SEND INTEGRATED THERAPY SERVICE (0-25)

Essex County Council (ECC) has a statutory responsibility, as set out in the Children and Families Act 2014 and the SEND Code of Practice 2015 to ensure delivery of the therapy provision detailed in a child or young person's Statement of Special Educational Needs or Education, Health and Care Plan. Where that therapy provision cannot be resourced and delivered through the Clinical Commissioning Groups' contracts, Essex County Council must source the provision to comply with its' statutory obligations.

Currently to date ECC has a single contract in place for the delivery of an Essex wide service this arrangement terminates 31st July 2022 and will be replaced by contracts for 3 Service Delivery Areas, that are geographically aligned with the Essex NHS Integrated Care Systems that allow easier and closer working with Health teams in the area, and to develop a cohesive service that supports the local population. In addition, ECC spot purchases from a range of individual Independent Therapists, largely to support those Essex Children and Young People who attend Settings in other local authority areas. ECC will consolidate these arrangements within this contract, to ensure consistency and monitoring.

Through this procurement ECC must ensure that Direct Therapy Hours identified for Children and Young People as part of their EHCP, that are not supported by CCG Commissioned Services are delivered, and that there is sufficient support for ECC at the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal (SENDIST) through assessment, report writing and attendance at court where required.

In addition, ECC are seeking the creation of innovative models of early intervention that develop the skills and empower the wider workforce, along with parents and carers to support Children and Young People at the earliest opportunity, ensuring that their needs are identified and met as soon as possible in the most appropriate way for them. These models will be developed through system wide collaboration with Local NHS Therapy Teams, ECC teams and Essex Schools.