Guidance
Below is a list of key policy, guidance, consultations and
legislation that refers to or has an impact on disabled
young people in transition to adulthood.
Aiming High for Disabled Children
Aiming
High for Disabled Children: Better support for
families
The government’s transformation programme for disabled children's
services.
Aiming High for Young People
Aiming High for Young People: a ten year strategy for positive
activities
This document considers how the Government can help all young
people, particularly those in deprived areas, to take part in
enjoyable and purposeful activities in their free time which can
help them develop new skills and raise their aspirations. The
Every
Child Matters website also gives information about the Youth
Opportunity Fund and Youth Capital Fund. NTST have also produced a
guide on How to involve
disabled young people in Aiming High for Young People: a ten year
strategy for positive activities.
Adult Social Care
Director of Adult Social Services guidance
This guidance on the Statutory Chief Officer Post of the Director
of Adult Social Services published by the Department of Health in
2006, states:
"The DASS and the Director of Children's Services have put adequate
arrangements in place to ensure that all young people with
long-term social care needs have been assessed and, where eligible,
receive a service which meets their needs throughout their
transition to becoming adults."
Links to this can also be found on the Transition Information
Network website.
Use of resources in adult social care: A guide for local
authorities
This guide is to stimulate discussion
and debate for local authorities on how to commission and shape
services for tomorrow by making best use of resources.
(Department of Health, 15 October 2009)
Shaping the future of care together
Shaping the Future of Care Together sets out a
vision for a new care and support system. The Green Paper
highlights the challenges faced by the current system and the need
for radical reform, to develop a National Care Service that is
fair, simple and affordable for everyone. You can also download
an NTST
briefing which looks at the green paper in
relation to young disabled people’s transition into adult life.
Education
Supporting young people with learning difficulties to
participate and progress - incorporating guidance on Learning
Difficulty Assessments
The Education and Skills Act 2008 places a duty on local
authorities to promote participation in education or training of
young people in their area. This is particularly important in
ensuring that learners who need support to access education and
training are appropriately assessed and supported by local
authorities in fulfilling their duties under the Act. This guidance
will help local authorities make consistent, effective and robust
decisions that will lead to positive outcomes for young people with
learning difficulties and/or disabilities.
NTST has also produced a briefing about Section 139A
Assessments.
(DCSF, April 2010)
Placement Information: Learners with Learning Difficulties
and/or Disabilities at Independent Specialist Providers
2010/11
Guidance note published by the Young
People's Learning Agency
(YPLA, April 2010)
Commissioning Support Programme
The Commissioning Support Programme website includes information on
delivery arrangements for 16-19 education and training.
Employment
Valuing Employment Now: real jobs for people with learning
disabilities
Valuing Employment Now sets out the Government's strategy to
radically increase the number of people with learning disabilities
in employment by 2025. The Valuing Employment Now (VEN) cross-government
delivery team has developed a range of
resources to promote best practice and support local and
regional delivery of the VEN strategy.
(Department of Health, June 2009)
You can also download an NTST briefing on
Valuing Employment Now. The briefing is intended to give an
overview of the strategy in relation to young disabled people’s
transition into adult life.
(NTST, August 2009)
Health and Wellbeing
e-Learning for
Healthcare
The Adolescent Health e-learning
project aims to ensure that all health professionals have essential
youth communication skills and understand young people's rights to
consent and confidentiality. The project is delivered by the Royal
College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) and e-Learning for
Healthcare (e-LfH) and is funded by the Department of Health’s
Children & Young People's Public Health Programme, to support
Healthy Lives, Brighter Futures - the Children and Young People's
Health Strategy. Module 6 is about disability and transition.
Healthy lives, brighter futures – The strategy for children and
young people’s health
This joint DH/DCSF strategy presents the Government’s vision for
children and young people’s health and wellbeing.
(DH/DCSF, February 2009)
Download the Council for Disabled Children's policy analysis of the
Child Health Strategy and its implications for disabled children
and young people.
Transition: Moving on Well
A good practice guide on effective transition from children's to
adult services for young people with complex health needs. The
guide will help ensure that the young person and their family is
better prepared for the move to adult care and that the adult care
team has been involved in planning for the transfer.
(DH/DCSF, March 2008)
You're Welcome quality criteria: Making health services
young people friendly
You're Welcome quality criteria sets out principles that will help
health services (including non-NHS provision) become young people
friendly. It covers areas to be considered by commissioners and
providers of health services.
(Department of Health 2007)
You’re Welcome quality criteria self-assessment
toolkit
The You’re Welcome self-assessment toolkit has been designed to
enable service providers and commissioners to see what to do to be
“young people friendly” and more appropriate to the needs of young
people – as detailed in the quality criteria.
(Department of Health 2009)
Independent Living
Independent
Living Strategy
This cross-Governmental strategy, published in 2008, sets out
a five-year plan that seeks to realise the Government’s aim that
all disabled people should be able to live autonomous lives, and to
have the same choice, freedom, dignity and control over their lives
as non-disabled people.
(Office for Disability Issues, February 2008)
Information, Advice and Guidance
Quality, Choice and Aspiration - A strategy for young
people's information, advice and guidance
Young people need high quality information, advice and
guidance (IAG) to help them find their way in the world and make
decisions that will set them on the path to success. This is
the government's strategy to improve IAG for all young
people.
(DCSF, October 2009)
Legislation
Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning
Act
The ASCL Act takes forward significant reforms to post-16
education and training to improve the delivery to young people
and adults. The Act received Royal Assent on 12 November 2009.
Person Centred Planning
Person Centred Planning: Advice for using person-centred
thinking, planning and reviews in schools and
transition
This is part of a series of
good practice guides on person centred planning published by
the Putting People First and Valuing People Now teams. It is
intended to show how person-centred thinking, planning and reviews
can be useful in schools and in transition, to ensure that young
people with disabilities are listened to and leave school or
college for paid employment and full lives.
(DH, 6 April 2010)
Safeguarding
Safeguarding disabled children
This guidance is aimed at local safeguarding children board (LSCB)
partners and other professionals working with children and young
people and their families. It is intended to help them safeguard
and promote the welfare of disabled children and young people. It
is supplementary to, and should be used in conjunction with, the
government's statutory guidance, Working Together to Safeguard
Children.
(DCSF, 2009)
Transition
A transition guide for all
services
This guide brings together all key information for professionals
about the transition process. It includes information on statutory
duties and offers examples of effective practice to illustrate how
services are addressing local need. Supplementary
information to this guide is also available.
(DH/DCSF, October 2007)
SEN Code of Practice 2001
Code of Practice under the Education Act 1996. Describes the annual
review process from Year 9 and the place of the transition plan
within that process. The SEN
Toolkit 2001 adds further detail to this guidance.
(DfES, November 2001)
Valuing People Now
Valuing People Now: a new three-year strategy for people
with learning disabilities
Valuing People Now sets out the Government's strategy for people
with learning disabilities for the next three years following
consultation. It also responds to the main recommendations in
Healthcare for All, the independent inquiry into access to
healthcare for people with learning disabilities.
(DH, January 2009)