Some children with complex or multiple needs will have a Co-ordinated Support Plan (CSP). This is a legal document about a child's long-term learning aims and the support that is needed to help them reach these.
There are specific legal criteria for which children will have a CSP and if your child meets the following criteria, we are legally required to prepare one.
- Your child has additional support needs arising from one or more complex factors, or multiple factors
- Those needs are likely to continue for more than a year.
- Those needs require significant additional support to be provided by the education authority as well as one or more other agencies as defined in the ASL Act 2004, section 23, paragraph 2.
What is in a Co-ordinated Support Plan
A Co-ordinated Support Plan contains
- detail on why the child has additional support needs
- the educational aims the child is working towards
- the support needed to help the child achieve those aims
- a note of who will provide this support
- the name of the child’s school
- the name of a contact person within the education authority to provide advice and information to parents or carers
- the name of the person who will co-ordinate support from the different services (the CSP Co-ordinator)
How to get a CSP
A small number of children with additional support needs will meet the criteria for a CSP. Speak to your child’s school and ask for your child to be considered for a CSP if you think they meet the criteria.
We have 8 weeks to respond once you make a request. We then have 16 weeks to draw up a CSP and send you a copy, or inform you that your child does not meet the criteria for a CSP. There may be circumstances out with our control that make it impossible for us to meet these timescales such as
- The parents have requested a type of assessment that can't take place, or the results will not be available within the 16-week period.
- We have asked an agency or other persons to help and they have not been able to respond in time.
If it is not possible to provide you with a CSP within 16 weeks, we must set a new time limit that must not exceed 24 weeks from the start date.
Advice and support
If you would like to request a CSP speak to your child’s school. You can also contact the Educational Psychologist for your child’s schools for more information about the process.
View the Co-ordinated support plans fact sheet on the Enquire website.
You can also find information about Coordinated Support Plans on the Scottish Government web page.