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If there is anything you feel should be changed or added, please email: jdavis@knox.elcschool.org.uk

• Advice, guidance, planning and building skills through classroom lessons (e.g. through Personal and Social Development Lessons)

• Careers appointments with an advisor (e.g. from Skills Development Scotland)

• Opportunities from Developing the Young Workforce (DYW)

• Visits from outside agencies/to possible placements

• Work experience opportunities

• Support from staff in school with applications (e.g. college), etc.

The information in this guide is specifically for any young person and their families who may require additional support - often known as post school enhanced transition support. This is usually when a young person has ASN/disability and has other agencies involved with their transition planning support (e.g. social work, health care teams etc.).

The first meeting will usually be around November, once an adult services social worker has been allocated to your young person, although they can happen earlier, with a representative from the social work team attending. Often, this first meeting is just to discuss any initial thoughts you or your young person may already have about post-school destination. It is also a chance for everyone to meet face to face.

A second meeting happens around February/March, once you, or you and your young person, have had a chance to visit potential destination providers, and have a clearer idea of where might be the best fit. Letting the school know in advance of this meeting if there is a particular destination provider you would like to be in attendance, allows the school to invite someone from that service to the meeting.

Sometimes a third meeting might be arranged, if further support and planning is required. If this occurs it is likely to be towards the end of the school year.

 Who is involved?

The process is facilitated by school staff and involves the young person and anyone the young person invites.

· The young person decides on who should come to the meeting.

· The meeting is facilitated a by a Process Facilitator, who leads the group through the different steps and the Graphic Facilitator, who graphically records the process.  

The 8 Step Process

1. The MAP - you explore the concept of a map and the process that is about to begin.

2. The Story - an outline of key events in the student’s life, important people, places and times.

3. The Dream - naming the person’s dreams, what they wish for in life and their future.

4. The Nightmare—what they do not want.

5. Who is this person? - a chance for the whole group to say what makes the person special.

6. What are their strengths, gifts and talents? - a chance to celebrate the person.

7. What does the person need? - to achieve their dream and avoid the nightmare.

8. The Action Plan - who will do what and by when?

It is highly recommended that you seek independent and individual advice on areas of legal and financial matters at an early stage as any decisions made can have a major impact on the family as a whole (not just your young person). What is the ‘right’ decision for one person and their family can vary hugely for another. 

For some legal matters, such as Guardianship, the process to put this in place can take up to two years, so it is important to allow plenty of time.

The following are just some of the groups and services in the East Lothian area that can help and are good sources of advice and support in these areas.

It is highly recommended that you seek independent and individual advice on areas of financial matters at an early stage to maximise funding options available to you as your young person approaches their point of transition.

Please refer to 'The Importance of Independent Advice' section for services that can help support in these areas.

Please click the picture above for more information.

Young people aged 16-19 could get a weekly allowance of £30 per week if you are:

·       at school

·       being home educated

·       on an Activity Agreement

·       living within a household with a low income.

·       people who are age 16 to state pension age and

·       people who have difficulties with daily living or getting around (or both) and

·       have had the physical or mental difficulty for at least 3 months and expect it to continue for at least 9 months. If a person is terminally ill these qualifying periods do not apply

To claim you must:

·       live in the UK

·       be aged 18 or over (there are some exceptions if you’re 16 to 17)

·       be under state pension age 

·       have £16,000 or less in money, savings and investments

Families in Scotland can apply for a Family Fund grant if:

• you’re the main carer for a disabled or seriously ill child, aged 17 or younger

• you have been resident in Scotland for at least six months

• you have a low income from working, or benefits

You could be entitled to claim this if you care for someone at least 35 hours a week and they get certain benefits. 

Some arrangements can be fairly straightforward to arrange (e.g. financial appointeeship), but some are more complicated and will need assessments and legal service involvement (e.g. guardianship).

Please refer to 'The Importance of Independent Advice' section for services that can help support in these areas.

That means families no longer have the legal right to take decisions or act on their behalf – even if they believe the young person doesn’t fully understand their situation or can’t reliably communicate their wishes.

There may be many situations where parents and carers might want to keep doing this. Here are a few:

·  If someone has to go into hospital, especially in an  emergency.

·  To help manage finances, benefits and bank accounts.

·  To make sure the right support is in place.

·  If someone needs to set up contracts and agreements, e.g. rent, insurance, gas and electricity.

For someone to speak or act for another adult, there needs to be Appointeeship, Guardianship, Power of Attorney or an Intervention Order in place.

Kindred is a Scottish charity that supports parents of children with complex needs with advocacy, information and emotional support.

Everyone finds it difficult to get their point across sometimes. It can be intimidating to speak up in a room full of professionals – and even if that isn’t usually a problem, emotion or stress can make it harder. Advocates can work with you or your young person for a better chance of getting your voice heard in discussions that affect you. Some are trained to support people with little or no speech to identify and communicate their wishes.

Here you will find some of the advocacy services available in East Lothian. Your social worker can advise you on other options that may be available to you.

EARS advocacy provides services in East Lothian for adults with a physical disability or an Acquired Brain Injury (ABI).

Since early 2022, all young people resident in Scotland and between the ages of 5-21 are entitled to free bus travel by using their Young Scot Card/National Entitlement Card. You will need to ensure you have a new card or you have downloaded the free travel pass onto the card.

Downloading the free travel pass onto an existing Young Scot Card

You simply need to download an app and scan your existing card. Please see the advice here: Young Persons' Free Bus Travel Scheme | Transport Scotland’s Pass Collect app | Transport Scotland. 

Apps to help plan your journey

There are a number of apps that you/your young person can download that can help to plan your journey and give information on routes, service updates, alerts etc. Here is just one of them for buses and trams: The official app for Lothian Buses and Edinburgh Trams (tfeapp.com)

Help with Travel Training
If you/your young person needs help with learning how to use and ride on buses, this may be supported by the class team in some instances.

Other agencies can provide support with this, such as Bridges, or East Lothian Works. A referral for this support would need to be made, either by the school, or the family.

For young people who get and enhanced/higher rate of the mobility component of their Adult/Child Disability Payment they may be eligible to access a mobility car. Please click the picture above for further information.

It is important to note that if your young person has access to a mobility car, it is granted with the understanding that this is for their use to get to where they need/wish to go in order to meet their needs/goals - including to any post school placement. Service providers can drive a person in their mobility car and support their access to the community. The use of a mobility car should be discussed in transition planning meetings so that any potential issues can be looked at and resolved before they leave school.

 Apply for a provisional licence here: Apply for your first provisional driving licence - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk). 

The ILF fund can help with the cost of driving lessons and test. Please click here: ILF Scotland Transition Fund - mygov.scot

If you have a mobility car, you may be able to get help with the cost of driving lessons too: Driving Lessons | Charitable Grants | Motability Foundation

Advice and information about preparing for post school transitions

Through a My World of Work account, you and your child can access our full range of support. 

We are a partnership from Tailor Ed, Barnardo’s and Autism Initiatives, working together with oversight from our NHS CAMHS colleagues to provide services to support the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people who are neurodivergent. We’re part of a larger group of newly developed services designed to support mental health in the community.