Co-producing Bolton’s Local SEND Reform Plan

Bolton Parent Carers has been directly involved in developing Bolton’s Local SEND Reform Plan.

What is a Local SEND Reform Plan?

Following the publication of the government’s education White Paper, Every Child Achieving and Thriving, the Department for Education asked every local area partnership in England to develop a Local SEND Reform Plan.

These are three-year plans setting out how each area will prepare for and begin delivering the national SEND reforms in a way that reflects its own local needs.

The plans bring together the council, health services, education settings and other local partners. They look at where the local SEND system is now, where the area wants to be in three years and the steps needed to get there.

The Department for Education asked local areas to focus on:

• building a SEND system with more inclusive settings and stronger local partnerships
• improving the skills and capacity of the mainstream and specialist workforce
• increasing the confidence of children, young people, families and other partners in the reforms
• creating a more stable and financially sustainable SEND system
• setting out how progress will be monitored and how partners will be held accountable

Each plan also needed to include detailed actions for the first year and a wider plan for years two and three.

The Department for Education made it clear that these plans should be developed with children, young people and families. It specifically identified Parent Carer Forums as important partners in this work.

Approval of the plans is also linked to government funding to support local SEND reform, improve inclusive provision and help address pressures within the SEND system.

You can read more about the national requirements in the Department for Education’s Local SEND Reform Plan guidance.

Developing the plan for Bolton

Bolton’s plan sets out how our local area will respond to the national SEND reforms and use the opportunities and funding available to improve inclusion and support for children and young people with SEND.

Our role throughout the process was to make sure that the views and experiences of Bolton parents and carers were heard, understood and placed at the heart of the plan.

Who was involved?

Developing the plan brought together people from across education, health and local services.

This included:

• Bolton Parent Carers
• Headteachers
• Inclusion Team
• Educational Psychology
• Local health services
• CAMHS
• Speech and language therapy
• SEND Assessment Team
• Start Well and early years services
• other teams and professionals working with children, young people and families

Bolton Parent Carers was represented throughout by our Chair, Nan Cooper.

What did we do?

We took part in two full days of co-production.

The first step was to look closely at what the Department for Education required from the plan. We then worked together to consider what this should mean for Bolton and what needed to be included to reflect our local needs, strengths and challenges.

These sessions gave everyone the time and space to share their different knowledge and experiences. This included professional expertise, experience of delivering services and, through Bolton Parent Carers, the real experiences of children, young people and their families.

A third full day allowed us to get into much more detail. We looked beyond what had to be included in the plan and focused on what we want for children and young people with SEND in Bolton over the next three years.

Throughout these discussions, we used what parents and carers have told us about their experiences of education, health services and SEND support. This helped keep the work focused on the changes that could make a real difference to families.

Sharing the plan with Bolton’s leaders

The work ended with a presentation to the Chief Executive of Bolton Council.

The presentation was delivered jointly by:

• Bolton Council’s Assistant Director for Inclusion and Education
• the Head of SEND
• Bolton’s Integrated Care Board
• Nan Cooper, representing Bolton Parent Carers

This meant that the parent-carer voice was included not only while the plan was being written, but also when it was presented to senior leaders.

Why is this co-production?

Bolton Parent Carers was involved from the beginning, rather than being asked to comment on a plan that had already been written.

We worked alongside education, health and council colleagues, as equals, to understand what was required, discuss what it should look like for Bolton and help shape the detail.

Being part of the whole process allowed us to challenge, contribute ideas and keep bringing the discussion back to the experiences of children, young people and their families.

This is an important example of co-production at a strategic level: parents and carers working alongside the people who plan, lead and deliver local services to help shape what happens next.