To achieve their full potential, young people may need support from health, education, welfare, housing, social care and other services. It is important that these services work well together and everyone is clear about their roles and responsibilities.
Most professionals report good relationships and communication with their local partners, but most say there are no effective information sharing or joint transitions planning processes in place between them. Most parents and carers are unsure about the roles and responsibilities of the people involved, and only 6% agree that there is a clear transitions pathway in place for their young person.
The law says no single worker is responsible for transitions. Teachers, social workers, health staff and others must work together to make a plan that supports the young person’s needs and dreams.
Getting this right means that:
The most frequently used approaches to coordinate services are:
Joint Transitions pathways
These clearly define roles and responsibilities of lead individuals and agencies, and let young people, parents and carers who will be supporting them at each stage of the transitions process.
Transitions co-ordinators
They support the transitions process across the local authority area and act as a point of contact for young people, their families, and partners from other services. They may work strategically or deliver face-to-face support, and should be available to all young people with additional support needs who require them. Where they are available, they have made a significant difference in the overall quality of planning and positive outcomes for young people going through transition.
Local transitions forums or networks
These bring all relevant partners together at a local authority level to co-ordinate support across different services, develop shared transitions pathways, share information, gather and analyse evaluation data and anticipate future demand on services.
All professionals involved in supporting young people and families in transition should have undertaken transitions training and have opportunities for continued professional development. This should include an overview of the legislative and policy frameworks that impact on transitions, the roles and responsibilities of all sectors and the values that underpin person-centred and relationship-based approaches.
The most effective training is co-designed and delivered with young people and parents and carers and enables staff from different professional backgrounds to learn together.
Everyone should undertake the free e-learning ‘Introduction to Transitions’, hosted on this site, and consider other learning opportunities provided by ARC Scotland and others.
Feedback from young people, parents and carers and professionals is essential to inform and evaluate continual improvement. ARC Scotland produced ‘Compass’ to help this process.
Compass provides free, accessible and personalised information to young people, parents and carers and professionals about rights, entitlements, and the topics that matter most to them. It also invites them to feedback their views and experiences to ARC Scotland. You can access Compass on this site and we ask you to help make the young people and families you support aware of it.
We can provide reports that collate and anonymise feedback data from Compass users in your local area. To do this we require that you have local structures in place, like a transitions forum or network, to receive and act on this information, and that we have a data sharing agreement in place with you. Each year we publish a national Compass Data Report.
‘Principles into Practice’ is designed help those with strategic responsibility for transitions to to improve the experiences of transition for young people with additional support needs that is widely adopted by local authorities in Scotland.
It provides practical guidance to help ensure that planning and decision-making is carried out in a person-centred way in your local authority area. Data collected through Compass will help to evaluate progress and identify where further improvements are needed.
With a data sharing agreement in place, ARC Scotland can provide data reports from people using Compass in your area. These include to what extent:
Services are coordinated when:
Contact us to discuss the support available to help you build this Principle into your strategies.
