Service categories: Information, advice and advocacy

Service URL: https://www.buckinghamshire.gov.uk/schools-and-learning/bucks-sendias-service/

Buckinghamshire Special Educational Needs and Disability Information, Advice and Support (SEND IAS) Service. All local authorities, by law, have to provide children and young people with special educational needs (SEN) or disabilities, and their parents, with information, advice and support. Buckinghamshire SEND IAS Service is the information, advice and support service here. Our service is free, confidential, impartial and at arm's length from Buckinghamshire County Council. We offer accurate and up-to-date resources and information about the law on special educational needs and disability. This covers education, health and social care; national and local policy; the Local Offer; your rights and choices; your opportunities to participate; where you can find help and advice; and how you can access this support. Sometimes information alone is not enough. You may want help to gather information, make sense of it and apply it to your situation. We call this advice and we offer this service by email, on the telephone, face to face and through work with groups or in training. We can also offer more intensive support if you need it. This can include helping with letters, attending meetings with you or supporting you in discussions with the local authority, school or other setting. We may be able to help you find an Independent Supporter or a volunteer who can support you. How we help: Signposting children, young people and parents to alternative and additional sources of advice, information and support that may be available locally or nationally; Individual casework and representation for those who need it, which may include: support in attending meetings, contributing to assessments and reviews and participating in decisions about outcomes for the child or young person; and directing children, young people, parents and those who support and work with them to additional support services where needed. Help when things go wrong, which includes: supporting children, young people and parents in arranging or attending early disagreement resolution meetings; supporting children, young people and parents in managing mediation, appeals to the First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability), exclusions and complaints on matters related to SEN and disability; making children, young people and parents aware of the local authority's services for resolving disagreements and for mediation, and on the routes of appeal and complaint on matters related to SEN and disability; and Provision of advice through individual casework and work with parent carer support groups, local SEN youth forums or disability groups, or training events..

Aimed at: Adolescent , Adult , Child , Parent/carer of a child, Parent/carer of a young person, Parent/carer of an adult, Young person

Specialisms: Generic