Birmingham SENDIASS

This factsheet is to help you get the most from SENDIASS. It will help you understand what SENDIASS is, what we do and don’t offer, and how we can best support you.

Aim of SENDIASS

SENDIASS (Special Educational Needs and Disability Information, Advice and Support Service) aims to empower parents/carers, children, and young people to play an active and informed role in making decisions about their education, health and social care.

Our role as an information, advice and support service (IASS) is to help parents/carers, children, and young people build their knowledge, understanding and confidence in SEND procedures, policies, practices, and law, and enable them to communicate their own needs, wishes, aims and rights.

SENDIASS is:

• Free:
  • There are no fees to pay, no matter how often, you receive support.
• Impartial:
  • We do not favour one party (e.g. family, educational setting, or local authority) over another.
  • We treat all parties respectfully.
  • We do not have a vested interest in the outcome of any discussions.
• Confidential:
  • ​​​​​​​We keep your details on a secure and independent database and will not share your details or discuss your case with anyone else without your permission.
• Arms-length:
  • SENDIASS is separate from educational settings, the Local Authority and Health Services.
  • SENDIASS is a statutory service (required by law under the Children’s and Families Act 2014).
• Fully Trained:
  • ​​​​​​​Our staff and volunteers have extensive training in SEND law, safeguarding, data protection, and are all DBS checked.