8th January 2025
Please see below a letter from, Melanie Barnett, Director Children’s Services (DCS), West Northamptonshire Council.
Dear Parent/Carers
I wanted to provide an update on some of the areas of focus that we have had within the SEND team over the last few months. I am fully aware and acknowledge the ongoing challenges that there are in terms of communication and the additional pressure that this can place on you and your families. I also acknowledge that some of the improvements that we are making would not have had an impact on your own personal experiences. I do want to apologise to those of you where this has been the case.
It is also my intention and commitment to further develop the communication channels that we have and I along with others in the service will be working closely with our Parent Carer Forum to ensure that we receive ongoing feedback, and the way we communicate is accessible for all parent/carers and that we adapt as and when required. I also want to assure you that I along with the staff in the service are fully committed to making the improvements that are required.
There are a couple of areas that I specifically want to update you on, relating to the SEND service. I am firstly really pleased to announce that Dr Louisa Jones joined us as Head of SEND on the 6th of January and we have also recently successfully recruited to 3 service managers within the SEND Teams. This is in addition to the additional EHC Case Workers that joined the team in September 2024. It is my intention, going forward from February, that on a monthly basis, we publish the structure chart on the Local Offer to ensure visibility for you all.
Over the last couple of months, we have reorganised our teams to further support the developments that we need to make. We now have one assessment team and two teams that will focus purely on annual reviews and phase transfer. Alongside this we have ensured that every child or young person, who has an EHCP has a named Case Worker. What is apparent and continues to be the case is there are some parent carers that do not know the name and contact details of the Case Worker allocated to their child. This has been a challenge for us to contact all Parent/Carers directly given the number of EHCPS and assessments that are ongoing which is in excess of 5000. For those parent carers that do not have contact details for their worker if you could email EHCNorthampton.NCC@westnorthants.gov.uk if you live in Northampton or EHCPDav.ncc@westnorthants.gov.uk if you live on South Northants or Daventry; a member of the team will get back to you within 5 working days to confirm the name and contact details of the caseworker.
As a service we have also been focussing on our communication and the standards expected, further information regarding this will follow as part of our continued improvement. In terms of communication, over the next few weeks we will be introducing phone surgeries where parents or carers are able to book a 10-minute conversation with their child’s caseworker at a mutually convenient time. I expect that we may receive a number of these requests and I know that you will appreciate given the challenges that we have that we are likely to receive a high volume of requests therefore I ask for your understanding as we introduce this.
Kind Regards
Melanie Barnett
Director Children’s Services (DCS)
West Northamptonshire Council
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