Issue details

Proposed decision

 

The Cabinet Member for Education and Skills, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Integrated Children’s Services, approve the funding arrangements and revised model for the continued delivery of the Specialist Teaching and Learning Service (STLS) beyond 31^st August 2025  when the Service Level Agreements cease.

 

Reason for the decision

 

The Specialist Teaching and Learning Service (STLS) was presented to the Children’s, Young People and Education Cabinet Committee on 1 March 2022 and a transformational Service Level Agreement (SLA) was established with the service from September 2022 to August 2025. Issue details - 22/00001 - Specialist Teaching and Learning Service (STLS) - Consultation outcome on service redesign and delivery options from April 2022

 

At the Children’s, Young People and Education Cabinet Committee on 9 July 2024, a report was presented detailing the performance of the STLS (Public Pack)Agenda Document for Children's, Young People and Education Cabinet Committee, 09/07/2024 14:00.

 

At that time, the intention to undertake a public consultation into how the service might fit within the new ways of working being implemented as part of the transformation of Special Education Needs (SEN) support was stated.

 

An eight-week public consultation has taken place. The responses have been analysed and recommendations identified regarding the future of the service beyond August 2025, when the current SLA ends.

 

It is proposed that the Specialist Teaching and Learning Service (STLS) continues to be provided beyond the duration of the current Service Level Agreement that ends 31 August 2025.

 

To support this, it is proposed the future cost of STLS for school aged children will be funded from the High Needs Block of the Dedicated Schools Grant and form part of the local decision-making of Special Education Needs (SEN) support services that will be managed through the communities of mainstream schools in Kent.

 

The STLS for children attending early years providers will be funded via a portion of the Early Years Block of the Dedicated Schools Grant that can be retained by Local Authorities for central services, including SEN support services

 

A revised service model will be implemented to reflect the outcome of the consultation and wider reforms that are being implemented as part of the ongoing transformation of SEND services in Kent. The revised model will include STLS moving to a Link Practitioner model with specialist teachers aligned to communities of schools for school age children and STLS working within the revised pathway for support for early years settings. STLS will no longer deliver Local Inclusion Forum Team meetings.

 

 

Background

 

The overarching aim of the STLS is to support mainstream early years settings and schools to build their capacity and confidence in delivering high quality provision for children and young people with SEND, in improving pupil progress and outcomes and to spread best practice across educational settings.

 

It is commissioned by the Education and Special Education Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Division within Kent County Council (KCC) from 12 maintained Special Schools in Kent via a Service Level Agreement (SLA) that ends 31 August 2025.

 

Information related to the performance of the service over the period 1 September 2022 (Term 1 2022–2023 academic year) to 28 March 2024 (end of Term 4, 2023-2024 academic year). was presented to Children, Young People and Education Cabinet Committee on 9 July 2024. This included an options appraisal about how the service could be funded and delivered in the future.

 

At that time, the intention to undertake a public consultation into how the service might fit within the new ways of working being implemented as part of the transformation of Special Education Needs (SEN) support was stated.

 

An eight public consultation was subsequently undertaken, opening 9 September 2024 and ending 3 November 2024. Specialist Teaching and Learning Service Redesign | Let’s talk Kent

 

The consultation received a total of 523 responses, 427 from professionals and 96 from residents. The largest group of responses (26%) where received from primary school Special Educational Needs Co-ordinators (SENCos). Responses were received from all districts within the county. The consultation provided insight into what type of support the STLS could deliver in the future and respondents gave feedback on how it might be funded.

 

As part of the consultation, a proposal was submitted indicating that a single organisation could deliver the service across the county. In considering this feedback, a further options appraisal was undertaken to further inform how the service could be delivered in the future. Based on this, the proposal is that there is a sole provider of the service across the county and that that provider is Kent County Council.

 

 

Options (other options considered but discarded)

 

Based on feedback from the consultation, the following funding options were considered and discarded:

 

·         Option 1: End the service when the current SLA ends on 31 August 2025.

·         Option 3: STLS becomes a traded service.

·         Option 4: STLS is funded via the School Inclusion Model for Mainstream, meaning that the service would be funded by Communities of Schools with money allocated to them from HNF block for local decision making.

·         Option 5: Transfer the service from special schools to KCC, bringing the service in house.

·         Option 6: Transition option, namely extending the current SLA for one year to enable a transition to Option 4.

 

In response to a proposal submitted, a further options appraisal related to the future delivery of the service was undertaken. The following options were considered and discarded:

 

• deliver the service across an area based footprint
• deliver the service across a district based footprint

 

In terms of the type of organisation that could deliver the service, the following options were considered and ruled out:

• Maintained schools (mainstream and special)
• Academy trusts
• Independent, external organisation
• The Education People (traded arm of the Council)

 

 

How the proposed decision supports the Framing Kent's Future - Our Council Strategy 2022-2026

 

These actions will support Framing Kent’s Future through:

 

• Priority 1: Levelling Up Kent and our commitment to maintain KCC’s strategic role in supporting schools in Kent to deliver accessible, high quality education provision for all families, specifically: Maintain improvement support services for all Kent schools, including maintained schools and academies, to maintain Kent’s high-quality education system.

 

• Priority 4: New Models of Care and Support and our commitment is to support the most vulnerable children and families in our county, specifically in relation to responding to national policy changes on SEND provision, working with mainstream schools so more can accept and meet the needs of children with SEND, increasing choice and proximity of school places.

 

These actions will support Securing Kent’s Future by:

·         Supporting Objective 1 in bringing the budget back into balance through cost avoidance achieved by supporting more children in mainstream schools from the outset of their statutory education and avoiding the use of non-maintained independent special school placements. 

·         Further transforming the operating model of the Council (Objective 4). A greater focus on understanding and demonstrating impact will enable more effective decision making about how and where to focus the use of resources.

 

Financial Implications

 

The current annual cost of STLS is £5,856,468. Over the course of three years this totals £17,569,404. This is a static budget that has remained unchanged since before the existing SLA. 

 

In relation to the above proposal, 124 STLS staff would TUPE into the Council on their existing terms and conditions. The estimated annual cost to KCC of these salaries is £5,858,831 per year.

 

Estimated one off costs of bringing 124 people in house are £581,318 which will need to be accommodated within the first year.

 

The estimated cost of a six month extension to the SLA, if required, in order to undertake the transfer process transfer would cost £3,385,560.

 

 

The service is currently funded from the High Needs Block of Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) provided by the Department of Education (DfE). The High Needs Block is funded from a combination of the High Needs allocation from the DfE (annual grant of c£330m) plus a further contribution from primary & secondary budgets (equating to 1.2%) of approximately £15m, in response to the Council overspending its grant allocation. This transfer is expected to continue each year until the Council is able to operate sustainably within its high needs grant allocation. The transfer contributes towards the range of SEN support services to schools (of which STLS is one example). SEN Support Services are a discretionary service, and the total money available for all SEN Support services for schools is considered in context of the value of the transfer. In 2024-25, the budget for central services to Early Years providers was £7m, and the future funding of the early years element of this service will be funded from a combination of recent savings in other early years services and the expected increase in funding for 2025-26. By maximising the use of other funding sources will support savings on the High Needs Block. Spend is reported within the Special Educational Needs and Psychology key service line presentation of the 2024-2025 Medium Term Financial Plan.

 

This is not currently a direct cost to the General Fund.  However, the Council has committed to contributing a total of £82m towards the DSG deficit relating to High Needs overspends by 2027-28, and the statutory override, which is currently holding this deficit off the Council’s balance sheet (in an unusable reserve), is due to cease from April 2026, unless the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Local Communities extends this policy further.

 

 

Legal Implications  

 

The Children and Families Act 2014 and the SEND Code of Practice 2015 describe the role that early years, schools and colleges play in meeting the needs of all children and young people, including those with SEND, whether they have an EHCP or not.

 

The SEND Code of Practice (section 6.44) outlines the ‘graduated approach’ that all schools/settings should apply when considering how they will meet those needs. This also relates to the SEND Code of Practice section 6.58 – 6.62 which outlines the use of specialists to advise settings and schools on early identification of SEN and effective support and interventions.

 

Advice will be sought  from Legal Services as required, during the implementation phase of the decision in relation to future commissioning arrangements.

 

Equalities implications

 

The Equalities Impact Assessment previously presented to the Children’s Young People and Education Cabinet Committee has been reviewed and updated based on feedback from the public consultation.

 

Key issues identified include:

 

• Age: respondents identified a detrimental impact on younger children, specifically those in early years settings, if the service were to end. This would also be the case if the funding approach changed in a way that meant early years settings could not longer access the service.
• Age: the impact on younger children, specifically those in early years settings, was also referenced in relation to transition into school age settings. 
• Gender: an detrimental impact on women was referenced, if the service was to end. Women make up the majority of the STLS, SENCO and teaching workforce,
• Disability: respondents identified potentially detrimental impact on children and young people with SEND if the support provided by the service were to end. Some respondents identified a potential impact specifically on children with Communication and Interaction, Social Emotional and Mental Health, and Cognition and Learning needs. This is because children with sensory and physical disability needs will continue to be supported by in-house STLS which fulfils a statutory duty.

 

In terms of mitigating actions:

 

• Age: the consultation specifically asks for feedback in relation to whether consideration should be given for funding early years and school age STLS differently, recognising the different impact that funding options might have on school versus early years settings. This feedback will be considered carefully when making recommendations about the service to mitigate the risk of a disproportionate impact on younger children.
• Gender: recommendations regarding the future of the service will be considered in light of the responses to the consultation.
• Disability: recommendations regarding the future of the service will be considered in light of the responses to the consultation.

 

Data Protection implications

Data protection implications will be considered as part of the implementation of the revised model.