The Welsh Government has started a phased roll-out of a new system of support for children and young people with additional learning needs (ALN).

Nearly a quarter of children and young people in Wales have some form of special educational need and outcomes are poor compared to the rest of the pupil population.

The reforms make some welcome changes and have the potential to transform the expectations and experiences of autistic young people and their families.

However, we remain concerned about resources and implementation, particularly amid coronavirus recovery, a new curriculum and post-16 reforms.

We are raising our concerns with the Welsh Government and working to ensure successful implementation through the Third Sector Additional Needs Alliance.

Background

In January 2018, the Senedd passed the Additional Learning Needs and Education Tribunal (Wales) Act, which creates the new single statutory framework.

Over the next three years, the new ALN framework will replace the separate special educational needs (SEN) and learning difficulties and/or disabilities (LDD) systems in Wales’ schools and colleges.

Children and young people aged up to 25 who have ALN will receive individual development plans (IDPs) – setting out the support pupils and students will have a legal right to – while SEN/LDD plans and statements will be phased out.

The Act also expands the remit of the Special Educational Needs Tribunal for Wales, which will be renamed the Education Tribunal for Wales.

Purpose

Designed to replace the SEN model, which is now more than 30 years old, the Welsh Government reforms aim to:

• increase participation of children and young people
• encourage collaboration and information sharing
• improve additional learning provision in Welsh   
• ensure clear, consistent rights of appeal
• and create a simpler, less adversarial system

Rights and Responsibilities

The ALN Code sets out the rights of children and young people and the responsibilities of the public bodies delivering services.
 
Councils, schools, further education institutions (FEIs), pupil referral units (PRUs), youth offending teams and health bodies operating under the Act must have regard to:

• the views, wishes and feelings of children and young people
• the importance of children and young people and parents participating as fully as possible
• and the need to enable participation through information and support

Other duties include:

• Due regard to UN conventions on the rights of the child and disabled people.
• Outside of exceptional circumstances, schools must make an ALN decision, prepare an IDP and provide a copy within 35 school days of identifying ALN.
• Schools and FEIs must designate an ALN co-ordinator with responsibility for provision, while councils must designate an early years ALN lead officer.
• Similarly, health boards must have a designated education clinical lead officer responsible for functions in relation to ALN.
• To support early identification, health bodies have a duty to inform councils if they believe a child under compulsory school age has, or likely has, ALN.

Next steps

The timetable for implementation has been delayed by the coronavirus pandemic, with some aspects of the first phase pushed back until January.
 
From September 2021:

• Schools, PRUs and councils must apply the ALN code to children up to and including Year 10 who did not previously have an identified SEN and are new to the ALN system. This includes children in FEIs, independent nurseries and schools, education other than at school, and home education.
• Children who have provision via a statement or non-statutory plan – such as school action or school action plus – are not included at this stage.
• Schools, PRUs and councils can begin preparing IDPs.
• Children of compulsory school age up to and including Year 11 who are detained will be covered by, or will move to, the ALN system.

From January 2022:

• Children in some year groups who receive special education provision will begin to move to the ALN system. The year groups are: Nursery Years 1 and 2, Year 1, Year 3, Year 5, Year 7 and Year 10.
• Schools, PRUs and councils will issue notices to confirm whether a child has moved to the ALN system and an IDP will be prepared. Once an ALN notice is issued, the SEN system and law ceases to apply.

The Welsh Government plans to roll out the ALN system to other children and young people during the second and third years of implementation.

Further Information

• See our education pages on for more information or contact our education rights service for advice and guidance.