New Shropshire Early Help Model Consultation

31/01/2018

PACC has become aware of a consultation on introducing a new model of Early Help in Shropshire.  Early Help is a group of services that offer early intervention for a range of needs, and includes service that offer specific targeted support for some groups of families.  It does not include specialist services however. For families with SEND Early Help includes the ‘All In’ Short Breaks programme.

PACC has disappointingly not been involved in the development of this new model and we have only become aware of it via this consultation.  This is even more disappointing because PACC has for some time been raising concerns about the lack of Early Help services for families supporting children and young people with SEND in Shropshire and the lack of integration between SEND services and other sources of support for families.

A consultation on the new Early Help model is now running on Shropshire Council website and information is provided about the potential changes to services, however it is not clear how in practice this will work for SEND families.  There are a series of consultation events being held throughout Shropshire, which unfortunately had started prior to PACC being aware of these opportunities.  The dates and locations of these consultation meetings are available here.  

PACC will make every effort to attend these events and to find out more about these proposals.  We would encourage Shropshire parent carers to attend their local event and to provide feedback on these proposals.

More details on the Shropshire Early Help Consultation are available on the following link  https://shropshire.gov.uk/get-involved/new-early-help-delivery-model/