Empty Promises and meaningless apologies

Dear Parents and carers, and all families advocating for children with SEN and disabilities,

RE: Children with Special Needs

Firstly, I would like to thank you for the work you are doing in advocating for families with children who have special needs in Haringey. I understand that families have recently submitted information to the Fairness Commission regarding issues related to SEND which you would like us to address, and rest assured that we will be looking at all the feedback you have shared and working with the service to explore the issues and make any improvements needed.

I am writing now to underline the commitment that all of us within the Local Authority have made, to a model of co-design and participation with our SEND parents, carers, partners, and stakeholders. This commitment starts with the Leader, myself as Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Children and Families and the Director of Children’s Services, Ann Graham. It signals an important milestone in how we work with families in ensuring, as best we can, that provision meets children’s needs.

I know from my own professional and personal experience, that joint working with families through a co-design approach is essential for children’s outcomes. We are committed to developing a co-design model that works and meets the ambition that we share for the services supporting all our children, young people and families. Developing this approach is now underway, and must be underpinned by trusting relationships between all parties. That is vital, and something we know needs to be built in order to secure the very best outcomes for all.
I know that officers have already begun the first steps in engaging with you as parents and carers, and I am taking a close interest in this which will give you the confidence that will grow as we work together and shape our services for all.

As part of our future programme of work, I can assure you that the Council will commit to the principles of timely information sharing, robust and thorough participation, inclusive participation and co-production based on mutual trust and respect. I understand a document is being drafted which sets this out clearly. Our aim, at all times, will be for respectful and productive dialogue.

We are aware that aspects of our ways of working, engaging and shaping services can be improved. We do need to effect considerable change if we are to move forward positively and co-design is critical to that.

You will appreciate I am new to this role, but it is clear to me that the service is now committed to working in a more open and inclusive manner. I support them unequivocally in this and indeed, think it is vital to delivering for SEND. This is a whole area issue, and Assistant Directors from across the Children and Young People’s Service including Schools and Learning, Commissioning and Social Care teams are working together with the Head of Integrated Service for SEN and Disabilities in achieving this.

While accepting the issues regarding our past communication, it is clear that our new approach can only succeed by working with parents and carers. Joint working, collaboration, participation, your knowledge, insights and challenge are all needed for coproduction to thrive. I urge you to continue to engage with the new approach, work with SEND team, so that we can begin to move forward with a service that seeks to provide the very best outcomes for all our children.


I am very happy to meet you and your groups to discuss this further.

Yours sincerely,

Zena Brabazon

Deputy Leader of Haringey Council
Cabinet Member for Children and Families

Dear Parent, Carers and all Partners

RE: SEND Transport Engagement

Thank you to those of you who were able to attend one of our sessions on Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Transport in Haringey.  We have also received email representations from some of you who weren't able to attend the event for which we are very grateful.  We held the event because we know that the transport service delivered to our children, young people and our families must improve and must improve quickly. Participants also made that very clear in their contributions throughout the day.

Through the open sessions and the focus groups we were able to engage and hear the views of a wide number of people - there were approximately 100 who attended across the day.  We have much work to do but we are determined that there will be ongoing outcomes from our continuing engagement with you.  We see this as the start of a joint process where we work with you to bring service improvements.

We will be compiling a report on Wednesday's engagement which will summarise that feedback we received on the day; set out some short and longer term changes that will improve the service and also set out how we will engage further on transport and on wider SEND issues.  To support this work we have engaged a charity called Amaze who were selected by our Co-Productions group and they will be working with us and with our community to widen our parent participation and ensure as many voices as possible are captured.  Amaze's work will take around three months, finishing in early summer and we will keep you informed on progress.

As we said above, the event on the 5th marks the beginning of an ongoing conversation with you to ensure that your experiences of our services shapes those services looking into the future.  Without your voices and your input we wouldn't be able to do this: thank you.

Best wishes

Zena Brabazon and Ann Graham

Dear parent / Carer

Re: Annual Application Request for SEN School / College / Centre Transport

I am writing to you on the ongoing review of our transport service provided for your child to ensure effective service delivery.

As you are aware in line with our SEN Travel Policy, parent / carers are required to make annual transport request via our team.  This will ensure that we have the right information for your child and will then form part of your child's annual travel review and risk assessment.

please visit the Haringey Council website to complete the SEN Transport and Travel Assistance Application Form:  http://www.haringey.goiv.uk/schooltransport

Once completed, the form should be submitted online.  If you require assistance with completing the form, please contact the Passenger Transport Service Team on XXXX XXX XXXX.

Please note that if you fail to complete an online application, your child's transport could be delayed as we are unable to assess his / her needs and any support required.

Deadline for application is 29th May 2020.

I will like to use this opportunity to thank you for your anticipated cooperation and look forward to working with you to achieve a service delivery that supports your child / young persons and promote their independence.

Dear Parent/Carer

Regarding Our Letter of the 19th March 2020 Concerning SEND Transport Annual Application Process

I am writing to you about the letter sent on 19 march regarding the application process fro Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Transport. I want to apologise that the letter, in this format, was sent out to you at such a time of uncertainty and worry.

Our intention was to ask you to start the process f applying fro SEND transport for the 2020/21 academic year.  I ma sorry for any concerns or anxiety this letter may have caused.  Please be assured this was not out intention.  However, I can fully understand how the letter's wording may have affected you and your family, causing upset and anxiety, and the fact that it did not consider or mention the current situation re Covid 19 and the pressures on families at present.

It was not our intention to burden you with more concerns, e.g. regarding deadlines, at this time.  However, I am sure you are aware that the current crisis will end, and by September we will need to have transport in place for the new school year.  To arrange this, we have to confirm numbers of children requiring transport.  We need to know who needs to go where, and then use this information to get contracts in place.

Therefore, even in these very difficult times we still need to work with you to get this information, so contracts are let and secure, with transport ready to go for the start of September.  We do appreciate the pressures families are now under, but if we can work together on this, and if you can assist us by providing all necessary information it will really help get plans in place.

Because we need the information, we will be re-sending the letter, but there will be extended deadlines to take into account of the current situation.  Please be assured that if you have any issues and need help and advice regarding the process, we are here to assist.  Please contact us and we will do our best to support you, as it is vital for us all that the information is accurate.

As many people have requested, it is our intention to streamline the process in order to avoid any unnecessary paperwork in the future.  Over the coming months, we will work with you to review our processes regarding transport applications to ensure it is improved and more sympathetic to your needs.  you will be contacted again in due course.

Again, my apologies for any anxiety this has caused you and to assure you a new letter with revised timescales will be sent to you.

Dear Parent/Carer,

Re: Annual Application Request for SEN School/College/Centre Transport

Firstly, I want to re-iterate my apology for the SEND transport letter of March 19. I fully appreciate the letter was unhelpful. It did not take account of the current situation, nor did it reflect parents’ comments about the home to school transport service which were shared at the SEND transport event held on 5 th February.

I am now writing to update you about home to school transport and the arrangements for the new school year in September 2020. I am pleased to tell you that we have revised our procedures to take full account of your concerns. We appreciate our process created an unnecessary annual inconvenience by asking you to submit a new application every year even if there had been no change in your circumstances. Parents were very clear regarding the annual SEND Transport application process being unnecessary. We agreed we did need to improve the process and hopefully this letter will assure you that we have listened; that we have made positive changes; and that we are working to constantly improve and simplify the process.

AGREED CHANGES

This letter confirms that we are removing the need to submit an annual transport application if your child’s circumstances have not changed. Completed forms will only be needed for those children and young people where there has been a change in circumstance. In practice this will mean were there has been a change such as a house move, or, for most children and young people, at a key education transition point (as children move from one stage of education to another e.g. primary to secondary school). Please note, these are just the two main examples, other changes may also be relevant.

However, we do still need timely, accurate, and up to date information to plan services, so we will need to know of any changes in your circumstances to ensure we deliver the transport services that you need. We therefore request that if you are unsure whether a change in your child’s circumstances is significant, and might require the completion of a new transport application form, that you contact our Passenger Transport Team on 0208 489 5629 and they will endeavour to help and advise you.

If you are clear there has been a change in circumstances then if you could please complete a new transport application via our website at http://www.haringey.gov.uk/schooltransport.

We want to ensure the delivery of a service that supports your child and promotes their independence and your help and support is vital in enabling us to do this. Can I therefore ask that if you do need to complete a new application (because of a change in circumstances), and that you have not already done one for the school year 20/21, that you try and do so before the 29th May. This will give us time to plan routes and ensure provision. Thank you for your cooperation with this. My apologies for us not getting to this point earlier but I hope this letter reassure you that we are listening and moving forward. Yours sincerely.

Nathan Jones
Head of SEND