Updates from the PfA demo sites!

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October 2016

Hello from the Preparing for Adulthood Team!

Welcome to our autumn e-bulletin filling you in on everything we’ve been working on over the summer.
As part of the Delivering Better Outcomes Together (DBOT) programme for 2016 the Preparing for Adulthood Team are pleased to have the opportunity to work with 9 sites across the country to demonstrate what they have done so far to support the PfA elements of the SEND reforms.
Each site has a named PfA lead to support them and is focusing on key priority areas that are pivotal to ensuring young people with SEND move into their adult life with the best opportunities for positive life outcomes.

The key priorities are:

Exemplar Local Offers around PfA
Exemplar EHC plans around PfA
Progress on integration and strategic joint commissioning between education, health and care and between children’s and adult services
Strategic engagement of parent/carers and young people
Employment and paid work for young people
Progress on thinking creatively around personal budgets and personalisation linked to PfA

What have we done so far?

All sites have started to develop their action plan and think about what outcomes they would like to see by the end of the demonstration year (March 2017). Each site has created a context, mechanism, outcome (CMO) map to support the overall evaluation of the sites. This has been developed with support from NDTi’s evaluation team. The process has enabled sites to:

Think about what the issues are
Agree what the desired outcomes are in relation to the priority areas
Consider the context or circumstances that will have an impact on progress
Think about how we plan to get there
Think about how we will know when we have got there – what does good look like and what are the indicators of change
Think about how we will measure what’s working and for whom – what data and/or information is needed
Who will collect this information, how and when

We will be sharing learning examples and outputs from the sites over the coming months on the website and through our Blog, Facebook, Twitter and Youtube.

News

Learning Difficulty Assessments (LDAs) and high needs funding – a reminder

The July DfE SEND newsletter set out details of limited flexibility, in exceptional cases, designed to safeguard provision for young people aged 19-25 where the need for a plan had been identified but the plan had not yet been issued.

You can read more about this by reading the letter in Appendix C of the DfE September newsletter from Stuart Miller, Deputy Director for SEND. The letter explains that the flexibility only extends to 31 December 2016 and reminds local authorities that they must let the Education Funding Agency know by 28 October if they think they will have any difficulty meeting that deadline.

The government says it is committed to reaching 3 million new apprenticeship starts by 2020 and halving the disability employment gap.

Accordingly, they launched a taskforce to explore access to apprenticeships for young people with learning disabilities, in order to help raise participation so that more people with learning disabilities have the opportunity to get a job.

The recommendations of the taskforce on apprenticeships are now out. Some of the most important of these are the relaxation of the English and maths requirements for those with learning difficulties or disabilities.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/apprenticeships-improving-access-for-people-with-learning-disabilities/paul-maynard-taskforce-recommendations

Darlington College have transformed a classroom into a fully-equipped and adapted flat for their Preparing for Adulthood course!

Blogs

Alice recently emailed NDTi about her son who has Asperger’s. At their request she has written a blog to highlight some of the challenges her son and her family have faced over the years.

Alice’s story echoes our own view on why we still have a long way to go to improve life outcomes for young people with additional needs

http://www.ndti.org.uk/blog/better-path-to-adult-life-for-young-people-with-additional-needs

The SEND reforms two years on: where are we now?

Dame Christine Lenehan looks back on the journey so far and urges the government to place the 19-25 agenda as a high priority for the coming year: http://bit.ly/2bTc80z

Resources

Friendship

Like Wilf and Junior, we value friendship. It is one of the Preparing for Adulthood outcomes. Find out more about Wilf and Junior's friendship:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5XnUj8nIWA&feature=youtu.be

Employment

As part of the project Employment is Everyone's Business, the National Development Team for Inclusion (NDTi) and the British Association for Supported Employment (BASE) have produced three resources to support schools, colleges, young people and employers to identify ways in which professionals can work together to help young disabled people into employment.

http://preparingforadulthood.org.uk/resources/all-resources/employment-is-everyones-business-resources

Higher Education

Disability Rights UK have a higher education guide for disabled students: bit.ly/1l3cB3N.

It deals with accessibility, the student finance system and has up-to date information on tuition fees, repayment methods and the support that will be in place for 2016 entry.

Make sure you also check how DSA changes will apply: ow.ly/f0zh302NCXC

Events

You can find out more about PfA events on our website:
www.preparingforadulthood.org.uk/events

If you know of any resources or events that we should add to the website please let us know via email: info@preparingforadulthood.org.uk.

Remember you can also keep up to date on the SEND reforms and resources via our social media.

Twitter

Facebook

Website

YouTube