Welcome to the first update of the new school year. I hope that you had a good summer. September always feels like a fresh beginning, and I hope this year has started well for your family, whatever stage of education your child is in (or not).
There’s lots going on in the SEND world; we know that the news stories can be confusing or worrying. So far nothing has been announced, but as soon as there is concrete information about the government’s plans for SEND, we will share it. For HPCI, our focus remains on being Hertfordshire’s voice for SEND families and doing what we can to bring about positive change.
Monday 15th September is a big day for SEND, locally and nationally. Hertfordshire County Council is hosting a SEND summit, which HPCI will be attending, along with colleagues from charity and campaign groups. There is more information below.
Monday is also when MPs will debate SEND legal rights in Parliament, following this petition. There will be a rally in Parliament Square and an MP drop-in session before the debate, organised by the Disabled Children’s Partnership.
There’s a lot going on! Here are the topics we’ve included this week:
Hertfordshire’s SEND Summit – Monday 15th September
Families have been asking us “What is the SEND Summit?” Here’s our quick answer:
HPCI will be at the SEND Summit, to share the voice of Herts SEND families. One of our team will be on the Q&A panel, alongside officers, headteachers and a young person. If you have experiences you want to tell us about in advance of the summit, please complete our feedback form before 5pm on Sunday 14th September. Good experiences are especially welcome, as the summit will be focused on how to improve things in the next 5 years.
The live stream (with a BSL interpreter) will run from 10am – 12.15pm. For more information and to access, click this link to watch it live. You can also submit a question for the Q&A panel here.
Listening events with MPs
A number of local MPs held SEND listening events over the summer. Welwyn Hatfield MP Andrew Lewin is hosting an event on 26 September to hear from SEND families. You can find out more about this event by clicking this link. All MPs hold surgeries for the people that they represent where you can raise issues – to find out who your MP is and how to contact them, click here.
Measuring SEND improvements in Hertfordshire
A “stocktake letter” that sets out what the Department for Education and NHS England think about progress on SEND improvements in Hertfordshire has been published recently. HCC also recently held a meeting looking at how they have responded to the issues raised in a 2022 scrutiny report by councillors about SEND.
Both assessments reflect on the changes that have been made over the last few months and years, and the work that has been put in, while noting the HPCI feedback about the need to ensure that system improvements are more consistently experienced by families.
If you have any feedback about these reports and how they reflect your experiences, please do let us know by replying to this email.
Changes to how the councils in Hertfordshire are organised
In Hertfordshire, there are currently two types of council:
Under a plan announced by the government last year, these councils will be replaced by new unitary councils that will deliver all services currently provided by the two separate types of council. Hertfordshire might be divided into 2, 3 or 4 new unitary councils.
Details on the possible options and how you can share your views (before 30th September) can be found here. From October, councils will review all the feedback before submitting the final proposal to Government at the end of November.
There is still much work to do to understand what this might mean for SEND and children’s services. HPCI has already shared our concerns that access to support and provision must be carefully considered, as well as making sure that a focus is kept on SEND improvement while changes are taking place.
Child benefit changes for 16-19s
From 1st September there are updated rules for eligibility to child benefit for families with a young person age 16-19. There is now greater flexibility around the types of education provision and the number of hours of attendance that is accepted, for a claim for Child Benefit to continue beyond the age of 16. You can find out more here on the Contact website.
As always, thanks for reading. Don’t forget, if you want to share your experience of SEND services in Hertfordshire, you can always use our feedback form.
