A PACC event with Professor Luke Clements
On 16th October PACC welcomed Professor Luke Clements to Shropshire to present at an in-person event about Social Care support as young people with SEND transition into adulthood.
Luke Clements is the Cerebra Professor of Law and Social Justice at the School of Law, Leeds University. Luke practised as a solicitor between 1981 and 2021 and in that capacity had conduct of a number of cases before the European Commission and Court of Human Rights.
Luke’s academic research and litigation experience is primarily concerned with the rights of people who experience social exclusion, including disabled people and their carers.
You can find out more about Luke’s work on his website
Luke gave an extensive presentation and took questions covering the following
- Social care transitions ~ Care Act 2014
- Brief overview of:
- Looked after children transitions
- NHS Continuing Care transitions
- Mental capacity transitions.
- Care Act 2014 ~ the rights of young adults and carers.
You can find the handout with Luke’s slides here
Those who attend the event gave the following feedback
“It was really helpful to learn more about the law surrounding SEND during the transition years. I liked that Luke was very realistic in his advice.”
“Luke was a very engaging and experienced speaker. The information he shared was interesting and useful. I have already downloaded some of the resources he mentioned.”
“Always well organised and always leave feeling I have learnt something”
As part of the event, we asked Parent Carers and Family Carers to tell us how their experience of Shropshire Social Care could be improved? We have written up this feedback and will be sharing it with Shropshire Social Care leaders to inform service review and development. There were some clear themes in the feedback which are summarised below;
Improved information provision about process and legal framework especially relating to; Financial Assessments and contributions, Direct Payments, Mental Capacity Assessments, transition pathways and time frames
Improved relationship with Parent Carers and Family Carers; timely responses, actions being followed through, consistent relationships, respecting family knowledge, listening and co-producing
Actively planning for the future; increase supply of supported living properties, using EHCP’s to effective plan and prepare for adulthood, ensure information is accurate and up to date
We also used the event as an opportunity to formally launch the PACC Preparation for Adulthood Guide and all those attending were given a hard copy of the full-length guide. This guide has been co-produced with Parent Carers and Family Carers and responds to feedback gathered through the PFA Navigator project. PACC’s Community Support Lead, Abi Taylor has led on this piece of work, and we would like to acknowledge her commitment and dedication to creating this guide.
On receiving the PFA Guide Parent Carers and Family Carers told us;
“It’s amazing. I was commenting to someone on the table that I wish I’d had it years ago and a version for younger children as well. You’ve done a spectacular job and should be very proud.”
“Have not read it all fully yet but so far so good so wonderful to have a proper physical guide with guidance on PFA”
“This is fantastic. How can we get it to Severndale parents’ year 9 onwards?”
“QR codes for quick reference is a great idea, lots of relevant info to access.”
You can access the Guide here
The PACC team would like to thank Luke for supporting this event and all those who attended on the day. We know that it is a particularly difficult time for SEND families with a lot of uncertainty about the future, as well as the challenges of navigating the current system. One Parent Carer at the event shared with us that
‘It feels like the system is geared to exhaust us into submission’
Please remember that you are not alone on this journey and contact PACC if you have any questions or need help to understand what support is available.