Dear Rozana Smith
FOI Request – Response:
1. Please provide a copy of your policy regarding the trialling of SEN Direct Payments and personal budgets.
Trafford do not have a specific policy relating to the trialling of SEN Direct Payments and Personal Budgets. There is a personalisation policy which we are currently refreshing, this will be available shortly, and will have reference to our offer around personal budgets in relation to EHC plans. The current policy can be viewed:
http://www.trafford.gov.uk/about-your-council/children-families-and-wellbeing/docs/cyps-personalisation-policy.pdf
For our Local Offer of Personal Budgets in relation to EHC plans, we have identified the funding streams that will be in scope for a direct payment. These funding streams include:
Schools: - Base Funding and Notional SEN Budget
Local Authority Education: - High Needs Block Funding
Social Care: - Complex and Additional Needs Short Breaks
Health: - Continuing Health Care
2. Please confirm whether all parents/carers issued with a new or amended statement since January 2012 have been informed about their right to apply for a Direct Payment for SEN provision under the Special Educational Needs (Direct Payments) (Pilot Scheme) Order 2012. How has this information been provided? Please provide a copy of any standard leaflet or letter issued together with confirmation of date of issue.
Not all parents/carers issued with a new or amended statement since Jan 2012 have been informed by TMBC about their right to apply for a Direct Payment. We have offered some families the opportunity to trial our EHC plan and if they agreed to this, then they will have been informed of the right to request a personal budget. Since Jan 2012, we have 60 EHC plans (non-statutory) in place.
Examples of letters used to inform parent / carers of their rights:
3. Please confirm the number of parents/carers who are receiving SEN Direct Payments and what those Direct Payments relate to.
There are no parents receiving SEN direct payments (by this it is assumed that SEN direct payments are from an educational budget, either school based or High Needs Block funding).
4. Please confirm whether any of these SEN Direct Payments could be provided outside the Pathfinder project, e.g. payments under Part 6 of a statement for transport.
Trafford also have an offer of a direct payment for Transport, which is currently outside the pathfinder project.
5. Please provide a copy of your policy for considering requests for direct payments for SEN provision. If you do not have a policy, please confirm whether there are any limits placed on direct payments applications, e.g. they will not be provided if the LA has a block contract or there is a financial limit. Please confirm whether these criteria are communicated to parents and provide a copy of that document .
See personalisation policy link in q1.
We are also developing a guide for parents for personalisation this will be made available shortly on our Local Offer pages.
6. Please confirm your arrangements for reviewing appeals against a refusal of a request for SEN Direct Payments. Please provide a copy of any policy and any leaflet/letter issued to parents explaining this.
In terms of appeals, the current route for appeals would be via our senior leadership team, or through our current complaints system. Currently we are working on designing our process for mediation and appeals for the SEND reforms. There are no leaflets or documents available that explain this at this moment.
7. Please confirm what information is provided to parents/carers about the trialling of personal budgets. Please provide a copy of any leaflet or letter issued.
Please see attached documents in q2.
8. Please confirm how many parents/carers are receiving a personal budget within the auspices of the Pathfinder project?
There are currently no families receiving a personal budget as a direct result of the Pathfinder Project.
During the pilot phase, 19 families were offered a one off personal budget to test the use of pre-payment cards as a method of administering personal budgets.
There are families who are receiving a personal budget from the CAN Social Care element of their EHC Plan, however these families would have received a personal budget whether they were part of the pathfinder or not.
9. Please confirm how parents/carers in receipt of SEN Direct Payments/ personal budgets obtained the information to make an application. For example, were they:
(a) sent the information with a new or amended statement
(b) recruited as part of a specific pilot
(c) neither (a )or (b), the family approached the LA having heard about SEN Direct Payments/personal budgets from other sources
The answer is (b) recruited as part of a specific pilot
10. Please provide a copy of your local offer.
www.trafford.gov.uk/fsd
Please follow the link and click on SEN and Disability. This section of the Local Offer is currently being developed, and each section will contain advice and guidance on the services available for children and young people with SEN and their families. These advice pages are also backed up by our Family Service Directory where there are ways to search for different services and activities with information on how these are accessed.
Yours faithfully,
Trafford Metropolitan Borough Council,