Preparing for adulthood from year 12 (age 18/25)

Education

Review meetings should be organised as before by the head teacher or designated staff member in school or college. Information from a range of professionals should be collated to support the review meeting. EHC plans can continue until the young person is 25 but will stop if they:

• go to university;
• get a job;
• tell the local authority they no longer want their EHC plan; or
• the local authority thinks they no longer need it. For example, following a review because they have achieved their educational goals in their plan and no longer need additional special educational help.

Health

The transfer from paediatric children's service to specialist adult health services will take place over a period of time. The more complex the individual's health needs are the more planning is required. If the young person meets the NHS continuing healthcare criteria the provision of care and support services will be led by the lead health practitioner. Good person centred planning focusing on the young person and their family will help make this difficult time less stressful.

Social care

From a legal perspective adult social care legislation begins when someone turns 18 years of age. This is when adult social care funded support will replace children's funding. The specialist adult pathway team and community enablement team will have been planning with the young person and their family for this day. Young people accessing children's social care services will transfer to adult social care services if they meet the Eligibility for care and support criteria. Young people who meet the significant benefit criteria and also the adult social care funding criteria will be able to start receiving support from their 18th birthday. Good person centred planning will ensure moving from children's social care to adult social care has been well planned and has taken place over a suitable period of time.

Who else is involved?

The key roles involved in the transition process at this stage are:

• Lead practitioner - acts as a contact point and provides additional support as required by the young person and or their family, makes sure assessments and other documents are completed by all agencies and keeps a detailed record of all activity.
• Specialist adult pathway team - works very closely with the disabled children's team. Their role is to assess needs to establish if the individual is eligible for adult social care funded support.
• Community Enablement Team will work with the young person and their family, if they need additional support and meet the significant benefit criteria, for a limited period of time to identify how their care needs can be met.
• Careers service - C&K careers is a commissioned service with specific duties, such as to attend year 9 and year 11 reviews, subsequent leaver review meetings and to produce robust career summaries for each education leaver.