SEND Joint Strategic Needs Assessment summary March 2024 - Print version

Introduction

This data supplement updates the data that formed part of the Joint Strategic needs assessment (JSNA) which was completed in 2020 and makes new recommendations based on the new trends seen within that data. It follows a care pathway approach. The supplement gives a snapshot of the position as of the date it was created using the latest data and intelligence available.

The methodology used national datasets and local data to draw up a position statement, then a series of focus groups were held to test out the findings. We circulated surveys to parents and school staff to get their input. We held a series of individual interviews with commissioners, Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) board members and other key stakeholders.

This document has been approved by Coventry City Council (CCC) Health and Wellbeing Board. It has also been to the Coventry SEND Board in March 2024 where it was approved.

Background

In 2020 a JSNA chapter looking at SEND was written; this was developed at the beginning of a pandemic and as such not everything that we would have wanted to include was included.  The pandemic also changed things for all, and so as the world returns to normal, we have decided to review the JSNA as it existed and provide a refresh. 

This summary brings together information from many sources to create a narrative around the special educational needs of Children and Young People (CYP) in Coventry.  It should be remembered that the JSNA takes data at a single point, it looks back at what we know about children in Coventry and makes recommendations going forward to improve the system, the system is dynamic, and change happens all the time so the recommendations must be adapted to meet the needs of a developing system.  The data in this review, doesn’t focus itself on just Special Educational Needs but takes a broader view so that we can understand the context of which our special children sit. 

Summary of the key findings

The key findings are:

• The number of children who are identified as having a Special Educational Need is rapidly increasing, it is unclear whether this is a temporary increase caused in part by the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic or whether this increase will continue at the present rate. This is in part because the City of Coventry continues to grow, even though birth rates are dropping, the number of children moving into the area is creating that demand. Coventry has a younger than average population age, and higher ethnicity than other cities like Coventry, this is in part driven by the two universities within the city and the special welcome that Coventry residents give to those fleeing conflict.
• Coventry has a higher level of deprivation and as such more children living in Poverty than other areas in the region, this mixed with fewer children being school ready, makes for a challenging school environment. There is a known link between educational attainment and deprivation. Despite this, 89% of schools in Coventry are categorised with an OFSTED ranking of good or outstanding.
• In Coventry, we would want to see better outcomes for all our Children, as good school outcomes lead to better paid jobs which leads to healthier adults, and in turn, healthier families. The lower the number of children living in Poverty the better the outcomes will be in all areas of a child’s life.
• There is a wide range of services, some universal, other specialists available to all families who have a child with additional special educational need in Coventry, however these services could work together better, thus reducing duplication, improving communication, and therefore improving the lives of local children and their wider families.
• Much work has gone on since the last inspection to improve the services we offer, but as always, more work needs to be done.
• The pandemic had a significant impact on services and assessments across a wide range of stakeholders. The impact felt by schools and the clinical services run by our local NHS trusts for children has been doubly hit because of delays in undertaking assessments and increasing numbers of referrals. Whilst a lot of work has already happened, the significant growth in demand will put pressures on the improvement we have seen. We need to consider new ways of working to ensure that improvements continue within the financial resources available.
• We should ensure that all services across the partnerships are outcome focused, led by children's need - thus developing needs-based criteria rather than led by service need. Developing a joint commissioning strategy would ensure that all services were working together to a set of common outcomes.
• We continue to do well at identifying children early with additional educational needs however, some children fall through the net, we need to tighten up to ensure that children with a need are supported as early as possible.
• It is felt that Children in Coventry have move complex needs than seen in our statistical neighbours, this level of need should be defined more accurately, so that the need can be quantified. We need to look at how we can use data to express this better.
• We do well in supporting Children at the age of 16+ with supported internships that includes career coaching. We need to ensure that there are options for all young people 16+ to do what they want to do.
• Communication between partners is good, however, we need to tighten up on Governance and ensure that all communication is timely and allows all partners to work together to support children and their families get the best outcomes that they can get. This is needed across the system from strategic to frontline delivery. Any governance structure needs to pull together all the boards and strategic groups working on SEND including the Autism Strategy, the Learning Disabilities and Autism (LDA) board and other child-related strategic groups.
• Professionals tell us that some children cannot access regular services because of their SEND diagnosis, other children may require additional support to remain in school because of unmet health needs, this requires the system to work together to ensure all care is timely.
• We have heard that some children have a special educational need because they have unmet mental health needs. This is not acceptable, and we need to ensure our prevention pathway to support children with poor mental health provides support as soon as is practically possible so that children can engage with and make the most of the educational opportunities that are offered.

Recommendations

1. Develop a joint commissioning strategy which addresses the following across all our partnerships [#1]
2. Improve how we use data across the system to map and model service delivery and demand so that planning is improved [#2]
3. Improve communications between all levels of the system [#3]
4. Ensure that all children have the opportunity to reach their full potential including developing the workforce [#4]
5. Further develop the governance system to oversee the implementation of these recommendations [#5]

Develop a joint commissioning strategy which addresses the following across all our partnerships

Rationale for recommendation

The SEND system is a complexed one, which has numerous partners with different accountabilities. To ensure that service planning and provision comes together to effectively support children and the services which support them, a joint commissioning strategy should outline the key actions and responsibilities to ensure provision is joined up using the latest data, intelligence and feedback from service users and their families.

We have invested additional money into Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD) assessments, we still do not have enough assessments, and Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) has not had the same investment as ASD and so those waiting lists remain high. We need to understand the current demand, and commission a model of assessments that is flexible to meet the needs of children, young people and adults.

Actions

Consider increasing the provision of services to meet the increasing numbers of children, young people and adults requiring treatment

• Continue to implement the Speech and Language therapy service redesign
• Continue to implement the review and increase commissioning of Short Breaks in collaboration with Parents, families, and children with SEND to ensure that there is a wide range of opportunities for children with SEND that parents can access
• Consider the design of Physiotherapy/Occupational Therapy provision. We need to look in depth at who is providing what and ensure that the level of services is adequate for the current level of children requiring Special Educational Need support
• Ensure that a diagnosis does not become a barrier to accessing support for conditions which all children have a right to access at the same time ensure unmet need doesn’t lead to additional children requiring SEND support
• Consider whether children in special schools fully access the resources in mainstream schools, particularly around health education
• By bringing organisations together to commission services together, we have an opportunity to reduce duplication, improve multidisciplinary working, understand better any blocks across the whole system and work together more effectively to address these blacks.
• Consider redesigning the continence service for children with disabilities.
• Consider benchmarking service provision between our services and those of our statistical neighbours.

Improve how we use data across the system to map and model service delivery and demand so that planning is improved

Rationale for recommendation

Changes in demand can be impacted by many things, system leaders should use the latest data, information, and intelligence to ensure that the direction of SEND strategies and the services they oversee are performing in a way that maximises the intelligence we have. Developing a dashboard which brings that data, information and intelligence will give the SEND board an effective overview of programme of work ensuring problems can be identified early and changes to strategic direction can be implemented in a timely way.

Actions

• The Integrated Care Board (ICB) to lead work across the NHS and other partners to improve data sharing, ensuring that the SEND board gets the data it requires to make timely and effective decision making
• Collect ethnicity data for those taking up/not taking up funded 2-year-old early years entitlement placements. Consider what else can we do to encourage uptake of a funded place when this is not statutory
• Consider how we can capture repeated absences and children missing from early years setting, as this gives an indicator for how school ready children
• Explore the disparity in outcomes will be data between 2 year Health Visitor check and the preschool checks in more depth, ensuring quality checks across the system, integrate checks where appropriate, building on the current pilot
• Consider collecting the SEND status of a child when referrals are made to secondary/community services such as Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS), this could include making the link between all ill health acute admissions and SEND
• Understand whether the Mental Wellbeing Tier 2 service is supporting children with SEND effectively to prevent the need for tier 3 services
• Consider if there is a potential to link and then use the education number and NHS number so the records talk to each other
• Update the data supplement on a 2 yearly cycle.
• Consider how we might use data to explore the complexity of SEND children within Coventry

Improve communications between all levels of the system

Rationale for recommendation

Communication is key to ensuring that individual families get the support they require.communications is good, but as always communication can be improved, and occasionally better communication would improve outcomes for children with SEND and their carers. Communication between services, from service providers to commissioners could be enhanced to improve outcomes.

Actions

• Explore whether multidisciplinary team meetings could be used to ensure that services are joined up and focused on the child's need, develop a “Best interest” style meeting that is inclusive
• Improve communication between all partners, and especially those who work on the frontline ensuring that all professionals can deliver the right care at the right time.
• Consider how schools can support the uptake of the annual Learning Disabilities health check once children become 14 years old
• Explore how we could improve partnership working around the annual reviews.
• Ensure that interpreters understand the role they play in ensuring accurate data captured

Ensure that all children have the opportunity to reach their full potential including developing the workforce

Rationale for recommendation

Sometimes, children could have their learning needs identified earlier, thus ensuring that the support that a child receives works to ensure each child reaches their full potential. We believe that the earlier an issue is identified the more effective our services are, so we aim to identify all children who would benefit from SEND support as early as possible.

Actions

• Explore which children do not take up the free nursery offer for 2-year-old education offer, understand what influences parents to take up this offer
• Explore the impact of the increased universal entitlement to funded early years education on SEND children from April 2024
• Ensuring that parents from ethnic minority groups are helped to understand SEND so that they recognise the benefits of taking up the support offer, with work to support parents from black heritage backgrounds and Asian backgrounds.
• Look at how we support the link with portage and Nursery placements to improve uptake of nursery placements by children with SEND
• Understand further which parents take up private assessments and how we can support such assessments, making sure parents are clear about what the Coventry position is around such assessments
• Upskill the workforce to ensure that all staff, from any sector are supporting the child in the right way, so that care is consistently being delivered in all settings
• We need to increase the skillset of staff so that there is capacity to provide ongoing workforce development for early years settings. This work has started, but we need to go further

Further develop the governance system to oversee the implementation of these recommendations

Rationale for recommendation

Having a good system of governance around the SEND agenda will enhance communication between partners, ensure that issues and changes we need to make have a clear and agreed place to gain understanding and resolution. We want all our children, families, services and staff to be confident that there is a transparent and understandable way in ensuring our offer is joined up, understood and monitored effectively.

Actions

• Further develop an inclusion dashboard across all partners so that the data elements are readily available and review on a regular basis by SEND board.
• Formalise the links between the Children's Joint commissioning group and SEND Board through the Health and Wellbeing Board.
• Hold systems partners to account for performance.
• Ensure that all partners across the SEND board are sighted on issues which need addressing so that a collaborative approach to problem-solving is adopted.
• Develop a quality assurance framework so that standards and improvements can be noted.

Next steps

Once this and associated documents, have been agreed, adapted, and adopted, the SEND Board will want to:

1. Develop an action plan to ensure a multi organisation approach to service development across Coventry. Each Workstream will decide how best to deliver the suggested work programme including potential financial implications, including prioritisation and what can be afforded when.
2. To set up a sub board structure to ensure the five areas for recommendations have identified leads who will take responsibility for delivery. Each workstream will appoint a lead who will sit on the SEND board and provide regular updates, including successes and risks to programme.
3. For the SEND Board to receive subgroup reports on a regular basis. Delivery plans will be monitored by the SEND Board and reported to the Health and Wellbeing Board as the oversight group.

Further information

For more information about this release, or for any of the supporting documents, please contact the Insight team.