What you can expect when you use our service

We aim to empower children and young people, and their parent carers, to take part fully in the decisions made about them and their education. We also give information and support around health and social care issues. We help families to be well informed and confident about what they need to do and to play an active role.

We do that by giving legally based information and advice. Our aim is always to give that in the right amount and at the right time. As every child is different, we always adapt what we do for each individual or family.

We do not judge people, or their situation or circumstances. We support parent carers and young people to do as much as possible for themselves, using their skills and strengths. That might mean showing a young person how to do something themselves, rather than doing it for them. Or giving support to a parent to prepare well for a meeting rather than attending with them. We always support everyone to find a way forward with their situation themselves, by helping enquirers to work out their priorities and explore their options.

Enquiry line staff use a solution focused approach. That means helping people move towards the future that they want. It involves learning what they can do by using their existing skills, strategies and ideas – rather than focusing on the problem. We work with enquirers to help them understand their situation and then take a positive step forward with whatever problem they come to us with on that day.

The service does three main things. We give:

1. Information
   We do this through our website, factsheets and guides, top tips, newsletter and tools. We also share information via our Facebook page, training sessions and events, and through our Ambassador Volunteer Programme.
2. Advice
   This is given by the expert and knowledgeable team staffing our enquiry service - by phone, text or by email. Enquiries are dealt with as they come in as single pieces of work, often there and then. Enquirers can come back whenever they need to for more advice. Advice is supported where appropriate by online information and signposting to other organisations.
3. Support
   For a few families, where need is greatest, we also sometimes give more in-depth support. This is from an assigned DiAS Officer or volunteer, by phone and email or occasionally face to face. This is support that may be given over a few weeks or months.

The enquiry line is open between 10am and 3pm, Monday to Friday. We are open in school holidays as well term time, apart from the Christmas and New Year period.

You can use the contact form on the website at any time to email us. You can also leave a voicemail message outside of the enquiry line opening hours. The website is available 24/7 and it has information about a wide range of SEND topics.

We aim to offer a consistent and equitable service to our users. To give fair access to the service, we answer enquiries in the order in which they come in, whether by phone or email. We aim to respond to enquirers within 2-3 working days of their initial contact.

Calling us

When you call us, you’ll usually get through to a member of our enquiry line staff. These are the important things to know about the call:

• Most calls usually last no more than about 30 minutes. We are not going to cut you off when you reach that time, but we find it helps to aim for that so that the call is focused and you get useful advice.
• We will ask you for some basic information about you and your child, and the reason for your call. We add this information to our database to help us give you the best service and to monitor how and why people use the service. We don’t share that information with anyone else, unless you say it’s OK to or unless it’s a safeguarding issue and someone is at risk of harm.
• We will ask you to tell us a bit about your situation and will focus on the issue you’ve called in about that day. We aim to give you choices about what you could do next and a clear plan for you to follow.
• We might follow up our call with an email. That may include some links to more information and a reminder of what was talked about during the call.
• On the bottom of every email there is a link to our feedback form. We would really appreciate any feedback you have about the call or our service as it helps us to develop and reflect on what we do.

Using our web contact form

• When you fill out the form, tell us what you need support with today. It helps us give you the right advice if you can give us brief but specific information about your situation and the questions you have.
• If you have specifically asked us to reply by email, that is what we will do.
• Sometimes it can be difficult to reply by email if the situation you’re in, or the information you’ve asked for, looks like it needs a discussion. If that’s the case, we’ll call you on the phone number you’ve given us to talk about it.
• If we call you, it’s likely to be between 24-48 hours after you’ve contacted us (working days). The call will show as an unknown number.

Just as every child or young person with SEND is different, every individual or family that contacts us is too. That’s why we might give different levels of support, depending on need.

Everyone who makes initial contact with us, whether by phone or by email, gets advice from our enquiry line team. However, there are some circumstances and some families that might need us to give more in-depth support, or a longer period of support. We make these decisions on a ‘case-by-case’ basis. However, these are the kinds of things that we might consider when deciding whether a family needs this type of support.

• If the situation is legally complex, such as a tribunal or independent review panel.
• When someone can’t speak up for themselves. This might be difficult if they have learning or communication difficulties, English as an additional language, or are in a very difficult home situation, for example.
• If the situation a family is in is having a significant impact, or someone is at risk of harm.
• When the situation is time critical and there is a risk that something important won’t happen without support.
• When the situation is particularly complex, such as if there are lots of professionals involved, or the situation is ‘stuck’ with unresolved issues.

We usually bring support to an end when an issue has been resolved or a parent or young person can speak up for themselves. Parent carers and young people can come back to us whenever they need further information or advice.

The DIAS enquiry line is staffed by people doing two roles - Information and Advice Triage Officer and DIAS Officer. Both have the same level of legal training in SEND (IPSEA level 3), and both can give advice by email or phone. DIAS officers can also provide longer term or more in-depth support to those families who need it.

We have a small team of volunteers who offer some direct support to parent carers, and occasionally to young people. They offer support for specific pieces of work, rather than for an ongoing period of time. Volunteers can give support for the following activities.

• To help you to gather your views and wishes, or your child’s, for a school plan or for an Education Health and Care (EHC) needs assessment, plan or review.
• To understand reports, assessments and paperwork.
• When you’re in a meeting with the staff at your child’s nursery, school or college or other professionals. They might take notes, help you to ask questions and help you to give your views too. Afterwards, your DIAS Officer will send you a copy of the notes from the meeting, with information about anything that was agreed. Our volunteers give support for online meetings as well as face to face ones.
• To present your case at a mediation meeting or tribunal, for example if you’re challenging the local authority’s decision about an EHC plan needs assessment.

DIAS volunteers work under the supervision of DIAS Officers and they follow the same confidentiality and impartiality rules. All of our volunteers are fully Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checked if they’re working with the public. This means a check has been done to make sure they can work with vulnerable groups, including children and young people.

All volunteers working with parents and carers, children and young people are trained in special educational needs and disability (SEND). Some of our volunteers choose to do extra training, or have knowledge and expertise in areas like mediation and tribunals.

We are always looking at and improving our service, to make sure families get the support they want and need.

We collect feedback in several ways using postal questionnaires, telephone interviews, internet surveys and questionnaires following training events. If you want to give us feedback you can complete our online survey feedback survey, which you can find on our website.

You can also contact us directly if you have more detailed comments or a complaint to make.