You said, we did

General

• Help the forum to ‘Normalise’ SEND. SEND provision/inclusion should not be an afterthought. What examples can you give that this is a main aim for the City?;
• City Plan 2040 states 'Create an Inclusive, accessible and Healthy Square Mile where everyone feels welcome'. Please explain your strategy to achieve this with reference to SEND children, young people and their families.

• Bespoke sessions for children and young people with SEND have been built into the London Careers Festival;
• The revised Education Strategy for the City explicitly includes children and young people with SEND;
• We are still going through governance arrangements in relation to this;
• Parents from CoLAT academies were consulted;
• SEND Self Evaluation Form (SEF) consulted with the CPCF;
• St Paul’s Gyratory plans now include outdoor provision for children and young people;
• The City of London has funded eighteen cultural and creative projects within the City for children and young people, particularly those with SEND, which are delivered through schools across London;
• Additional funding for more parent carer consultation and co-production resource has been identified, alongside the requested video funding. 

Resident in the City - On the Upside:

• Many City Parent Carer Forum (CPCF) members are happy with the services they receive;
• It is acknowledged that City of London meets deadlines for Education, Health and Care Planning;
• CPCF members love living in the City, feeling that it is a vibrant place to live;
• CPCF members have good relationships with the vast majority of City Officers;
• CPCF members acknowledge that SEND is an important aspect of the City’s priorities.

On the Downside:

• The City can be a 'mine-field' of navigation for a SEND family: Education (there are over fifty possible schools, and only one primary; which doesn't have a lift, with the City); Health and GP services; SEND support; residential placements; Occupational Therapy; Speech Therapy; short breaks, etc. All of these may be located outside of the City;
• The City of London do not contribute in any financial way to the management of CPCF, although they do occasionally offer vouchers for workshop attendance; 
• The residential community is small in comparison to the working and tourist communities. Residence often feel that they are ‘at the back of the queue’ in terms of priorities and planning.

• The City of London is exploring ways of offering some financial support to the CPCF;
• Funding to enable the forum to make a film has been agreed in principle and is being progressed;
• Funding to enable more support from contact to the CPCF is also being considered. A proposal is currently being written to request more funding
• Range of consultation opportunities promoted to residents.
• Development of Supported Internships for City resident young people.
• Regular Ward Motes for residents
• Residents Association Forums

 OFSTED/CQC Inspections

• The CPCF have ask to be included in City of London preparation sessions for Care Quality Commission inspections;
• The CPCF would like to be clearer in terms of the gaps from previous inspections and what has been done to fill those gaps.

• The CPCF is most welcome to participate in, and critical for City of London Ofsted inspection preparation.
• City Officers will raise the idea of the CPCF being involved with the preparation for a CQC joint inspection with Health partners;
• Two parent/carers were involved in the Ofsted/CQC Engagement meeting held in July 2024;
• The CPCF was engaged in the SEND peer review which will support our preparedness for the Area SEND inspection;
• Officers are arranging to attend a CPCF meeting about the Area SEND inspection;
• A main learning from the previous inspection was the need to be aware of children and young people (all children and young people) being educated outside of the City;
• A tracking system has been developed which shows that City children attend over fifty schools;
• The system also ensures that children who need SEND support are identified better;
• The City SEND Ranges have been developed and rolled out for those children;
• A SENDCo Forum, focusing on best practice, has been created and is thriving;
• A SEND and Alternative Provision Strategy is currently being reviewed and out for consultation. Parents and Carers are key in terms of the co-production for this;
• The CPCF and parents have been engaged in this through SEND and Alternative Provision Strategy Workshops and the Strategy Reference Group;
• Eligibility the for Freedom Pass has been reviewed and clarified for applicants.

Local Offer 

Parent/carers are keen to work with the City to get a good ‘Local Offer’ for City Parent/Carers.

We have worked with City Officers from the Family Information Service to review and improve the LO.

Suggestions that have previously been made are:

• City to design and share a Survey which parents can complete to share their experience of the LO;
• City to organise a ‘Focus Group’ for a small group of parent/carers to look at the LO in more detail;
• CPCF are happy to work with CoL on continuous improvement of LO.

Some suggestions that have been shared by CPCF previously are:

• More intuitive flow for the LO;
• Better descriptions in terms of which activities are suitable for which children/young people;
• More pictures;
• Each provider giving a short film of what’s on offer and to whom – possibly made by the children/young people that attend.

City of London to produce a flyer/leaflet for SEND parents to explain what the LO is and how to access it. This would also explain who is eligible.

• City Officers are very keen to work with the CPCF on the ongoing development of the Local Offer; 
• Offers have been made to meet the CPCF to review the LO since summer 2023; 
• City Officers designed a survey for parents to complete as part of the SEND Strategy; 
• The proposal included the setting up of a focus group;
• City Officers met with CPCF in early September 2024;
• Adjustments will be made as a result of this in autumn 2024; 
• City Officers will meet the group again in November 2024, at which point the development of a focus group will be discussed;  
• The What's On section on the Family Information Service (FIS) website includes a filter which allows families to search for events based upon their specific needs. All suppliers sharing information about events on the FIS website are required to include information about the way in which their event supports children and families with SEND. This element of the website will be reviewed in the November meeting;
• City Officers have produced a pocket guide to the FIS website which includes a description of the LO and a QR code linking to the site. This is being distributed amongst local families. 

Parents are sometimes confused about Short Breaks. Things that may need clarifying are:

• Who is eligible
• What is on offer
• How is this tied up with funding packages

• The short breaks page on the FIS website has been updated. A document was created to illustrate the flexibility offered in the City around Short Breaks;
• Offers have been made to the CPCF for City Officers to come and speak with parents to provide further clarity around Short Breaks;
• The short breaks policy is available to download from the website to provide further detail about the levels of offer. This information also clarifies who is eligible;
• There is also a document on the website which illustrates the commissioned providers that City shares with Hackney.

• An annual review of Short Breaks took place in February 2024, and parents, children and young people provided feedback regarding the Short Breaks they receive;
• The feedback was positive, and the flexibility around Short Breaks seems to work well for most families, as the activity the child or young person takes part in is personal to their wants and needs; 
• Children and young people were spoken to directly to provide their views. One young person shared their recent achievements which were a result of their Short Break and another was seen engaging in their Short Break and said, “I’m so happy”.

 Preparing for Adulthood

• We want to give our young people options for getting involved in employment, apprenticeships, buddying schemes for work, volunteering and further opportunities; 
• We feel that if this can’t work in the City, it can’t work anywhere. 

• A SEND Employment Forum, led by the Head of Adult Skills, Education and Apprenticeships, meets termly.
• CPCF is represented on the SEND Employment Forum.

The focus of this on:

• Developing supported internships for City of London young people;
• Supported Internships, which are now available, although there is currently no uptake from residents;
• Giving employers confidence that they can work with SEND young people;
• Employers as part of the team;

Additionally:

• The team supports young people into apprenticeships.
• Information about apprenticeships and supported internships is available on the local offer.

• Parents are worried about the lack of ‘INDEPENDENT LIVING’ options in terms of accommodation in the City or locally;
• Parent/carers would like to see a scheme that gives priority to City young people; meeting their needs in terms of independent living in an appropriately adapted property that is local to their families.

• The group included a representative from the CPCF and a young person. One of the outcomes was the development of a Steps to Adulthood Guide, which is on the local offer. The guide provides a range of accessible information on preparing young people with SEND for adult life.
• There is a Preparing for Adulthood hub on the LO;
• Information on it is kept under review and updated. 

SEND inclusion:

School inclusion:

• As a SEND family living in the City, it can be difficult to know which schools will be appropriate for a SEND child. It is clear that the City of London cannot make specific recommendations, but CPCF have asked for more clarity on what’s available and where;
• Aldgate school has no lift which means that it is not suitable for some SEND children;
• CPCF has raised this issue, but the ‘listing’ status together with ownership issues has meant that City Officers feel that nothing can be done to improve this;
• CPCF would like to raise this further to at least be clear about the reason for this inaction and why SEND children who are local to the school are being excluded;
• Children in the City go to fifty different schools.

• Officers cannot recommend a mainstream school. Information about mainstream schools can be found on the local offer: Please see link to Choosing a secondary school for children and young people with SEND (cityoflondon.gov.uk)
• The Aldgate School building is a listed building which is not owned by the school and these factors add increased levels of complexity when making adaptations;
• Previous exploration around the installation of a lift gave a costing of between £600,000 and £700,000 to install one lift - an amount that the school simply doesn’t have to begin to consider moving forwards. Unfortunately, the installation of one lift would still not grant access to the whole building due to the layout – e.g. it wouldn’t be possible to access both the gym and the dining hall;
• Accommodations, such as bringing a lunch downstairs for children to eat and moving the classrooms around, so that a child doesn’t have to use the stairs are reasonable adjustments that have been successfully implemented;
• Where a special school placement is considered to be the most appropriate provision, the SEND Officer works with the family in identifying and securing a place;
• One of the recommendations in the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Improvement Plan (publishing.service.gov.uk) is for local authorities to provide parents with a “tailored list of placements.” We await the proposals for implementing this, which may not be for some time;
• The listed status means that a lift cannot be added as a ‘reasonable adaptation’;
• As there is only one maintained primary school in the City, the majority of children and young people attend schools and educational settings outside of the City;
• There is a good system in place for tracking where City of London children are being educated, so that we are better placed to ensure the right support at the right time. We are also aware of where our children receiving SEND support are being educated

 Play Spaces

• CPCF are working with the transport department of the City of London to be part of future planning and development of the Landscaped environment of St Pauls Gyratory;
• CPCF have not been consulted (no engagement) on many schemes including:
  • Finsbury Circus
  • Tower Hill Gardens
  • Golden Lane where there are question around refurbishment and possible closure.

• We are developing designs for a substantial new public space provisionally called Greyfriars Square. We approached the CPCF to seek their input and feedback on how we could ensure the design met the needs of children with SEND, with a particular focus on the development of a play feature/s;
• We have so far met with the CPCF once and they have sent us examples of play areas that they think work well;
• We have another meeting scheduled for this month where we will be sharing our initial design proposals for the play feature and CPCF's feedback on these will help inform the evolving design.

 Health

Amalgamated and paraphrased summary:

• Families feel that they have to travel long distances to access health services;
• Many are based in Hackney and families feel that Hackney children and young people may be prioritised;
• City families would like more support to navigate services and health pathways.

• Discussion with the CPCF is ongoing on these issues;
• North East London (NEL) Integrated Care Board (ICB) is responsible for commissioning health services for the following geographical areas:
  • City of London
  • Hackney
  • Tower Hamlets
  • Newham
  • Waltham Forest
  • Barking and Dagenham
  • Havering
  • Redbridge
• Within the ICB the City of London and Hackney are grouped together. This was the case historically pre ICBs when there was a City and Hackney Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG);
• Many NHS service are commissioned by ICBs based on GP registration. There is one GP practice in the City of London that is a ‘City and Hackney practice’;
• Some families in the City will be registered with a ‘Tower Hamlets practice’ or ‘Islington practice’;
• With the creation of NEL ICB on 1 July 2022, the City and Hackney and Tower Hamlets commissioning teams are part of the same organisation. There are historic differences between some health offers for children and families depending on whether they are registered with a City and Hackney or Tower Hamlets practice. A priority of the NEL ICB is to standardise access to and quality of SEND services for all families'
• Further detail on this is addressed under Point 2.
• Islington health services are commissioned by North Central London Integrated Care Board (NCL ICB);
• There are differences (across London and nationally) in how community and school based (e.g. Speech and Language Therapy or SaLT) services are commissioned in different areas which can lead to confusion and complexity as where a child lives/is registered with a GP/goes to school may all impact which service they can access for a particular need;
• We are working across NEL ICB to identify and mitigate where there is confusion or where there is a perceived or actual difference for children and families;

1. Families feel Hackney families take priority

• The City and Hackney team within NEL ICB commission statutory SEND services for City and Hackney GP registered population. When referrals are received by services e.g. at the Hackney Ark they are not treated or prioritised any differently;
• We have asked the CPCF for more detailed feedback/the opportunity to speak to families about their experience so we can resolve any issues of miscommunication or perceived barriers to access;

2. Long distances to travel

• The Hackney Ark is the Child Development Centre for City and Hackney. Comparatively families are not required to travel greater distances than in many boroughs, but we recognise the challenges this travel can present to families and in the context of concerns identified above;
• As part of the refresh of the City SEND strategy in 2024, we are working with the CPCF to agree actions for Year 1 to identify what the priorities for navigation support and outreach would be in the City of London and these conversations are at a very early stage in relation to therapies;
• We continue to offer to meet with the CPCF to share more detail about services, access and service transformation work that is happening.

3. City families need more support to navigate health services/system

• As above, we know we need to continue to review and strengthen our health information on the Local Offer;
• We know that owing to the complexity of commissioning arrangements for City families we need to have a greater presence (either virtual and / or face to face) in the City for families to seek advice and information about our health services. We are developing plans to do this with our Medical Officer for SEND (DCO) who is a strategic lead for Health.

Long waiting lists

Use of City’s funding to mitigate this

• We know the impact long waiting times can have on children and young people with SEND, and their families;
• We have low waits for City and Hackney therapy services;
• For neurodevelopmental waits these are approximately 11-13 months for 0-5 year olds but can increase to up to 2 years for over 5s. Different age and need related pathways are delivered by different services across the Homerton Hospital and East London Foundation Trust (ELFT);
• Within the ICB, SEND waiting times are a priority and there is work focused on comparing (benchmarking) what the health offers and waiting times are. Investment is intended to ‘level’ up, so that children in one part of North East London are not waiting a lot longer than other children;
• In addition to reducing waiting times (and as demand is still increasing for some assessment pathways) the focus is equally on supporting children and families when needs are identified and not being dependent on a diagnosis;
• Therefore, health service are committed to the SEND Ranges and early identification of children’s needs.

Development of the ICB

How is health care being joined up across the ICB

• As discussed above, NEL ICB is reviewing access to SEND services for children across North East London to ensure parity of access and experience. Current priorities are Speech and Language Therapy and neurodevelopmental diagnostic pathways (e.g. Autism and ADHD);
• This includes identifying the levels of need and waiting times in each area, and improving data collection and analysis;
• We have established a number of Communities of Practice that bring together professionals and parent carers/young people's representatives (e.g. for SaLT and Neurodevelopmental);
• We are also delivering PINS (Partnership for Inclusion of Neurodiversity in Schools) as an ICB. The Aldgate School is one of forty mainstream primary schools across North east London taking part from January 2024 to March 25 and the CPCF is a key partner in supporting communication between the school and its school community.

Early Intervention/assessment of need is a priority

• Health services are committed to identifying needs early and offering support whilst families may be waiting for an assessment;
• What this looks like will be dependent on the individual service and information is available on the Local Offer;
• We have parent carer representatives on working groups and subgroups such as our Neurodevelopmental Subgroup where we review the total offer for support to find out about services/access support whilst waiting across health, education and social care services

Training for independent schools to identify SEND to make sure advice, information and support is provided.

Use of existing community locations for family days and coffee mornings e.g. soft play, messy play, art and craft, Lego club, film club, music group, sensory play etc.

Portage Service for young families.

Supporting children and families with English as an additional language to participate/attend meetings.

You said

Family information services that provide impartial information and advice on a wide range of services for children, young people and families.

Information available on advice agency, childcare, parenting, family support, play, holiday activities, special need support and much more.

Who to go to when it does go wrong and complaints, tribunal information.

Creating a survey monkey questionnaire for parents. How to improve services?

Links with other forums such as Centre 404 for Actions in Islington – November 2017

Information about local parent forums on Local Offer.

Carer groups at Sir John Cass’s.

Parent Carer Forum is being extended to include parents and carers at Sir John Cass with children at SEN Support.

Parents and Carers Advice Group and an information hub and community.

Parent Carer Forum is being extended to include parents and carers at Sir John Cass with children at SEN Support.

Workshop on children with social communication difficulties and autism led by Early Years Led and co delivered with Parent Rep. – parents attended – November 2017

Training on EHCP procedures involving KIDS, School and Case Worker.

Independent review of the EHC plans has been carried out. A recommendation is to establish a co-production group with parents and CYP to review and refresh the plans.

Create a database of children that are outside the EHCP and John Cass - invitations to be sent to them for future events newsletters – November 2017

Making policies more parent friendly, visuals, layman terms, timeline of how long things are going to take.

We did

We have included:

• a process map for the EHC needs assessment
• two short animations which were produced by Independent Support to explain the EHC needs assessment process and person centred planning  

We have created:

• a page for young adults
• a children and young people’s hub 

We will work with you to develop these.

The Local Offer includes information about services in the City of London and in neighbouring boroughs.

• Tower Hamlets Local Offer
• Islington Local Offer
• Hackney Local Offer

Information about how the City of London works with neighbouring boroughs is to be developed.