RNIB Survey on Changes to VI Service Staffing and Provision for Blind and Partially Sighted

RNIB survey on changes to VI service staffing and provision for blind and partially sighted children and young people in Scotland

Final Report

February 2011

Sue Keil and Mary Dallas

RNIB

Contents

1.Introduction

2.Method

2.1Questionnaire survey

2.2Response rate

2.3Analysis

3.Findings

3.1Geographical areas covered by the survey

3.2Loss of posts since the beginning of 2010

3.3Posts at risk of being lost or frozen

3.4Reduction in support for children since the beginning of 2010

3.5Risk to future support for children and young people

3.6Implications for children of actual or proposed changes to VI service staffing or provision

3.7Evidence and arguments that have been used to support the case for retaining appropriate levels of staffing and provision

3.7.1Statutory obligations/national policies and guidelines

3.7.2Cost effectiveness/value for money/quality of current provision

3.7.3Other comments

4.Conclusion

References

1.Introduction

In the late summer and early autumn of 2010, members of RNIB’s Children, Young People and Families team in England were approached by a number of local authority (LA) advisory services for children and young people with visual impairment (VI). The services were under threat of staff cuts and/or re-organisation that would put the educational support for blind and partially pupils at risk. The heads of services had contacted RNIB requesting advice and evidence that they could use to support their case against the cuts.

These threats to service provision were taking place in the context of a major national financial deficit and the newly elected coalition governmentundertaking a Comprehensive Spending Review.Theresults of the review, released on 20 October 2010, would have significant implications for the future of public services in the UK.

In order to ascertain whether the potentialthreat to VI services was isolated to a few services in a minority of LAs or was more widespread, in September 2010 RNIB undertook a questionnaire survey of VI services in England and Wales, the results of which are reported in Keil and Cobb(2010).

In Scotland, the context is a little different. Education funding is a devolved issue, howeverScotland's overall funding level, set by Westminster, is also likely to face cuts.The majority of education spending in Scotland is part of the local government settlement which is held by local authorities who are seeing a cut of just 2.6 per cent in their budget. With the aim of finding out what effect these cuts are having on VI services in Scotland, in December 2010 RNIB undertook a second questionnaire survey of all VI services in Scotland. This report provides the findings from that survey.

2.Method

2.1Questionnaire survey

At the beginning of December 2010 questionnaire was circulated to heads of all 32 VI services in Scotland by the RNIB Education and Family Services Manager for Scotland.

2.2Response rate

A total of 14 completed questionnaires were returnedgiving a response rate of 44 per cent.

2.3Analysis

Responses were entered onto an Excel database. Responses to open questions, which invited comments, were recorded in Word format and subsequently coded by theme.

3.Findings

3.1Geographical areas covered by the survey

Responses came from a good geographical spread of local authorities across Scotland.

3.2Loss of posts since the beginning of 2010

Five of the 14 VI services had lost staff or had the hours of a post reduced since the beginning of 2010. Of these, four reported that posts had been lost because staff who had left voluntarily had not been replaced and one had vacant posts frozen.

Table 1: VI services in Scotland that have lost staff posts or had their hours reduced since the start of 2010(n = 14)

Reason for loss of post / Number of services
Posts lost through redundancy / 0
Posts lost because staff have not been
replaced for strategic or budgetary reasons / 4
Vacant posts frozen / 1

In total, 4.5 posts had been lost or frozen. These were 1.5 QTVI posts; one TA post (with a dual role of TA/modifier of curriculum materials) and one post of administration manager/adapter of curriculum materials. In the latter case, the role of adapting curriculum materials had fallen instead to the QTVIs in what was described as an, "already severely understaffed" service.

A fourth service had lost a part-time Communication Assistant when a member of staff had not been replaced.

Additionally, two services gave details of posts that had been filled but on a temporary basis only:

"Two posts are being filled on a temporary contract basis, but will not be lost. There is a freeze on permanent contracts." [Scot7]

"…A member of staff took early retirement and her 0.6 post has been filled on a temporary basis since August 2010 as no permanent posts are being advertised in [the LA] at the moment." [Scot13]

Table 2: Number and types of staff post lost or reduced in hours since the start of 2010 (n = 14)

Type of post / Posts lost through redundancy / Posts lost because staff have not been replaced / Vacant posts frozen / Total number of posts
QTVI / 0 / 1 / 0.5 / 1.5
TA / 0 / 1 / 0 / 1
Other / 0 / 2 / 0 / 2
Total / 0 / 4 / 0 / 4.5

3.3Posts at risk of being lost or frozen

In a separate question, respondents were also asked whether their service was currently at risk of losing or being unable to replace staff posts or to having them frozen.

As can be seen from table 3 most of the VI services that responded to the questionnaire considered they were not at risk of losing staff posts or of having their hours reduced.

Two services considered they were at risk of losing posts through redundancy and a third said they risked losing a post because a staff member who was leaving would not be replaced. A fourth respondent was unsure at this stage whether or not they were at risk of losing staff.

Table 3: VI services that are at risk of losing staff posts or having their hours reduced (n = 14)

Reason for potential loss of post / Yes / Unsure / No
Posts lost through redundancy / 2 / 1 / 11
Posts lost because staff are not being replaced for strategic or budgetary reasons / 1 / 1 / 12
Vacant posts frozen / 0 / 1 / 13

As can be seen in table 4, two QTVI and three TA posts were considered to be at risk of being lost. As one respondent observed, although their caseload was increasing and they should be gaining teaching staff:

"All [LA] education services at risk. May lose a teacher. Auxiliaries in schools all at risk." [Scot11]

Table 4: Number and types of staff post at risk of being lost or reduced in hours in 2011 (n = 14)

Type of post / Posts lost through redundancy / Posts lost because staff may not be replaced / Vacant posts frozen / Total number of posts
QTVI / 1 / 1 / 0 / 2
TA / 3 / 0 / 0 / 3
Total / 4 / 1 / 0 / 5

A degree of uncertainty about the future was also apparent from these heads of services, even though did not consider there was an immediate risk of staff loss:

"We are a 1.5 teacher service, with one teacher employed full time permanently and one part time on a temporary contract which could be reviewed at any time, issuing termination within 4 weeks notice…hours in general of ANAs in schools have decreased but so far this has not affected our VI pupils…We are not aware of any staff planning to leave voluntarily. However if anyone was to do so, a blanket recruitment freeze at present would mean that they would not be replaced." [Scot5]

"As yet unknown. There are expected to be redundancies in [the LA] but the position is still unclear." [Scot13]

3.4Reduction in support for children since the beginning of 2010

Heads of services were asked whether, since the beginning of 2010 they had reduced or withdrawn support for particular groups of children or young people. The results are detailed in table 5.

Table 5: Groups of blind and partially sighted children who have had reduction in support from VI services in 2010 (n=14)

Category of children/YP / Number of services that have reduced or withdrawn support
Children in the early years / 1
CYP without CSPs / 2
CYP whose sight difficulty is below a certain threshold / 2
CYP with complex needs / 2
Other groups of CYP / 0

It is encouraging to see that most VI services had managed to retain their existing level of support for blind and partially sighted pupils. Two however, had seen a reduction in support to three groups of children and young people: children without CSPs, children whose sight difficulty was below a certain threshold and children with complex needs. One of the two services had also reduced support to children in the early years, noting that:

"Caseload is increasing and staffing is inadequate so have to prioritise, some pupils who used to be seen are now 'on request' only…Geography of region makes [prioritising] very difficult to do." [Scot11]

The head of the first service explained that:

"Teachers who previously specialised in VI in their area giving extra support to schools have been withdrawn leaving only one TVI for the whole [LA] area." [Scot4]

A third head of service, who had declined to answer this question, commented:

"We have reduced the frequency of some visits to some children in order to rationalise and will continue to review the situation and to review our criteria for involvement with ongoing changes." [Scot13]

3.5Risk to future support for children and young people

As in the previous question, the majority of VI services that took part in this survey did not anticipate withdrawing or reducing the level of service provision to any groups of children or young people due to future budget cuts. Only two services felt there was a risk of this happening, although a third was uncertain and a fourth failed to answer this question.

Table 6: Groups of blind and partially sighted children who risk a reduction in support from VI services (n=14)

Category of children/YP / Yes, service is at risk of reducing or withdrawing support / Unsure if service is at risk of reducing or withdrawing support/no response / No, service is not at risk of reducing or withdrawing support
Children in the early years / 2 / 2 / 10
CYP without statements of SEN / 2 / 2 / 10
CYP whose sight difficulty is below a certain threshold / 2 / 2 / 10
CYP with complex needs / 2 / 2 / 10
Other groups of CYP / 2 / 2 / 10

Here is how one respondent described their situation:

"If our authority takes the decision to cut our service by 15%, this can only happen through redundancy as we are a small service running on a small budget. Structure-wise we do not currently sit with schools and are therefore not currently being considered under the wider umbrella of ASN…Apparently we have been considered as 'A spend to save for society situation' so far but things still feel very vulnerable as they stand at the moment." [Scot2]

3.6Implications for children of actual or proposed changes to VI service staffing or provision

Heads of services who responded to the questionnaire survey were invited to comment upon the implications for pupils of changes that have already happened, or that they envisaged happening in the future. Two respondents spoke about staff changes that were already happening and the effect this was having on provision for blind and partially sighted pupils:

"Pressure is increasing on existing staff as they are committed to providing access for all of their caseload. Pupils not seen as often as we would like and we are becoming an advisory service." [Scot11]

"A reduction of 17.5 hours [modifier] time has impacted on the production of adapted curricular materials for our pupils. This has resulted in pupils not receiving materials in their preferred format." [Scot14]

Four respondents highlighted the negative effect that cuts in staffing might have on future provision:

"Our local services, which have taken 23 years to build, would be dismantled:

1. Service supporting access to the curriculum (birth to 19)

2. Service supporting access to print

3. Service supporting access to the environment

Some children would have to be educated [outwith the LA], others would not have their educational needs met and the authority would not be meeting legal requirements in relation to children's rights." [Scot2]

"Many specialised staff are older and as they retire or leave they will not be replaced. As we have 15% budget and staffing cuts this year all teachers acknowledge that all educational services will be very diluted." [Scot4]

"If either of the teaching posts were to be terminated, this may well result in our blind pupils having to attend provision outwith the authority, e.g. the RoyalBlindSchool. Similarly, ANA hours lost would mean our blind pupils could potentially have no-one working with them who is trained to work with VI pupils or who has any braille skills. Our skilled ANAs who adapt work for a number of partially sighted pupils in our High Schools are also invaluable and without whom these pupils could not access novels, textbooks and a wide variety of curriculum materials, or indeed access social and emotional support from an adult tuned in to the needs of a visually impaired learner." [Scot5]

"As yet our service has not been reviewed so it is too early to say yet how we are likely to be affected by changes to come. However, it has been difficult to recruit and retain staff as we cannot advertise permanent posts and need to adhere to legislation re length of term of temporary, fixed term posts.

There is also a lot of concern re future funding for CPD and especially re funding opportunities for staff to work towards the mandatory qualification. Proposed 50% cuts in the number of Pupil Support Assistant posts in the city are of concern as they are likely to affect some of the children we support across the city in mainstream schools." [Scot13]

One person noted that future staff changes to their service were likely when several braillists (with high support needs) moved onto further education. Another commented that staff were due to leave their service later in 2011, but:

"…what will happen in terms of their replacement is too far away just now to consider" [Scot6].

More encouragingly, one respondent noted the positive effect of restructuring in their service, which had enabled them to recruit a rehabilitation worker.

3.7Evidence and arguments that have been used to support the case for retaining appropriate levels of staffing and provision

In a final question, respondents were asked to provide details of any evidence, arguments and/or documents that they had used to support their case for retaining appropriate levels of staffing and provision for blind and partially sighted children and young people.

Five respondents pointed out that as yet, there had been no need for them to defend their current level of service provision.

Six respondents however, provided details of the approaches they had used and their evidence and strategies can be grouped into the following broad themes (which were to a large extent, already implied in the original question):

1. Statutory obligations/legislation and guidelines
2. Cost effectiveness/value for money/specialist staff skills/quality of current provision

3.7.1Statutory obligations/national policies and guidelines

Three respondents said that reminding LAs of their statutory obligations to blind and partially sighted children, and/or invoking national or international polices and guidelines relating to educational provision were approaches they had used, or would use:

• "Appendixed information on recent legislation" [Scot2]

• "DDA Act
• Inclusion as a policy
• The rights of a child to full, broad curriculum the same as his peers.
• I also know that the RNIB had a document researching the level of support that a braillist needs in a mainstream class and this was nearly full time teacher support" [Scot5]

• "ASN documentation" [Scot12]

One of the respondents commented however, that:

"We have not needed to support our request with any more than our own arguments - so far!" [Scot5]

3.7.2Cost effectiveness/value for money/quality of current provision

Three people gave details of evidence they had provided to demonstrate the value of their service in terms of cost effectiveness, quality of their provision and/or specialist skills of their staff. The following quotes give examples of the type of information provided:

• "Secondary education: supporting 5 braille using pupils over a diverse range of curriculum subjects throughout the timetable.
• Individualised support for all VI pupils with a high level of curriculum adaptations required for each course.
• Need for specialist secondary subject teachers…as pupils working at Higher level courses" [Scot1]

• " Current local details on staffing levels/pupil ratio/service developments from workplans
• Information on how our service has become more cost-effective over recent years to include a service for Mobility and Orientation, a service providing alternatives to print and a service providing ongoing access to the curriculum. We now provide 3 services (birth to 19) to a wider children's group (VI, MDVI and children with communication/processing difficulties not nec VI related)

• Ensured all our staff have specialist qualifications - specialism was highlighted and the fact that VI teachers must now have the competencies within 5 years of appointment
• Details on service delivery, i.e. detailed annual staff workplans, information on how, where, when, why VS staff are deployed, specific strategic issues are all available from our service..." [Scot2]

• "Specific local school knowledge
• Good peer and parent relationships
• Availability" [Scot4]

3.7.3Other comments

The sense of unfairness about the across the board 15 per cent cut being demanded by their LA was expressed by one respondent who observed that recent developments to their service had been made with existing staffing levels and at no extra cost to the authority:

"…Our money has gone a long way and yet we too have to try to squeeze a 15% cut." [Scot2]

Another person, although sceptical that a planned review for the development of services for children with visual impairment was:

"…Not confident it will make any difference but should show how under resourced the service is" [Scot11]

4.Conclusion

This questionnaire survey of VI services followed a similar survey in England and Wales where there is evidence that in some areas educational provision for blind and partially sighted children and young people is under threat as a result of local authority cuts to staffing and funding. These cuts were being made in the context of an impending national government Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) that was predicted to result in major reductions in public sector spending. The aim of the current survey was to ascertain whether the threat to VI service provision applied to Scotland as well as to England and Wales.