The process of obtaining a plan can be fraught for parents, who often feel left in the dark, and time consuming for local authorities, who need to collate assessments from a wide range of health, education and social care professionals.
Leading software company Idox’s innovative EHC Hub aims to achieve significant time and cost savings for local authorities and their partners while putting the voice of children and families at the centre of the process.
“The number of cases that local authorities are dealing with is increasing all the time,” says Chris Evans, Head of Product and Strategy at Idox.
The secure digital platform was developed in consultation with local authorities, parent carer forums and professionals across education, health and social care. It brings families, professionals and local authorities together to collaborate on assessments, plans and reviews.
“We have taken the whole statutory journey online, from families making a request for an assessment, all the way through the process of considering that request, making the decisions, and co-producing a plan to support a child or young person,” says Evans.
Transparency
After a child’s school, parent or carer has requested an EHC assessment, families often hear very little until a decision letter is received. There is a statutory timeline for EHC Plans, and the EHC Hub sets out expectations at every stage, confirming key dates and sending out automatic reminders.
The EHC Hub allows families to track the progress of the assessment, giving clear information on what is happening, what will happen next, and whether local authorities are meeting statutory deadlines.
Families can view advice contributions written by all professionals involved in the case, and are able to log on at any time of the day or night. “Rather than having to call a local authority during the working day and find someone who knows about their case, they can log on at 9pm after the kids have gone to bed, and find out what is going on,” says Evans.
Efficiency
For each EHC Plan, local authority case coordinators must co-ordinate assessments from a wide range of professionals. These might include educational psychologists,
teachers, SENCOs, social workers, speech and language therapists, occupational therapists and paediatricians, as well as other healthcare specialists.
Each professional is able to log in and submit their advice directly onto the system, meaning case workers no longer have to spend time collating details from a range of emails, documents, and other sources.
A dashboard tool gives case co-ordinators an at-a-glance overview of all their allocated cases, and professionals can also follow the progress of all the cases they are involved with.
Education settings, for example, can keep track of when review meetings are due for all children and young people in their setting. EHC Plans can be created directly on the platform itself, using the information which has been uploaded, while a reporting area provides local authorities with insights into how well timeframes are being met overall and how well children and young people are progressing toward meeting their individual outcomes.
Child and young person-centred
The EHC Hub puts children, young people and families at the heart of the process with a multimedia spaces that capture what is important in their life, and for parents to voice their aspirations. “Being person- or family-centred is central to the legislation around EHC Plans,” says Evans.
The Hub allows children, young people and parents to add short video clips and pictures as well as text about what makes them happy and what they are interested in. “It's really trying to bring the family and the young person's voice directly into the assessment process in a way that they haven't been able to do before,” explains Evans. “It also saves the child and family having to tell their story ten times or more, to different professionals.”
Not all professionals involved in the case will have met the child involved, and being able to access the multimedia space to understand the families’ views gives them a more holistic view. “When the professional logs on to the Hub, they have all of the context of that case, so they're not asked to provide advice in isolation,” says Evans.
Idox’s EHC Hub is currently being used to maintain more than 56,500 EHC Plans, across 20 local authorities. “The EHC Hub has been invaluable during the pandemic, and has allowed the SEND service, parents/carers, educational establishments and partners from across education, health and care to continue to be able to conduct EHC needs assessments and annual reviews whilst working remotely,” says Sandy Lisle, Service Manager SEND Assessment and Planning at Wolverhampton City Council.
Ultimately, the Hub allows local authorities to support children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities to reach their full potential.
Further information
Call Idox on 0333 011 1200 or email marketing@idoxgroup.com to find out more about Idox’s solutions for SEND
Find out more about the EHC Hub and watch a video at www.idoxgroup.com/ehc-hub
