Business Case for Continued Funding to Support Parents of Children with/waiting for a Diagnosis of Autism and/or ADHD in Medway

Task 

TONIC previously completed an independent evaluation of Medway’s Positive Behaviour Support service on behalf of the Council (for more information, please see: https://www.tonic.org.uk/medway-sit-and-pbs). The support was designed to help both parents and their children who had, or were in the process of gaining, an assessment for autism and/or ADHD and were presenting with behaviours that challenge. Specifically, the service provided families with intensive support and parenting courses that taught methods of coping with such behaviours. When the funding for this service was due to come to an end, Medway Council asked TONIC to assist them in preparing a Business Case to go to the local Integrated Care Board seeking funding to continue with the parental support element of the offer.   

Our Approach 

TONIC helped Medway Council to develop a Business Case setting out a proposal for continued funding. To do this, TONIC drew on findings from the independent evaluation to highlight the strengths of the existing approach. This was supplemented with additional desk-based research to outline the prevalence of Special Educational Needs, both nationally and locally. The research also explored the impact of these needs and as such, why continued support is essential to address the unmet demand. TONIC wrote this up into an SBAR (situation, background, assessment, recommendation) template, with three proposed options: ‘do nothing’, ‘continue funding’, or ‘expand provision’.