Conversions Planning
Swindon Borough Council Plan to Convert Statement of SEN and Learning Difficulty Assessments to Education Health and Care Plans September 2014-April 2018
SEN Reforms
The legislation for children and young people with special educational needs is changing from 1st September 2014. The legislation sets a new multi agency plan called and Education Health and Care Plan (EHC Plan) which will replace the Statement of SEN. The Local Authority is required to publish a plan to tell our parents and young people how and when we will transfer existing statements of SEN to the New Education, Health and Care Plan over the transition period.
You can find out more information on the SEND Reforms and what this means in Swindon on the Swindon Local Offer pages.
Swindon Local Offer
Swindon’s Conversion Plan
If you have a child or young person with a Statement of SEN you should have received a letter from the Commissioner of Education to inform you of the reforms and the planned schedule of conversion. Copies of these letters are available.
Conversion Review Flowchart
Copies of letters
It is expected that all children and young people who have a statement and who would continue to need one under the current system, will be transferred to an EHC Plan. It is the intention of the Government and Swindon Borough Council that no child or young person should lose their statement and not have it replaced with an EHC Plan simply because the system is changing.
In Swindon there are approximately 1200 Statements of SEN and 400 LDAs. Table 1 demonstrates this data by year group and phase.
|
Table 1 - Number of pupils with Statement of SEN as of 1st August
|
| Phase |
Age |
School Year in 2014 (Dependent on month of birth) |
Number of children with a Statement |
| Early Years |
0-2 |
Under 5 |
25 |
| Foundation |
03-Apr |
F1 |
| 5 |
Reception |
66 |
| Key Stage 1 |
6 |
Year 1 |
62 |
| 7 |
Year 2 |
70 |
| Key Stage 2 |
8 |
Year 3 |
94 |
| 9 |
Year 4 |
88 |
| 10 |
Year 5 |
79 |
| 11 |
Year 6 |
106 |
| Key Stage 3 |
12 |
Year 7 |
106 |
| 13 |
Year 8 |
121 |
| 14 |
Year 9 |
143 |
| Key Stage 4 |
15 |
Year 10 |
122 |
| 16 |
Year 11 |
115 |
| Key Stage 5 |
17 |
Year 12 |
14 |
| 18 |
Year 13 |
22 |
| 19 |
Year 14 |
15 |
| |
|
Total
|
1248
|
In a letter to parents in April 2014, Edward Timpson MP (Minister for Children and Families) explained that all statements will be transferred to the new Education Health Care Plans over a three to four year period. In Swindon, we feel the most effective time to do this would be during the Annual Review Process. The process by which a Statement or LDA is converted to an EHC Plan can be found here
For statements and LDAs not changing in the first year of transfer, Annual Reviews will continue as normal and until converted Statements and LDAs remain valid legal documents with statutory status.
Table 2 below maps out when your child or young person’s statement or LDA will be changed to an Education Health Care Plan.
To find out which year your child’s statement/LDA will change look down the blue column and find your child’s current year and then look across at the Transfer Period. The completion dates are based on national DfE guidelines to support transition between phases.
|
Table 2 - Schedule of Conversion
|
| Conversion Period |
Year Group in September 2014 |
Year Group at the time of Conversion Review |
Date to be completed by (latest date) |
Total number of statements being transferred (1197) |
% of total number of statements |
| 2014-2015 |
Year 11 |
Year 11* |
31/05/2015 |
115 |
10%
|
| |
|
|
|
115 |
|
| 2015-2016 |
Year 1 |
Year 2 |
31/07/2016* |
62 |
50%
|
| Year 4 |
Year 5 |
31/07/2016 |
88 |
| Year 5 |
Year 6 |
31/07/2016 |
79 |
| Year 8 |
Year 9 |
31/07/2016 |
121 |
| Year 9 |
Year 10 |
31/07/2016 |
143 |
| Year 10 |
Year 11* |
31/03/2015 |
122 |
| |
|
|
|
615 |
|
| 2016-2017 |
EY & F1 |
Year 1 |
31/07/2017 |
25 |
25%
|
| Reception |
Year 2 |
31/07/2017 |
66 |
| Year 3 |
Year 5 |
31/07/2017 |
94 |
| Year 7 |
Year 9 |
31/07/2017 |
106 |
| |
|
|
|
291 |
|
| 2017-2018 |
Year 6 |
Year 9 |
31/03/2018 |
106 |
15%
|
| Year 2 |
Year 5 |
31/02/2018 |
70 |
| |
|
|
|
176 |
|
| * Only year 11 pupils who are transferring from school (including sixth forms) to a post-16 institution or an apprenticeship (including those leaving custody) are required to transfer to the new system by the end of May 2015. We will aim for all year 11 pupils to transfer by the end of August 2015. |
If, on 1st September your child has a statutory assessment or re-assessment in process, then these will continue under the current legislation and if required will result in a statement (valid until September 2018 or point of conversion) and will be converted in to an EHC Plan in line with the timescales set out in Table 2.
Conversion Letter for Parents April 2015
Young People in Post 16 education with LDA
If you or your young person has a Statement or Moving on Plan (Learning Difficulty Assessment) in school 6th form, further education or training and are receiving additional support to meet their special educational needs as a result of a Statement or Moving on Plan you can choose to either:
- continue to receive their additional support as a result of their LDA (where it is still required) until the end of their time in further education or training or until 1 September 2016 whichever comes first; or
- request an Education Health and Care needs assessment.
In the first instance you should discuss this with your School, Further Education College or training provider.
Government Guidance on Implementation of the Reforms
Several guidance documents have been released by the Department of Education to help Local Authorities implement the reforms, further details are below.
“Implementing the new 0 to 25 special needs system: Transitional Guidance; June 2014” sets out information in relation to transition arrangements for converting Statements of Special Educational Need and Learning Difficulty Assessments (LDAs) into Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs). The document can be found at:
Transitional Guidance
A further document “Implementing a new 0 to 25 special needs system: LAs and partners Duties and timescales - what you must do and when” was published in July 2014 July 2014
LAs and partners Duties and timescales
Additional funding has been provided by the government to each local authority to support the SEN reforms and in particular the conversion from statements to EHC Plans.
Good Practice Guide
Annual Review
DfE Guide For Parents