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In light of the government’s recent Comprehensive Spending Review SENAD and other members of the Children’s Services Development Group have worked with the Local Government Association, think tanks and government officials from the Department of Education and HM Treasury, to review the future of children’s services. The report has also been supplemented by the work of social policy expert Donald Hirsch.
‘In it Together’ II: Redefining Value in Children’s Services takes a new look at the needs of some of the UK’s most vulnerable children. It explores how the independent sector can work innovatively and in partnership with local authorities - from commissioning to transitions - to ensure that young people get the appropriate support, at the right time.
Investing wisely in services for vulnerable children can never be a false economy. This is because such an approach pays two dividends: firstly, through diversion from negative situations such as welfare dependency, substance abuse, homelessness and criminality and secondly, through positive engagement with society, for example through increased employment and therefore tax revenues. CDSG believe that if we get the system right, we can really do ‘more for less’-critical when ever more children are entering the social care system.
‘In it Together’ II aims to extend the partnership theme to examine how we define value in children’s services, what can be considered ‘good value’ in achieving outcomes for children with complex needs and how service cost and quality are related.
The report focuses on four elements which combine to make an approach to children’s services that will help generate both long and short term financial savings whilst ultimately helping young people to achieve.
These themes are:
- Early intervention
- Appropriate provision
- Avoiding placement breakdown
- Transition from care to adult services
These themes are supported by a number of case studies (please see SENAD’s below)
How SENAD measures outcomes to demonstrate value.
If we are to get the best out of public services it is critical that we are able to demonstrate their value through effective, clear and simple measurement of the outcomes delivered.
In children’s services this is difficult because national indicators such as GCSE results are often poor reflections of the progress made by young people with complex needs.
A child with severe SEN may be unable to sit exams, or a young person may have missed several years of education upon entering the care system. In this context, significant progress may include engaging with other pupils in the class room or simply attending school consistently.
Measuring progress is critical in demonstrating the value of a care or special educational placement, as evidenced by the following case study: (names have been changed to protect identity)
Harry came to one of SENAD’s schools at the age of 10 years as his parents were unable to cope with his complex needs and severe autism. Previously he had been educated in a day placement at a local authority special school, with limited respite for his parents.
The full funding of the fee was agreed at tribunal as the local authority were reluctant to pay for independent specialist provision.
At SENAD Harry was able to develop well and, over time, showed progress in both verbal and non-verbal skill areas, for example: learning to open and maintain conversations as well as making steps towards managing his own personal care.
Three years into the placement Harry’s parents moved home taking them into another local authority area. This led to confusion over which council should fund Harry’s placement, during this time Harrys fees were not being paid.
Eventually it was decided that the parent’s new local authority would be responsible for funding the placement and they contacted the school to arrange to conduct a new SEN assessment. The authority expressed a wish to place Harry in its own provision, rather than maintaining his placement within SENAD, despite his success within this placement. However the dedication to excellent care and education provision, plus the careful recording of his progress enabled SENAD to successfully demonstrate the good value of the placement, in both financial and social terms, showing that Harry was settled well and learning to control his behaviour.
The local authority was able to see the value of the existing placement and also the disproportionate cost that might arise from the disruption of Harry’s placement. As a result Harry remained in SENAD provision.
How was SENAD able to demonstrate the ‘value’ in the placement?
Through the use of a variety of statistical based outcome measuring tools and other monitoring procedures SENAD were able give a clear picture of the young person’s progress and the ‘value’ of the placement.
The SENAD Group are one of the first independent providers to introduce CASPA, a computerised system which assist with the analysis and evaluation of attainment and progress of pupils with Special Educational Needs.
CASPA covers assessment outcomes at both P Scales and National Curriculum levels up to level 8 and includes all Core and Foundation subjects as well as Personal and Social Development aspects.
CASPA provides comparative data for individual young people across a wide range of local authorities, cohorts within the school and the whole school to allow the bench-marking of attainment and progress, taking into account the young person’s age, level of prior attainment and their actual special educational needs.
It provides tools to ensure the consistency of assessments and information to support the judgements made about young people It provides assessments for both current and historic years, which enabled the school to predict targets for one year ahead plus end of key stage targets for two years ahead.
Through the use of this system SENAD were able to show that the progress Harry had made was significantly higher than the ‘expected’ level. Over 2- 3 years he had been successful in crossing the centiles, creating an upward ski slope’ effect on charts created from the system.
You would expect the first 1-3 years to show a ‘good’ success rate.
This level of achievement is the result of the authority’s investment in the individualised multi disciplinary approach that SENAD offers. It is this approach that enables Teachers to set individualised targets and then deliver individualised education to help the young people to achieve these targets, something that would be less likely to occur in a LA run special needs school .
The continuing rate of progress by Harry and other young people will have a long term effect on the level of support that they will need in the future. Although they will always require high level support they are more likely to be able to live and work within a small group environment rather than being supported on a 1:1 basis. This obviously has significant implications on the cost of future care but more importantly it will make a significant difference in the quality of their lives and the lives of their family.
It is important to note that a young person’s progress can also be shown more subjectively by other monitoring processes used by the SENAD:
- Individual Education Plan - six month education based targets.
- Personal Communication Plan - speech and language therapy assessment showing progressive development.
- Every Child Matters Progress Report: the cumulative recording of achievement over a developing period across care and education. This report shows development across a spread of achievements, and variety of activities based on the key areas of every child matters. It shows how learning is used by the young person and how it impacts on the young person’s daily lives.
Harry continues to make good progress. Ultimately this approach shows that local authority can save money through consistent and expertly meeting needs in a long term, stable placement that demonstrably produces good outcomes.
As Harry’s case study shows, the consistent measuring of progress throughout a placement allows all parties to plan and adapt care or education to meet the needs of the young person, keeping their best interests at the centre of all decisions. Good monitoring of achievements and setbacks enable care and education to be appropriately tailored. In relation to the financial benefits for local authorities, in many cases this model of education and care gives young people with severe learning difficulties and challenging behaviour the skills to live and work in a group environment in adulthood, rather than having to be supported by 1:1 care.
Download the full report here.
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