Children and Families Act 2014

The Children and Families Act takes forward the Government’s commitments to improve services for vulnerable children and support building stronger families. It underpins wider reforms to ensure that all children and young people can succeed, no matter what their background. The Act reforms the systems for adoption, children who are looked after, family justice and special educational needs.

The Government has changed the system for children and young people with special education needs (SEN), including those who are disabled. The Act extends the SEN system from birth to 25, giving children, young people and their parents / carers greater involvement in decisions and ensuring needs are properly met. It takes forward the reform programme set out in Support and Aspiration: A New Approach to Special Educational Needs and Disability:

Progress and next steps by:

• Replacing statements and learning difficulty assessments with a new birth-to-25 Education, Health and Care Plan.
• Improving cooperation between all the services that support children and their families and particularly requiring local authorities and health authorities to work together.
• Requiring local authorities to involve children, young people and parents in reviewing and developing provision for those with special educational needs and to publish a ‘local offer’ of support.
• All authorities are required to provide a ‘Local Offer’ that provides information about what local services are available to support disabled children and children with SEN and their families.

The Stockport Local Offer provides parents / carers with information about how to access services in their area, and what they can expect from those services. It lets parents / carers and young people know how school and colleges will support them, and what they can expect across local schools and colleges.

Click on the link below for further information.