on an LA to make special educational provision for a child with SEN specified in an EHC plan – again this could include the provision of computer equipment.
The first is a duty to provide what is reasonable for that child – potentially restrained by financial considerations - whilst the second is an absolute duty to provide what is specified in the EHC plan. The Code needs to make clear the similarities and important legal differences between special educational provision and reasonable adjustments. Failing to address this cross-over of legislation or glossing over these issues will lead to confusion between LAs and schools as to who must do what, when and how. The right support for children and young people will be “lost” during the debate.
These duties towards disabled children and young people were only added to the C & F Bill after the draft Code was put out for public consultation. To date there has been no public consultation as to how they will be reflected in the Code.
What needs to happen:
The additional duties towards disabled children and young people need to drafted into the Code. They then need to be put out for public consultation so that all interested groups can consider and comment on them in the light of the whole revised system.
So where does this leave the SEN reforms?
Under the Children & Families Act 2014, the Secretary of State must issue a Code of Practice - it is the final leg of the three legged stool of the new SEN legal framework. Nothing can be implemented without it. Also under the Act he has a clear duty to consult on this Code. Once that has happened then both Houses of Parliament have to approve the Code.
If the Secretary of State has failed to consult on the Code or the consultation has been inadequate he risks being judicially challenged. If he consults and then fails to address the issues raised, he risks political challenge. Either would be a disaster for the current implementation plan of September 2014 which is already failing to give schools the one clear term promised to them to prepare for new duties. However, failing to adequately publicly consult on a Code is far more dangerous for our children and young people with SEN and disabilities.
What we are in danger of ending up with is a rushed and inadequate Code. We already know if not amended radically from the draft that it will fail them. Suggestions have been made that the “whole thing” should just be put into place and then a new consultation be held in a year's time. We would gain the evidence as to where the holes are and new case law could be developed which could then be reflected in a revised Code.
Excuse me, but is that not what the £12.4 million given to Pathfinder LAs so far was supposed to have done - gather evidence? The final report on the Pathfinder pilots is not due until September 2014 anyway. This option is just not acceptable. First, this Government cannot bind a potential new Government into such a commitment. Second, why would you even potentially let vulnerable children and young people knowingly fail for at least a year and bad practice be established in LAs, schools and other professionals.
The solution does not have to be politically painful. Delay implementation of the new SEN Framework until January 2015. Give everyone time to get the detail right and prepare. Aside from the argument that implementation is expected on 1 September 2014 and that parents will be disappointed, I am not aware of any other reason not to delay.
Parents I am sure, would much rather get this right for their children and young people. It would show a level of courage and understanding on behalf of this Government that would gain them respect and support from children, young people, parents and professionals alike. This would truly be a shining example of co-production.
Tania is an experienced broadcast and print journalist & author. She also runs a PR, web & social media consultancy, SocialOro Media.
Tania is a rare disease & chronic pain patient advocate with Ehlers Danlos syndrome.
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Thanks Jane, Ipsea and SNJ. I completely agree we need to take more time to get this right.
I am however perplexed as to why we haven’t heard anything from the charities that have welcomed the C&F Act. What do they think?
I think you will have to ask them. Here at SNJ, we have real concerns that rushing this through will be counter-productive to families, practitioners, LA’s, CCGs, Social Care and all concerned. This is the biggest change in SEN legislation for 30 years, so we need to make sure it is right.
With my local authority not abiding to time limits is the norm, even going to tribunal they leave the working document (Statement) till 5pm the night before the tribunal day, this adds to pressure in which 50% pull out of going to appeal. There should be sanctions on LA’s who do not help with the smooth running of any appeals by way of fines, with the money going to charities that help people with their appeals.
W have already started to process of assessing our son’s mental capacity in good time for us to apply for legal deputy status when he is 16.
It is fundamentally a matter of trust – and our LA has not earned it. It’s not that I don’t trust them to do the right thing, but that I know they will do what is right for themselves first.
Absolute credit to IPSEA and every one else involved in holding this government to account. What the hell do they think they are doing? How dare they play with our children’s lives!
My wife and I have so far been through two tribunals (1 x refuse to assess and 1 x parts 2, 3 & 4). Absolute nightmare! My LA dodge their responsibilities at every opportunity and whats more blatantly mislead parents and schools.
I am very concerned at this inept government intention to cause further distress to families. They should of course take time out to get it right. With they? I doubt it very much thus playing straight in the hands of LAs who are already denying assessments, issuing notes in lieu, and issuing illegal statements.
Children first? Absolutely not! Money first all the way I’m afraid!!!
All very worrying really – even if it’s predictable. Really good article. Great point about Mental Capacity at 16. Clarity and honesty, particularly in a recession governed by (excluding) Conservatives, might have restored some trust. It very much feels like change is come because a bad system needed fixing, and making it work well is at the core of the changes – but the money men have come and skewed it all away from our favour. We don’t care if there is less money – we do care about not getting the support we are promised.
A huge thank you to Jane McConnell for so clearly identifying the ‘Red Light’ areas that still need to be targeted in order to make this Draft Code of Practice a document that honours the legal and educational responsibilities we should all be striving for to protect and safeguard the well being and education of ALL our SEND children.
I wholeheartedly agree with you that ,delivered in haste and without more legal and professional consultation, the introduction of this new ‘Code of Practice’ will fail so many of our children.
Like you, I share your concerns about the removal of the 2 levels of School Action and School Action Plus which are being replaced with the global term – ‘SEN Support’. This, along with scrapping IEP Targets has stripped away the working structure that schools have to show evidence of interventions and progress for SEND children.
Fortunately, many schools I have spoken to intend to approach the transition slowly. The word is ‘if it works, don’t throw the baby out with the bath water’. Common sense and caution has to be the rule of thumb.
I hope the Government listens to you Jane and the IPSEA. To defer introducing the Code of Practice for 4 months makes sense so that the ‘red light’ issues can be addressed, consulted upon and resolved.
We need this legal document to be right for all SEND children, their parents and for all working to support them.
I hope so too.
I think the code can / should be chalｌenged also because of what you say on Ipsea’s website: ‘The only issue that IPSEA did not gain any concessions on was that of Special Academies being able to admit pupils on a permanent basis without an assessment or an EHC plan. IPSEA will work hard to ensure that parents agreeing to a place in a Special Academy are specifically informed about their right to request a statutory assessment for their child.’
This means there is is not a level playing field for a child in an academy like this and another one with a plan not in one.
I think having been through these processes to appeal, which depends on a plan / statement largely whatever else might be wrong in terms of absolute basic rights this is really serious. Also the goal seems to be to make money and apparent exam success for the academies who can transfer ‘Inefficient for others’ children easily into their special academies / places, which is why the government doesn’t like your very reasonable request.
But also it is not FAIR, even legally, as the code cannot apply equally to such a child not protected by appeal etc. as an EHC planned one has the ‘protection’ of this code, as an appeal depends on a plan / statement, supporting a child in some concrete way therefore. The code of practice is therefore not much good for such a child without a statement, given that Sen doesn’t have a basic equality in relation to the 2010 Equality Act for instance. The code / special protocol in this context is without that kind iof fairness you have asked for, in terms of basic rights.
It must have such a clause saying it definitely applies to all disabled children in and those designated Sen ones and any child faced with possible exclusion for being difficult in terms of ‘efficiency’ to be legal, I think? A new group of children is created outside this code’s ‘help’; and this means the code is partial and arbitrary in the framework of the rest of the Act that ithis special protocol is in. if you see what I mean
Please challenge it if you can as stopping it from coming in for one year is an absolute minimum needed. I think it should be all redone!
I also think anticompetitive features of the Act are illegal in competiton law probably; and the power for an LA to put an academy on the plan as a placement is absolutely wrong and potentially, in terms of payment the academy must make for what the council ‘deems’ for its Sen services, corrupt and corrupting. As Ian Dury said ‘What a waste’.
Revision to the SEN and Disability Code of Practice: 0-25 years issued Launch Date: Wednesday 16 April 2014
Closing Date: Tuesday 6 May 2014
This gives everyone 20 days to respond, including 3 bank holidays where not much will happen in addressing this, so 12 working days, including the launch date and closing date. Is this reasonable for a consultation post enactment of the Children and Families Bill? No, but what is reasonable in trying to ensure the best provision and outcome for children and young adults with a learning disability? Not much from local and central government.
I think the new code is very new, but has the same rickety foundation in the Act, so can’t work legally.
Parliament / we are encouraged to respond on technical legal bits (because the govt. got its timing of this effective trick wrong, the trick being to disguise the synergy the code and Act have). Why should we? Why should parliament accede to this demeaning instruction from the DfE?
One can’t be understood without the other, and understanding this code in relation to the Act means it can’t be legal, can’t be viable.
In this very new redrafting of the draft (80 pages longer) there is so much that is new parliament cannot honourably not debate it. It affects the future of disabled children, parents but also our whole society.
I think there is a place for everyone in society and that society works best if this is so.
You can’t be against that MPs. Forget inclusion / exclusion for a moment and look at its rigged relation to academies. that is where unity on this issue lies. Look at the relation personally to ministers. Look at the bit that gives new powers, right now just in this code, to the secretary of state to designate and regulate these special academies that will be like similar poor charter schools in America, in a legal no-man’s-land that the government envisages also for our children.
What can we do? I’m putting some posts on related articles in the Guardian’s Education pages online, and I hope somehow this message can be got through quickly that parliament must assert its authority over this botched act-plus-code.