PACC Reps and other Parent / Family carers recently met with the Thematic Inspection Team who are looking at the Shropshire Local Offer of support for the SEND Community 0-25years.
We were really happy to invite other local SEND groups to also join the meeting and Parent Carers from SEND Shropshire Education for Neurodiverse and the Wem SEN Hub joined us, as well as individual parent/family carers.
The conversation started with the Inspectors asking us to tell them about SEND in Shropshire with the following points being highlighted by the group;
- Shropshire is a large area, much of which is rural with poor public transport links.
- There is a relatively small SEND population that is spread out, meaning that physically accessing services is difficult for many families, with families having to travel up to an hour to attend appointments from outside Shrewsbury. It can be even longer if families do not have access to a car and are reliant on public transport. The cost of travel is increasingly becoming a barrier to accessing services.
- The additional costs of delivering services in a large rural area is not taken into account in national funding allocations and this impacts access to services, with many not being commissioned at the right level for local demand, resulting in long waiting list.
- The largest area of need is identified as Social Emotional and Mental Health difficulties, however long waiting lists for autism or ADHD diagnosis might mean that many of these young people will at some point receive a Neurodevelopmental diagnosis. There is currently no Learning Disability diagnosis pathway in Shropshire and so the size of this population isn’t clear.
The Inspector then asked the group to provide feedback on their experience of services;
- PACC shared that currently Shropshire has a good range of different types of Short Breaks on offer for children and young people up to 18. We recognised that unlike many areas, Shropshire has maintained an in house overnight Short Breaks offer, specialist outreach and clubs (including a specialist holiday club) and a community-based activity offer (All In) that can be accessed without an assessment. The issue is that the level of availability and coverage is insufficient, with these services often not being ‘close to home’ and oversubscribed.
- Concerns about local clubs and activities not being inclusive were shared, along with concerns about inaccessible paperwork being a barrier for those who struggle with literacy and the lack of wheelchair accessible activities.
- PACC shared that the main feedback around local services related to delays in the EHCP process and quality, lack of suitable educational settings and support and insufficient mental health support for children and young people with SEND. Parent carers present shared concerns about ‘families being passed between services’ with no actual support being provided.
The meeting continued with a discussion about how community and voluntary sector groups played a key role in supporting Shropshire SEND families. Parent/family carers value and appreciate this support but feel that statutory services should be doing more
“There is a hole in the system ……if it wasn’t for the good will of SEND volunteers ……”
Towards the end of the meeting Inspectors asked about access to information about SEND Services and if this information was coproduced? Feedback provided highlighted that SEND families find accessing information about services a challenge, this was also key feedback in the Shropshire PINS project (Partnership for the Inclusion of Neurodiversity in Schools), where the majority of parent carers spoken to by PACC were not aware of the Local Offer website. In the meeting an example was shared about difficulties in searching the directory of services (on the Local Offer website), where details of a known service couldn’t be found. The PACC Navigator Service was highlight as a valued offer providing effective help for families and supporting their understanding of the local system.
“I go to PACC because the information they provide is up to date and accurate and I feel listened to. I trust them and they give me a voice.”
PACC shared that they have been able to coproduce some parts of the Shropshire Local Offer website, using feedback from families to inform this work, but there are still some key areas of concern. Currently a series of guides for Parent Carers are being co-produced with Shropshire Council about different levels of educational support such as accessing Early Years inclusion funding.
PACC would like to thank everyone who joined the meeting and shared their experiences with the Inspectors. Since this is a Thematic Inspection, reports on the findings in individual areas will not be made public. After the completion of all the Thematic Inspections looking at the SEND Local Offer are completed, a combined report will be published of the findings and outlining recommendations.