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Who is this Service for?

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Who is this Service for?

Who is this service for?

 

At Waltham Forest Information Advice Support Service (IASS) we offer honest, fair and clear information to:

 

  • Parents/carers of children with special educational needs or a disability, with or without a diagnosis, with or without an Education, Health and Care plan
  • Children under 15 and young people aged 16-25 with special educational needs or a disability, with or without a diagnosis, with or without an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan
  • Pupils with SEN(Special Educational Needs)
  • Anyone who needs help or advice regarding SEN support or the EHC Needs Assessment.

We provide impartial and confidential information and advice about the local authority’s policies and procedures and about the policy and practice in local schools and other settings.

Under the 2015 SEND Code of Practice, children and young people have a right to confidential and impartial information, advice and support, regardless of their age or mental capacity.

Whilst the Code suggests that many children and young people will access services via their parents or carers; services must make it possible for them to access services separately if they wish.

 

What does 'impartial', mean:

 

At Waltham Forest SENDIASS we follow a national set of Quality Standards for services providing impartial information, advice and support developed by the Department for Education, Parents, Carers and the Network of Information, Advice and Support Services.

This helps us to monitor the effectiveness of our service we provide and ensure that it is ‘at arm’s length’ from the local authority.

By this we mean that we act, and are seen to act, separately and impartially, with no undue influence or control from either the local authority or the Clinical Commissioning Group in our area.

 

What does 'confidential', mean:

 

Confidential means that you do not tell other people. Everything that we talk about in our meetings will be kept private and confidential. This means we will not share your information with other people outside the IASS service, including parents, teachers or social workers. We might tell our managers so they can check our work, and we might make notes on our computers so we can remember our discussions. We will keep all of this information safe.
The only time we will break confidentiality and tell someone is if;

  • you give us permission by saying it is ok,
  • or, we think that someone might be in danger of being hurt. In that case, we would need to tell someone to make sure that everyone is safe. We would talk to you about this before we do anything.

 

Information and advice

 

You may find the answer to some of your questions by looking through this website where you will find helpful guidance on: