Scripted calls to randomly selected IASS

To examine how helpful IASS were in providing information, advice and support about disagreement resolution over the phone27_{, in June 2016, we randomly selected 30 local} authority IAS Services (approximately one-in-five) from across England. We did this using a random number generator.

Contact numbers and opening hours were sourced from the Information Advice and Support Network website, individual IASS websites, or IASS voicemails. A researcher phoned all 30 IAS Services posing as the friend of a woman whose son had special educational needs. Two scripts were used: one focused on how to make a complaint and one on how to make an appeal to the First-tier Tribunal SEND. In half (15) the calls,

26 _{Brief details of these methods are in the Introduction. Further details can be found in the appendices.} 27 _{IASS also provide information, advice and support by e-mail and through calling back in response to a} message left on voicemail.

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the researcher used Script 1, and in the other half, Script 2 (set out in the text boxes below).

The scripts differed by issue being addressed, not structure. In terms of IASS

intervention levels (IASSN, 2016), we deemed this to be a Level 1 (low) intervention request. The researcher took notes during the conversation which were then

systematically recorded, using a structured template. The template recorded availability of the service (opening hours), ease of getting to talk to someone, friendliness of the voice on the phone (voicemail or person), the information given and any support offered.

3.2.1.1 Availability of the service (opening hours)

Opening hours of IAS Services were gathered from the Information Advice and Support Network website. Almost all (25 of the 30) had opening hours available on this website. A further two had opening hours stated on their individual websites but the remaining three did not.

Thirteen of these 30 IAS services were open from 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday (or for the same amount of hours). This will be called ‘office hours’. A further 11 IAS services were open for fewer hours or days than office hours (eight being open for fewer hours, three being open for both fewer hours and fewer days). Conversely, three of the 30 were open for more hours. None were open on a Saturday or Sunday.

Script 1:

Hello, I’m calling on behalf of my friend who has a son who’s got special educational needs and is not happy about the support in school that he is receiving. She’s thinking of making a complaint. I was wondering where she can find out how to do that, and what support there is to help her do that? (I don’t want to go into details)

[Close] Thanks for your help I’ll pass this information on, and leave it up to her what she wants to do.

Script 2:

Hello, I’m calling on behalf of my friend who has a son who’s got special educational needs. He’s got a plan but my friend’s not happy about the special educational provision specified in the plan. She’s thinking of making an appeal. I was wondering where can she find out about how to do that? And what type of support is there for her if she’d like to do that?

(I don’t want to go into details) Thanks for your help I’ll pass this

information on, and leave it up to her what she wants to do.

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3.2.1.2 Ease of getting to talk to someone

Our researcher’s persona was that of a working person who wanted to speak to someone, rather than leave a message and be called back at a perhaps inconvenient time. The ‘friend’s’ persona was that of a mother who was too anxious and stressed to make the phone call herself. One-third (10) of our initial calls were answeredand two-thirds (20) went to voicemail. Up to three further attempts were made to speak to a person at each of the 20 services where calls had gone to voicemail. These were made on different days and at different times of day to the initial call. This approach was successful in reaching a person to talk to in a further 11 of the 30 services, leaving nine where our calls failed to get beyond voicemail. Many IAS services operate a call back system. (We emphasise that it was our decision not to leave a message and be called back28.)

3.2.1.3 Friendliness of the voice on the phone (voicemail or person)

The researcher recorded a subjective sense of how friendly or not the voice on the phone was, whether this was the voicemail message or a person. Overall, that

subjective judgement was that half (15) were experienced as friendly, eight as neutral and seven were experienced as unfriendly or off-putting. Examples of interaction

experienced as friendly included the person from IASS 24 immediately responding, “Definitely we can help” in a reassuring and confident manner. Another example was the person from IASS 26 who explained that, although the local SEN team did not have to get involved with issues at school that they would do so. This was experienced as conveying that there were people who were able and willing to help.

Examples of interactions experienced as unfriendly or off-putting included a voicemail that had an unfriendly tone, or off-putting information being given in the recording. For example, the voicemail recording for IASS 1129 _{stated that the service was “incredibly} busy” and asked callers not to leave more than one message. The voicemail recording for IASS 21 stated they were operating on a “restricted service” so it would take longer to reply. These responses were experienced as unfriendly and off-putting – but we also understood that they were indications that these local IAS services were not resourced to a level where the level of service that might be expected could be delivered. Other sources of information, such as LA focus groups and interviews with parent support organisations representatives, indicated that some IAS services were very small and that others were being cut. Some of the parents interviewed also understood this context. For example, one said, “To be fair to them, they are hugely under-resourced.” (Parent 3).

28 _{If the researcher had left a message, the call back would have revealed that the message had been} from a researcher at the University of Warwick.

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Person-to-person responses experienced as unfriendly included being interrupted and told, “Well, Mum needs to phone me”, rather than being given the information requested (IASS 19). Another example was where the information requested was refused on the grounds that it could only be given to the caller’s friend. The member of staff said that the caller’s friend shouldn’t be afraid to call because, “We’re quite friendly” and “We won’t bite”. However, the member of staff had not asked why the friend wasn’t able to phone (only one person asked that, out of the 21 conversations with these random IAS services). The SEND Code of Practice: 0 to 25 years (DfE, 2015) only refers to IASS in relation to parents, children and young people. In our view, it was a reasonable

expectation that these services would provide information to a parent’s friend or supporter, especially when, as in our scenario, all that was requested was information about how to make a complaint to a school or how to appeal to the Tribunal. In fact, eight of the 21 services refused to provide the requested information because the caller was not the person who directly needed it. Information provided by the IASS Network indicated that the context for this refusal to deal with anyone other than the parent was likely to be a concern about protecting the confidentiality of clients. In the context of giving out information that is in the public domain, such a concern was misguided (albeit well-intentioned). It suggests the need for this distinction to be clarified for some IASS staff.

3.2.1.4 The information given and any support offered

The information about IAS services in the SEND code of practice: 0 to 25 years (DfE, 2015) was used to create a set of ‘reasonable expectations’ of what a caller could expect to be told in response to our scripts requesting information on how to make a complaint to a school or how make an appeal to the First-tier Tribunal SEND. This set of expectations was discussed and agreed as reasonable with an IASS service that, based on our data from parents, had a good reputation as providing an excellent service. These expectations are summarised in Figure 13 (regarding complaints) and in Figure 14 (regarding an appeal).

In response to our request for information on how to make a complaint, seven of the nine services provided at least one piece of information and/or support. For example, four explained that the school’s complaints process would be on the school’s website; five advised that arranging an informal meeting with the school would be a useful first step towards resolving the situation and two offered support in setting this up and/or attending alongside the parent, and five stated that their IAS service could support the parent through the complaints process. None gave information about the local

disagreement resolution service (Code, 11.5 – 11.12) which is specifically intended to be used, voluntarily, to support early resolution of issues between parents and schools (as well as three other types of disagreement). It can be used before, during or after a formal complaint. None of the nine IAS services made the caller aware of the

information about complaints in the Local Offer. No help was offered in finding the school’s complaints procedure.

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Figure 13: Our 'reasonable expectations' of information and support about a possible complaint

Information and support for making a complaint School complaints procedure

• Every school must have a formal complaints procedure • Help finding the school’s complaints procedure

Informal meeting with the school

• This would be the first thing to do

• Support with attending or arranging this meeting

Disagreement Resolution Service

• Who they are and what they do

• Can help with arranging and attending the disagreement resolution service meeting

Local offer and its web page about complaints

Support through the whole process of making the formal complaint

Source: CEDAR, University of Warwick, based on SEND code of practice: 0 to 25 years (DfE, 2015, 2.17- 19

Figure 14 sets out our ‘reasonable expectations’ of the information and support one might expect when calling up an IAS service to ask for information on how to make an appeal to the First-tier Tribunal SEND. In response to Script 2, seven of the 11 services provided at least one piece of expected information and/or offer of support. For

example, five explained that arranging a meeting with a representative from the local SEN team would be a useful first step in resolving the issues and three explained about the role of the local mediation service.

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Figure 14 Our ’reasonable expectations’ of information and support for making an appeal Information and support for making an appeal

Local Resolution

• A meeting with the SEN team representative often a useful first step • Offer support for local resolution

Signposting information

• Letter that came with the plan • Local offer appeal web page • Guide for how to appeal • Parent support organisations

Mediation service

• Contact details, don’t have to have mediation, will get the necessary certificate from contacting them

• Can support with mediation

Source: CEDAR, University of Warwick, based on SEND code of practice: 0 to 25 years (DfE, 2015, 2.17-19)

A phone conversation with the IASS may be the first port of call for people experiencing an issue or disagreement relating to SEND. We concluded that the scripted call

experience indicated the need for improvements in the consistencywith which such calls are responded to. Something as simple as a prompt sheet of basic information about disagreement resolution routes could ensure that anyone answering the phone would be able to provide helpful and accurate information.