If your child or young person has an EHCP (education, health, and care plan) you may soon receive a survey from the local authority asking how you felt about the process.
This is because a recent update to the local authority’s audit tool for EHCPs, called Invision 360, now has an option for parent carer and young person feedback as part of the auditing process.
The aim is to understand if the EHCP process is working well for families; questions will include if you felt informed and supported, if the plan accurately describes your child/young person, and if it’s written in a way that is easy to understand.
In East Sussex, around 300 plans a year are audited – about 100 per termly cycle – so you may not receive the survey if your child or young person’s EHCP is not being audited.
About Invision 360
The auditing tool asks questions such as how clear plans are, whether there is provision to meet all the needs identified, and whether all sections are written as they should be.
Since this process was first introduced in East Sussex about three years ago, ESPCF has highlighted concerns about the tool’s limitations, including that the audits were being completed by assessment and planning officers who did not know the child or young person. This raised questions about how plans could be reviewed properly in terms of ensuring they are fully and accurately reflective of the individual child or young person’s needs.
If your child or young person’s plan is being audited, it would be great to hear from you. We’d like to know if the questions allow you to say the things that are most important to you, or if there are still parts of the process which are not covered.
We’re pleased to see that there is a question about implementation of the plan, and if families are aware of next steps for reviewing and updating the EHCP. This is something we continue to raise, as even the most perfectly written plan needs to be put into practice for it to make a difference!