Agenda item

Mr P Segurola, Assistant Area Director, Specialist Children’s Services, and Mr A Mort, Quality/Policy Manager, Families and Social Care, were in attendance for this item, with Ms Southern.

1.         Ms Southern introduced the report and a series of slides which featured the views of young people on transition issues. The aim of the slides was to illustrate the content of the written report.  She explained that transition from children’s to adults’ services involved complex issues and many linked professionals. Good communication and forward planning were vital to ensure that young people with complex issues had as smooth a transition as possible.  Mr Mort referred to changes in legislation which would be coming soon and for which the County Council would need to be prepared. These included the Children and Families Bill (2013), which would replace statements of special education needs with education, health and care assessments, and the Care Bill (2013/2014) which also had transition elements. Ms Southern added that the multi-disciplinary Transition Forum would provide a good platform from which to address the legislative changes. Issues around transition in mental health services would be covered in a separate report to a later meeting of this Committee.  Ms Southern, Mr Segurola and Mr Mort responded to comments and questions from Members and the following points were highlighted:-

a)         for young people with special educational needs, transition was often a last minute thought;

b)         Connexions were involved in developing Transition protocols for young people with disabilities although their link in to this was via the Education, Learning and Skills rather than the Families and Social Care directorate.  Young people wishing to access this service are signposted to it via their school.  Mr Segurola added that Members would be most welcome to become involved in workshops looking at this issue; and

c)         the arrangements for transition, which were developed from the viewpoint of the child, and would take young people up to the age of 25, were welcomed, but concern was expressed that some young people might not realise that they might not necessarily meet the criteria for adult services.  Mr Segurola explained that Education, Learning and Skills directorate was developing a pathway to help and support young people who were not eligible and/or who were unsure of their eligibility.

2.         Mr Gibbens said that the need to improve transition had been a concern for him since he had taken over the portfolio, and had also been regularly highlighted by South East Councils for Adult Social Care and at care conferences as an issue needing attention.  More disabled young people were now living to adulthood and needed to take up adult services, which was welcomed but brought a challenge, and too many young people still fell through the net.  He reminded Members that he co-chaired the Community Partnership Board for young people with learning disabilities, at which professionals and representatives from local authorities came together to address key issues.  The message about young people’s needs which came via this Group was that three key things were most important – young people with learning disabilities wanted to have a job and a home and to spend time with their friends, and sought to have the same opportunities as any other young people. He undertook to ensure that the Cabinet and the Cabinet Committee would receive a report on the transition needs of vulnerable young people. 

3.         Mrs Whittle supported the points made by Mr Gibbens and added that, at meetings with young people and their parents which she had attended, she had experienced first-hand the fear and worry they faced about their future and the struggle they had to access services. The Children and Families Bill would provide the opportunity to ensure that the local offer would meet a child’s needs, and to raise families’ awareness of their entitlement to benefits and support.  She placed on record her thanks to Sue Dunn in the Education, Learning and Skills directorate for her work in supporting a young man into an apprenticeship.

4.         RESOLVED that:-

a)         the content of the report be noted;

b)         the planned action plan for the Transition Steering Group be agreed, in particular:-

i)          research and analysis to explore the strengths and weaknesses of different configurations of transition services;

ii)         further work regarding adult social care services providing the care leaver support to disabled care leavers who met eligibility criteria for adult social care services;

iii)        monitoring and review of the progress of a pilot project to streamline Direct Payments for young people going through transition; and

iv)        preparation for the expected changes in the Children and Families Bill (2013), and their implications for transition arrangements in Kent;

c)         planned workshops relating to mental health services for young people, to address pathwayplans and the commissioning of services, including transition arrangements, be noted; and

d)         a further report be made to this Committee in 12 months’ time to update progress on transition work.