Broken SEND #3

Creating a blog always includes a personal element to the story.  In my case this relates to a heart attack that I suffered last week.

I woke up as usual, and used various stresses to get me started.  One of which, of course, was thinking about the next steps in my progressing the EHCP appeals and complaints.

5 minutes later I was having chest pains, which developed into tingling and numbness in my arms.  I called for an ambulance and they recommended I go into Emergency Department for some blood tests. 4 days later, and having been punctured at least 25 times, they detemined that I had, what I call, a minor heart attack and that my heart wasn't damaged and my arteries were good.  So, a warning.  Eat better, exercise more, take the medications that I have now been prescribed and all should be good.  Oh yes, and manage my stress.

Sadly, the EHCP legal process doesn't have a 'low stress' version, but I will do my best.

This post is all about explaining just how the system contributes to the really poor outcomes for children and their families, and why it is a natural consequence of the legal framework of the Children's Act (and SEND Code of Practice) coupled with rational corporate behaviour.

Following many years of dissatisfaction with the previous system where children who had additional needs were issued a 'Statement' (which lead to the term 'statemented' to describe them), the government created a legal framework to protect such children.  Parents now have a statutory right to appeal almost all decisions made by the local authority.  So this is good, right?

The Appeal process comprises firstly lodging a formal appeal in writing.  The Council then have an opportunity to change their decision if they choose to.  I cannot imagine a circumstance where this would happen.

Then the process moves to mandatory mediation.  Again this may lead to resolution.  In our case last time round it lead to the Council accepting that they needed to commission an Educational Psychologist report (that they had failed to do previously), which led to sufficient evidence that most of what we were appealing went away.

Then the process moves to Tribunal.  Our moment in court!  Where we are pitted against highly paid legal counsel from the local authority and have to absorb inches of paperwork (it is called the Bundle), and be prepared to argue our case in front of a judge and small panel of SEND experts.

As posted in my previous blog, the local authority expects to lose most of these appeals.  But, by this time (over a year usually) they have already saved money at the expense of the education of the children and young people they are supposed to be providing a service, and will save additional money through the small percentage that they win.

Parents and young people also have the right to complain to the Local Government Ombudsman if they feel that the local authority is at fault.  This again is a process that can take up to a year to complete as you have to firstly go through the local authorities internal 'complaints' process which is largely a bureacratic process, where you talk to exactly the same people who failed to provide a good service in the first place.  And, the LGO is incredibly cautious making judgements where it might cross the boundary of the Tribunals jurisdiction.  In other words, it is a big fight, and unlikely to bring joy.

Both mediation and the Tribunal are 'forward looking' processes.  I.e. they are not there to beat up the local authority, merely to find the best solution going forward.  So, the neither the LA corporately, nor the officers who led to the poor decisions, are held accountable.

This is hugely important.  It doesn't matter to them.  To the point that they can publicly comment (as shown in my previous blog) that The number of appeals is not a negative reflection on HCC decisions or processes.

So, we have no body that can hold the LA to account for these decisions.  

That doesn't mean that they will continue to make them.  

There needs to be an incentive.

The incentive comes in careers and financial rewards that the officers and Chief Officers make.

You can see the pay grades for Hampshire County Council in the picture below.  Quite eye-watering!  And remember that these are replicated around the country.  The Director of Children's Services is paid almost £180,000 plus a £30,000 pension contribution.  As the press like to say, this is more than the Prime Minister.

And, if the Head of SEND can comment as above on the quality of his team's decision making that leads to all these appeals, then this will flow down.  It encourages such decision making as people make cases to be promoted to the next pay band, or at annual reviews to take them up a step in the pay scales.

Because there is neither accountability nor scrutiny, that is all the incentive they need.  As was reported to me at the last meeting I had with the SEND officers when I asked them what their view was as human beings.  "We are just doing our job".

The solution to me is clear.  The decision making processes in the SEND team need to be made transparent and people need to be accountable for them.  

I don't think this needs a change in legislation.  What it does need:

  1. Work out the decision points.  Whether it is a formal Panel, or internal meetings with the SEN team. 
  2. Include elected members in these panels or meetings.
  3. Include parent representatives in these meetings (independent of the actual decisions, of course)
  4. Publish education outcomes for children and young people in all cases where there is disagreement between the LA view and the Parent view.
  5. Publish a full economic assessment of the SEND decision making service.
  6. And rather than promote people who make decisions that lead to poor education (and health and economic) outcomes, hold them to account.

And this is crazy because in our local government we have all the accountability systems we need to enact all of this.  They are our elected representatives.

So, when the candidates come knocking on your door in the run up to May local government elections, you know what to tell them.  You wouldn't put up with it if it were pot holes or bins not being collected.


Image description.  Two tables showing pay and remuneration for Hampshire County Council officers.  The first table shows the number of employees in different pay bands from £50,000 per year to £220,000 per year.  The second shows the different pay levels for different staff grades (from C to K) and different Steps within the grades (from 1 to 5).









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