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What is our service remit?

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What is our service remit?

What is our service offer?

We're here with practical guidance and support whenever you need it. See below for more information about what we can and cannot do. Please read through these before getting in contact with us.

 

 

What we do:

 

  • Advise on getting extra support from your nursery, school or college for your child or young person
  • Provide information and advice about requesting an Education, Health and Care (EHC) Needs Assessment and Plan
  • Provide a straightforward explanation of educational procedures
  • Support on exclusions
  • Provide information about SEND transport and assistance
  • Offer impartial and confidential information, advice and support (IAS) to enable our service users to make their OWN decisions and choices.
  • Give IAS about general support for pupils with SEND (diagnosed or undiagnosed) expected to be available in educational settings.
  • Offer IAS about factual information that may impact on CYP with SEND for example, local policy and practice, the Local Offer, personalisation, Personal Budgets, the law on SEN and disability, health and social care.
  • Help CYP, families and partners we work with understand statutory SEND processes, for example, EHC assessment and planning, timescales, how to check draft plans, understanding what to do when unhappy with a draft EHCP, how naming a school works and parental preference.
  • Work individually with service users in preparing for and attending meetings. For example, helping them prepare for a meeting and consider ways of expressing their views in a meeting.
  • Work in groups with service users to inform and equip them in a practical way about SEND topics. For example, delivering a workshop on a topic like SEND in School or working through a practical exercise like explaining my young person’s SEND.
  • Support service users to understand and navigate through specific topics like exclusions or disagreement resolution such as mediation and tribunals.
  • Offer training sessions on the law relating to SEN and disability as it applies to education, health and social care.

We will not:

 

  • Contact other people on your behalf without your prior consent
  • Pass your information on to other organisations without your agreement
  • Make decisions on your behalf
  • Provide reports regarding your child
  • Offer information, advice or support on issues that are not linked to SEND, for example, financial matters like benefits, Disability Living Allowance, carers’ allowance.
  • Offer a counselling service – enquiries must be based around a question related to SEND, with a clear starting point.
  • Deliver emergency support or interventions for service users – this is for the three local authorities to have in place.
  • Offer to automatically complete paperwork on behalf of service users - we use our discretion based on the individual needs of the service user on a case-by-case basis. Complete forms or support service users to complete forms that address issues not related to SEND.
  • Allocate a named ‘support worker’ within the IAS Team.
  • Automatically check EHCPs for service users unless there is an access need on the part of the service user or it is necessary as part of a process that we are supporting with.
  • Spend a disproportionate amount of time re-addressing an enquiry that has already been addressed by another member of the IAS team.
  • Act as an intermediary between the service user and other professionals unless we are supporting a service user with their own access arrangements (disabilities, learning difficulties, health needs).

Protocol when service users are in crisis

 

The SENDIASS is not an emergency service. If a service user has an emergency, we use our protocols for addressing this during our standard office hours. This could be:

  • Calling the police for any criminal behaviour;
  • Raising a child protection or safeguarding concern by informing the Children and/or Adult Services of the relevant local authority as per our Safeguarding procedures;
  • Offering signposting information e.g. emergency housing

The above fall out of the SENDIASS offer and the Information Advice and Support Team are not required to fulfil any function that would overstep the remit of the service.

How we will do it:

 

  • We will ensure you have someone impartial to talk to in confidenceWe aim to respond to your enquiry within 7 working days
  • Help you to express your views and resolve issues
  • We will maintain information provided on a secure and confidential database
  • Provide advice and information via telephone and email
  • Provide up to date website information on matters relating to Special Educational Needs and / or Disabilities (SEND)
  • Maintain confidentiality, in accordance with local safeguarding procedure
  • Offer impartial and confidential information, advice and support (IAS) to enable our service users to make their OWN decisions and choices.
  • Enable our service users to be more confident and clearer when communicating with professionals (across education, health and social care).
 

Attending Meetings

 

Our aim is to enable our service users to participate independently in meetings following our input. However, attending meetings is part of the service that we offer when it is necessary. SENDIASS may agree to attend with a service user where the following has been established first:

  • There is no other friend or family member who can attend with the service user
  • The service user has disclosed a learning difficulty (or mental health difficulty) or disability which prevents them from being able to put across their views independently
  • The service user is a CYP and has requested independent support
  • There are other access requirements that need to be addressed, for example, English is an additional language for the service user
  • The meeting is a mediation or tribunal hearing and one of the above also apply

Signposting to:

 

  • local sources of information, advice and support including the SEND Local Offer
  • National sources of information, advice and support including CONTACT and IPSEA
  • Supportive Parents resources like toolkits, guides, recordings, support groups and events.
  • Provide information about local links for parent carer forums and voluntary groups.

New! Downloadable resources: