The SEND/SBEW support model for children with additional needs in the Local Authority - Find a freedom of information request

1. Can you give us an overview of the SEND/SBEW support model for children with additional needs in your Local Authority?

2. How does your role fit into this model of service?

3. What SEND support does school funding include? Are schools allocated a set number of hours and can they request additional support if needed?

4. Does the service work directly with SEND children or does it focus on capacity building within schools?

5. Is the model used in the LA solely SBEW or do you operate a multi-disciplinary service, whereby multiple teams can work with a child at the same time depending on their needs? If so, how is this managed/triaged?

6. Are the services regionalised around council/geographical area or by the number of schools in the areas/zones?

7. Approximately how many schools would each region/service have capacity to deliver to?

8. What educational phases can avail of your support? (Preschool, primary, post primary, colleges etc.)

9. What is the referral pathway required to avail of SEND/SBEW support?

10. What is the criteria for child to be referred for support?

11. Who can make a referral?

12. Does there need to be professional approval for support to be availed of e.g. educational psychologist, occupational therapist?

13. Do schools need to evident support provided to date for the pupil, prior to being accepted for additional support?

14. What practices are involved in this support?

15. How do you determine when support can be ceased with the child/school?

16. What data management systems do you use for tracking referral/waiting times and how is this information shared?

Do you have any process maps that you could share with us to help us to visually see the overall process including multi disciplinary training?

I can confirm that the information requested is held by Lincolnshire County Council. I have detailed below the information that is being released to you.

1. Please see the Higher Needs Strategy attached.

2. Team Manager - SEND

3. Please see an explanation of SEN Support funding in the public domain at The notional SEN budget for mainstream schools: operational guidance - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

4. The SEND Service works directly with children to assess their needs, issue and review Education, Health and Care, plans. The SEND Service supports mainstream schools in relation to individual children, and supports special schools strategically.

5. The LA SEND team works to the statutory duties laid out in the Children and Family Act 2014 which does not refer to SBEW. The categories of need are Communication and Interaction, Cognition and Learning, Social, Emotional and Mental Health, and Sensory and Physical. The SEND service supports children with all needs and this is not triaged or managed according to need.

6. The SEND Team works on a locality model (Lincoln and West Lindsey, Boston and South Holland, North and South Kesteven, and East Lindsey).

7. The SEND Team works with all maintained mainstream and special schools and academies in Lincolnshire.

8. Early Years, Primary, Secondary, and Post 16.

9. An Education, Health, and Care needs assessment (EHCNA) is requested. This is in the public domain at: https://professionals.lincolnshire.gov.uk/homepage/67/ehc-hub

10. The criteria for an EHCNA is described in the Code of Practice January 2015 which is in the public domain at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/send-code-of-practice-0-to25

11. Schools, Early Years settings, Post 16 Colleges and providers, parents or carers, a young person over 16 for themselves, and any professional involved with the child.

12. Please refer to the SEND Code of Practice 2015.

13. Please refer to the SEND Code of Practice 2015

14. Please refer to the SEND Code of Practice 2015

15. For a child on the Special Educational Needs (SEN) Support register this is determined by the school. For a child with an Education, Health, and Care (EHC) plan the circumstances in which a plan can be ceased are described in the SEND Code of Practice 2015.

16. Our data management system is called Mosaic.

17. Please see attached which reflects the process which the LA must follow which is described in the SEND Code of Practice 2015