What are “complex additional support needs”?
A rigorous, clearly bounded and universally accepted definition is extremely difficult to formulate because of the multiplicity of factors and the impact of specific contexts in different local authorities. For that reason the National Strategic Commissioning Group (NSCG) is using a working description rather than a definition of children and young people with complex additional support needs:
2. Children and young people aged 3-18 who do not have a co-ordinated support plan but who have been assessed as stage 3 or 4 by a local authority under a staged intervention model as recommended by the Supporting Children’s Learning Code of Practice.