What is a coordinated support plan (CSP)?
A coordinated support plan is a statutory document subject to regular monitoring and review for those children or young people who meet the criteria for requiring one.
Who will get a coordinated support plan?
Any child or young person who meets the criteria must get a coordinated support plan.
What are the criteria for a coordinated support plan?
See the Code of Practice, Chapter 4, Section 2.
What is meant by “Significant Adverse Effect”?
The Act says that factors giving rise to additional support needs are complex or multiple if they have, or are likely to have, a “significant adverse effect” on a pupil’s school education. The Act does not, however, define what a “significant adverse effect” is, but we can get some idea of what is meant from the Code of Practice. The Code suggests that:
· the effects are wide ranging: most aspects of a pupil’s learning will be affected
· the effects are likely to last for more than a year, and
· there is evidence to show that the child or young person is unable to benefit from school education without significant additional support.
See Code of Practice, Chapter 4, Sections 11 and 12, and the flowchart on page 53.
What is “significant additional support”?
In terms of education, significant additional support would be
· full or part time placement in a specialist provision
· substantial additional support from an adult
At the meeting to establish whether a child or young person may be eligible for a CSP, professionals from other agencies would be asked to determine whether the support they are providing is significant. This support must also be benefiting the child or young person’s learning.
How will a child or young person get a coordinated support plan?
- The group of professionals involved with a child or young person with additional support needs e.g. PSG will consider the criteria to determine whether a Coordinated support plan is required
- A parent or young person or an appropriate agency can make a request to the authority’s Contact Officer for a child or young person to be considered for a coordinated support plan
In both of the above cases, a request should be made to the authority’s Contact Officer using Form 1, 2 or 3. The Contact Officer first of all has to determine whether the request is reasonable and, if it is so, will then make a decision as to whether the criteria for a CSP has been met.
See the Code of Practice, Chapter 4, Section 18 for Decision Tree.
How long will the process take?
From the date of the parental or other request, the Plan must be in place within 16 weeks.
Within 4 weeks, the criteria must be applied and a decision taken as to whether the child or young person’s needs meet the criteria. This decision must be communicated to the parents, young person, school or agency who made the request.
Within the next 12 weeks the process for writing a Coordinated support plan must be completed and a copy of the document sent to the parent or young person.
There may be circumstances outwith the control of the authority which make compliance with the above timescales impracticable. Exceptions which cover the circumstances relating to both the establishing and preparing phases of the overall process include:
· the child’s parents or young person has made a request for a particular type of assessment that cannot take place, or the results will not be available within the 16 week period
· the authority has asked an appropriate agency or other persons to help and they have not been able to respond in time.
The new time limit must not exceed 24 weeks from the original start date.
See the Code of Practice, Chapter 4, Sections 32-42
Are the above time scales defined in terms of working weeks i.e. excluding the school holidays?
Yes
What is a CSP coordinator?
The CSP coordinator is the person responsible for monitoring that the services required to deliver the additional support identified in the coordinated support plan are in place.
See Code of Practice, Chapter 4, Section 60.
Who will decide who will be the CSP coordinator?
This decision will be taken by the group of professionals involved with the child or young person and, in practice, is likely to be one of them, but the Code of Practice says it need not be. (Code of Practice, Chapter 4 Section 63.) Best practice would dictate that it should be someone who knows the child or young person and his or her family well and who has their confidence. The Code of Practice, Chapter 4, Section 62, lists what the coordinator should be able to do.
Where will the coordinated support plan be kept?
One copy will be kept at the headquarters of the Children and Families Department.
One copy will be given to the child’s parents or the young person.
One copy will be kept in the school attended by the child or young person. How it is kept is a matter for the school to decide bearing in mind it is a confidential document and should not be disclosed to anyone other than those authorised to see it or have copies of or extracts from it. However, for the coordinated support plan to be effective, it must be shared with a range of people. As a strategic planning document the CSP should be used and referred to on a regular basis.
Who will receive copies of the coordinated support plan?
The child’s parents or young person will receive a copy of the CSP. Other copies or extracts should be given to those people who have been involved in drawing up the plan and/or have responsibility for providing the additional support as detailed in the plan.
Is a child in a pre-school provision eligible for a coordinated support plan?
The authority has a duty under the Act to prepare a CSP for children for whose education they are responsible. This means that once a child is in a pre-school provision provided by the authority - a nursery school or class or a Child and Family Centre – or a partner provider nursery, they may have a Coordinated support plan, provided the other criteria are met.
The authority need not wait until a child reaches the age of entitlement to school education before beginning the initial assessments to determine whether a Coordinated support plan will be necessary, if they have grounds to believe such a plan will be required.
See the Code of Practice, Chapter 4, Sections 3-4.
What will happen if a child or young person with a Coordinated support plan moves to another authority?
The education authority which prepared the CSP must transfer it to the new education authority within 4 weeks from
· the date of departure notified on which the child or young person will be moving or
· the date the original education authority becomes aware that a move has taken place.
This will be done by the authority’s Contact Officer.
See the Code of Practice, Chapter 4, Section 74
Will a child or young person with a CSP still have an IEP?
In almost all cases, an IEP will be an essential component of any coordinated support plan. Only in very exceptional circumstances will other planning mechanisms be appropriate. Those long term targets in an IEP which require the support to be coordinated would then be the educational objectives of the CSP.
Will a child or young person with a Record of Needs automatically get a coordinated support plan?
No. A CSP will only be required for those children who meet the criteria. However, a child or young person with a Record of Needs will have their level of support protected for up to 2 years. Within this period, schools are advised to adopt a watching brief for the first 12 months, except where there is a specific request to assess for a CSP from a parent, young person or outside agency. If the school is concerned that a child may be disadvantaged by this in some way they should complete the forms with a request that the Contact Officer agrees that there are circumstances to justify considering opening a CSP.
If the Contact Officer agrees that a CSP should be opened, the process for preparing a CSP will begin. If they do not meet the criteria, the level of support provided for the child or young person will be protected for a further 2 years following the decision that a CSP is not required.
With no Records of Needs, what will now trigger a Section 13 request?
Triggers for a Section 13 request would be
- a pupil record will show if a child or young person has been assessed as having a disibility in medical terms
- a member of school staff or another professional has a concern
The school’s ASL team leader will be responsible for ensuring that a Section 13 request is made.
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