NNPCF objectives and priorities

Introduction

This paper has been prepared as a summary for the Department for Education to provide an early view of the work the NNPCF has been doing on our objectives and priorities. This is NOT a comprehensive or detailed analysis of our priorities – that work is being undertaken at present and will follow in the coming months. Instead, it is meant as a s briefing note that offers some initial headlines on the key themes the NNPCF has prioritised with a focus on those that fall directly under the remit of the DfE.

In preparing our priorities the NNPCF have listened to the feedback we have received from our members and stakeholders in the following ways:

  • We took the feedback from our 2016 conference and analysed it to understand what the burning issues and priorities were.
  • We looked at the data that came from the last two SEND surveys to analyse the key messages that these were giving us.
  • We compiled all of the feedback from our regional meetings to see which issues were coming up most often across the country.

The text in italics represents our short commentary for the DfE.

The non-italicised text is the wording from our draft objectives and strategy document.

Our priorities

  1. Co-production
  1. We will embed the culture and practice of co-production with all of our key national partners and stakeholders by 2020.
  1. We will co-produce all key strategic and policy decisions about the working of parent carer participation with our member forums.
  1. We will champion co-production at a national, regional and local level and support the regions and local forums to co-produce with their partners to make a real difference to the lives of families living with SEND.

We would like the Department’s continued help and sponsorship in extending the philosophy of co-production:

  • with existing partners and helping us to extend to new partners
  • at a national, regional and local level
  1. Effective implementation of key policies and legislation

We will work with our key stakeholders to ensure that the implementation of key policies and legislation results in effective services for children and young people with SEND and their families.

We have identified the following key areas of focus:

Education health and care plans

  • A key focus here is the quality of plans. There is a perspective that quality is being sacrificed in order to meet deadlines. This is both in regard to the conversion deadline of April 2018 and the review of existing EHCPs. Forums are reporting that Local Authorities are struggling with ongoing requirements to review plans.
  • The engagement from colleagues in Health and Social Care continues to be raised as a concern with reports that attendance at meetings in sometimes sparse and advice is not written in a person centred or outcome focussed way.

Preparing for adulthood

  • Our forums are reporting that this remains a concern. Families are often thought to be behaving “irrationally” and insisting on young people remaining in education post 19. This is simply a reflection of a lack of a workable alternative to education for many young people.

SEN support (including exclusions)

  • There is some concerns around the level of support for those young people on SEN support and the settings they are in. We have had some anecdotal evidence that exclusions from some mainstream settings (notably academies) are on the increase.

Joint commissioning

  • Few forums believe that joint commissioning is working effectively and in a way that reflects the ambitions of the Children and Families Act (8th SEND survey -only 7% of forums think it is fully in place). Truly effective joint working remains elusive in many areas.

Local area inspections

  • These have been an overwhelming success from the point of view of forums and we would like to see them extended beyond the current 5 year period.

Short breaks

  • Forums are reporting changes to short breaks services. Forums are concerned that with local authority budgets under pressure these essential services are being cut – from the 7th SEND survey 53% of forums report that changes are being made and only 5% report that expenditure is increasing.

CAMHS

  • Forums and families report that access to CAMHS remains a major concern. The availability of services in a timely fashion and access to services within a local area often fall short of what families report that they need.

Engagement and co-production with Health

  • We continue to work with our colleagues in the NHS to build strong relationships that will allow us to co-produce with them in a truly productive way. Whilst increased focus on parent carer forums from NHS England and SEND local area inspections have provided a boost to this engagement, many forums and regions still report that engagement with CCGs, NHSE transformation projects and providers remains sporadic and sometimes ineffective.
  1. Building the capability, capacity and sustainability of parent carer forums
  1. At a local and regional level we will evidence this by:

i)Continue to increase our membership and target 100,000 members by the end of 2020

ii)95% of local authorities have effectively functioning parent carer forums and all 9 regions will have effective regional networks

This is delivered in conjunction with Contact A Family and our memorandum of understanding with them.

In addition we are working on objectives for the NNPCF itself in this regard. These are being drafted through a series of workshops that will conclude in July. We will share these with stakeholders once they are complete.

One key element for capability, capacity and sustainability is the continued funding of forums by the Department for Education which offers a degree of resilience and independence that cannot be found through other means.

NNPCF PrioritiesAutumn 2017Version 1.01