SEND News and Reforms
- Written by: Lindsey Rousseau
On 20th May DfE announced £12 million of funding to directly support schools and colleges to work with pupils with SEND, through the new Universal Services contract. A further statement was published on 6th June 2022:
'Today we are delighted to announce that the Research & Improvement for SEND Excellence partnership (RISE), led by the Council for Disabled Children and including the National Development Team for Inclusion (NDTi), the University of Warwick and Isos Partnership will deliver a three year, £4.8m contract to support SEND improvement in local areas. The contract includes two programmes of work;
The first will enable targeted performance improvement for local areas with weaknesses in their multi-agency SEND system via the provision of bespoke support. This work adds to our growing suite of regional, local and targeted support for local areas.
The second programme will design and develop a What Works in SEND programme; as a learning system, comprising research, development, and dissemination of resources and models of effective practice; and as an evidence base for exemplary practice within the sector.
Dame Christine Lenehan, the Director of the Council for Disabled Children says; “we are really pleased to be continuing our partnership with DfE and share a passion with them for achieving the best outcomes for children with SEND and their families. It is exciting to do this through a strong set of partners who want to both deliver local improvement and build the best evidence about what works in system change.”
Supporting local areas, delivery partners and providers to meet the needs of children and young people with SEND continues to be a high priority for government, with a clear line of sight to key government commitments on the levelling up agenda, economic growth and employment, and to lay the foundations for further reform post-SEND Review.'
- Written by: Lindsey Rousseau
In this newsflash, we would like to draw your attention to three items:
New Ofqual guidance on making assessments more accessible for students:
On 12 May, Ofqual published new guidance on making assessments more accessible for students following a 12-week consultation.
There was strong support from respondents, students and their representatives, including those with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
The new statutory guidance explains that, when designing and developing exams and assessments, awarding organisations should:
- use accessible and appropriate language
- use clear and consistent layout
- use source material, context, images and colour in ways that do not advantage or disadvantage students
- consider how Reasonable Adjustments could be made to the exam or assessment to make sure disabled students are not disadvantaged
The decisions following consultation and a summary of the guidance have also been published.
Further information is available in this news story.
Senior mental health lead training:
Senior mental health lead training helps develop the knowledge and skills of school or college leaders, to implement an effective approach to promoting and supporting mental health and wellbeing.
The Department for Education have extended funding for this training, offering it to thousands more schools and colleges this financial year. A senior member of school or college staff can apply for a £1,200 grant to access quality assured training.
You can now apply for a senior mental health lead grant, to commence training up to 31 March 2023.
Find out how to apply here.
Anti-bullying support:
To help schools and colleges to champion respect and tolerance, the department have confirmed further funding to five leading organisations to continue supporting schools in tackling bullying until March 2023. These organisations will continue to deliver projects and programmes that offer training and support to tackle all forms of bullying.
The five organisations are:
- National Children’s Bureau (Anti-Bullying Alliance)
- Diversity Role Models
- Equaliteach
- Anne Frank Trust
- The Diana Award
Find out more about the grants here.
SEND & Alternative Provision Directorate| Families Group| gov.uk/dfe | @education.gov.uk | fb.com/education.gov.uk
For the latest information about the SEND & AP Green Paper consultation, please click on the picture below to access the campaign page (or visit: https://sendreview.campaign.gov.uk/)
- Written by: Lindsey Rousseau
In February 2022 DfE announced that they would be continuing to deliver targeted support for families and parents of children with SEND and SEND services - including providing funding that will directly support schools and colleges to work with pupils with SEND, through the new Universal Services contract.
Today (20th May) DfE SEND division has said, 'We are now delighted to announce that the National Association for Special Educational Needs (Nasen), on behalf of the Whole School SEND consortium, and with the support of The Education and Training Foundation (ETF) and the Autism Education Trust, will deliver this contract, backed by almost £12 million for three years.
The Universal Services contract will help the school and FE workforce to support children and young people with SEND - ensuring that a broad range of needs, including autism, are identified earlier and met more effectively, and making sure that preparation for adulthood provision is delivered from the earliest stages, to support children and young people transition into adulthood and employment. This will be key to delivering the Government’s levelling up ambitions and the aims of the SEND Review.'
More information and resources for this programme will be available here.
- Written by: Lindsey Rousseau
On Tuesday 17 May, Will Quince, the Parliamentary under-Secretary of State for Children and Families, was live on Mumsnet to answer questions on the SEND and alternative provision green paper. The questions and answers are now available on the Mumsnet website, with the option to post further reflections over the next 2 weeks.
The Department for Education (DfE) is committed to providing everyone the opportunity to engage with the consultation. We have extended the consultation period by 3 weeks, to 22 July 2022. To respond directly to the consultation, please visit GOV.UK.
Working together with sector-led organisations the department is running some face-to-face and virtual workshops and events to give everyone the opportunity to hear more about the proposals and ask questions. For further information about these events visit the SEND Review website.
- Written by: Lindsey Rousseau
DfE has published new data on SEND, EHC Plans, today.
The full analysis is here;
- Written by: Lindsey Rousseau
In this newsflash, DfE would like to draw your attention to two items:
COVID-19 workforce fund claim form now open:
Eligible schools and colleges can now submit a claim for the cost of absences over a threshold experienced between Monday 22 November 2021 and Friday 8 April 2022.
You can submit a claim and find details on how to do so here. The deadline for submitting a claim is 11:59pm on Tuesday 24 May.
Further information on the COVID-19 workforce fund is available in our guidance for schools and colleges, with tailored criteria for special schools, alternative provision, and special post-16 institutions.
Liberty Protection Safeguards:
The Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) are currently consulting on proposed changes to the Mental Capacity Act Code of Practice, which includes the implementation of the Liberty Protection Safeguards (LPS) scheme. LPS will provide new arrangements to authorise arrangements for deprivations of liberty for the purpose of providing care or treatment, and will apply to 16 and 17 year olds, as well as adults. As part of their work, they will be holding a number of online events, one of which will be for those who have lived experiences of deprivation of liberty arrangements, and the Mental Capacity Act. We would kindly ask you to send this email and attachment to those who you think may be interested in this event and would like to sign up. We would really value from listening to young people as well as parents/carers who have lived experience. For more information and to sign up, please open the attachment from DHSC. Timings and dates of the event are still to be confirmed.
If you have any further questions then please don’t hesitate to contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
- Written by: Lindsey Rousseau
Today the Department for Education has published accessible versions of the green paper, including:
- a full British Sign Language version to support those who are deaf or have a hearing impairment
- an easy-read version to support those with learning disabilities
- a guide to help children and young people with SEND or those in alternative provision to understand the green paper and respond to the consultation
The department is committed to ensuring the SEND and Alternative Provision Green Paper and consultation process is fully accessible.
On the day of publication, we provided a ‘request alternative formats service’ to provide everyone the opportunity to engage with the green paper and consultation, this includes provision of Braille, audio and other language translations. We apologise that a full range of accessible resources was not available from the first day of the consultation.
We are extending the consultation period by 3 weeks, to 22 July 2022, to ensure everyone has the opportunity to take part in the consultation.
All resources are available on gov.uk: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/send-review-right-support-right-place-right-time
- Written by: Lindsey Rousseau
The Council for Disabled Children (CDC) has recently updated its guide, Disabled Children and the Equality Act 2010: What teachers need to know and what schools need to do. The updated guide has been funded by the DfE.
Schools have a range of duties under the Equality Act 2010: to staff, as employees; to parents and others, where the school is providing a service to other people using the school; and to pupils, staff and others who share other protected characteristics as well as disability.
This guide is designed to help teachers understand the legislation and how it applies to their work with disabled pupils in their school. It explains what the Equality Act requires of schools and of governors, trustees and others who are the ‘responsible body’ for the school.
The guide draws on examples of practices that may amount to discrimination or that may help schools to avoid discrimination. Many of these examples are drawn from the decisions of the Tribunal, so provide insights into the issues that schools have found difficult to handle. A series of blogs picks up some of these issues in a more reflective way.
CDC will also be publishing a companion guide for Early Years settings shortly.
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