Stoke-on-Trent City Council would like to hear your views on the priorities it has identified for the Joint Commissioning Strategy for SEND 2023-2028.

OUR VISION - “Children and young people with special educational needs, disabilities and social, emotional and mental health, living in Stoke-on-Trent will have the opportunity to be the best that they can be, live their best life and be as aspirational as they want to be’’.

What is Joint Commissioning?

Joint commissioning is where there is a shared ownership of improving the lives of children and young people with SEND and their families.  Partners across education, social care and health work with children and young people and their families to agree at a strategic, service and individual level what is needed in the City of Stoke -on-Trent and will work together to commission and deliver it.

As a partnership between Stoke-on-Trent City Council and the Integrated Care Board it is important that we understand the challenges and issues facing the local area in order to effectively support residents and to enable the joint commissioning of the right support at the right time, delivered by the right people. Not only does this statement support this strategy but also feeds into the key wider local outcomes identified in the “To be the best I can be” priorities and outcomes have been developed by children, young people and families.

We have got improvements to make to ensure that in Stoke-on-Trent, joint commissioning can take centre stage so that we work more closely and creatively with communities to understand need, shape the best possible co-produced solutions with our families and meet ambition and hope.

What this Strategy does...

It identifies a set of shared principles and priorities that will set a road map for all joint planning and commissioning decisions for SEND. This has been informed by data from the UK Government’s Special educational needs in England statistics Statistics: special educational needs (SEN) - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) and feedback from our communities and is in line with the requirements of the SEND Code of practice:0-25 years.

This Strategy will provide a roadmap on how collectively we will jointly commission and work towards this vision, ensuring high quality, joined up services across education, health and social care. We will build upon our strengths, working closely with our community to understand and listen to what matters most to them, to ensure that we are able to meet the needs of young people with SEND and their families.

We have co-produced the draft strategy by engaging with children, young people and adults with SEND, parents and carers, partners and stakeholders. We would like your feedback on this draft. There is also an opportunity to join us in our work going forward.

Between September and October 2022, we held number of engagement sessions and an online survey throughout Stoke-on-Trent with SEND children and young people, their parents and carers, and professionals who work with SEND children and young people. We gathered over 70 responses and, from that feedback, we have created a strategy which we think picks out the main issues raised through the engagement. We have used that to create priority areas, which we want to check with you now, to make sure we are not missing anything, and to ask you which you feel is most important to you/your child and or the children you work with.

Stoke-on-Trent Joint Commissioning Strategy for SEND Priorities

1. Understanding the needs of the local SEND population and current/future service demand and capacity.
2. Meeting the needs of our neurodiverse population.
3. Developing a joint graduated approach that meets the speech, language and communication needs of our SEND population.
4. Improving access to therapy and integrated equipment provision.
5. Nursing provision for children and young people with SEND.
6. Improve communication between agencies, professionals, children and young people and families.
7. Ensuring the workforce is skilled, knowledgeable and feels supported and equipped to support children and young people with SEND.
8. Children and young people with SEND are supported with their social and emotional mental health.
9. Improve the early identification of SEND needs, in the early years, as well as intervening when issues start to arise.

Have your say

The consultation will run from Tuesday 3 January to midnight on Tuesday 31 January 2023.

To read the draft strategy and complete the online survey click the button below:

Stoke-on-Trent Joint Commissioning Strategy for SEND

Online Survey

If you have any queries regarding this consultation, please contact: commissioningandpartnerships.sp@stoke.gov.uk, putting “Joint Commissioning Strategy for SEND” in the subject heading.

Engagement sessions

We will be holding a small number of engagement sessions both virtually and in person. Please see more information below:

Virtual events

In person event