What?

The Children and Families Act 2014 sets out clear principles for supporting and involving children and young people in all aspects of the support and planning of their special educational need. Person centred approaches are about discovering and acting on what is important to a person and what is important for them, and finding the balance between them.

The SEND Code of Practice promotes person-centred planning (PCP) as a way to ensure that children and young people and their families are involved in decision-making and planning. It is based on the idea that people want to be treated as a whole person by professionals they trust. The Code of Practice is a statutory document that outlines the requirements of the Children and Families Act 2014. 

Person-centred planning can help ensure that: 

• children and young people express their views, wishes, and feelings

• children and young people say what they are interested in, what they have done, and what outcomes they want in the future

• support is tailored to the individual's needs

• assessments are organised to minimise demands on families

• education, health and care plans (EHCPs) are developed with the child, young person, and parents or carers

• outcomes are aspirational and achievable

Who? 

As a special educational needs coordinator (SENCo), working with teachers and teaching assistants within your school setting, you take the lead on ensuring that person-centred planning takes place within your school.

How? 

If applying for an EHCP, person-centred planning is built into the application process. Within the application form for an education, health and care needs assessment (EHCNA), there is a children and young people questionnaire which can be found on pages six to nine. There are two variations on the form to capture the children and young people’s views: one with Makaton (pages six to seven) and one without Makaton (pages eight to nine). The form can be downloaded from the applying for an education, health and care needs assessment page on the Local Offer. 

If an EHCNA takes place, person-centred planning is built into this process by the educational psychologist who visits the child or young person at their school as part of the EHCNA process. They will meet with the child or young person to seek their views. They may use a 'planning alternative tomorrows with hope' (PATH) style approach to do this.

If a child or young person is issued with an EHCP, there is an opportunity for person-centred planning each year when an annual review of their EHCP takes place. This is done by completing a designated annual review form called 'appendix 1: young person's view'. The form is available with and without Makaton and can be found on our Local Offer annual review page.

For those children and young people on the school’s SEND register who do not have an EHCP, it is good practice to include person-centred planning when reviewing the progress and attainment of any targets that have been set. It is important to involve children and young people in the setting of new targets. There is no set borough form for person-centred planning in this instance. It is at the discretion of each school how they involve children and young people in the planning of these targets and their review.

Person-centred planning should: 

• focus on the child or young person as an individual. What is appreciated about the child? (so what are the child or young person’s qualities and characteristics?)

• enable children or young people and their parents to express their views, wishes and feelings. What is important to the child or young person at present? What is important to the child or young person in the future and what must be present in the future? What is working or not working at present? 

• enable children and young people and their parents to be part of the decision-making process. What is the best support for them? 

• make it easy for children and young people and their parents or carers to understand what you are saying, and use clear ordinary language and images rather than professional jargon

• highlight the child or young person’s strengths and capabilities

• enable the child or young person and those that know them best to say what they have done, what they are interested in and what outcomes they are seeking in the future

• tailor support to the needs of the individual

• organise assessments to minimise demands on families

• bring together relevant professionals to discuss and agree together the overall approach

• deliver an outcome-focused and co-ordinated plan for the child or young person and their parents or carers

Further resources 

What is person-centred planning: from the Council for Disabled Children