Urgent advice needed please

[iloveithere]

Hi,

DS is in the process of getting a EHCP, a draft was due on 1st Dec but is delayed.
This week we are moving house, to a new Local authority area.
I know the authority will take the EHCP over and make its own decision.

What I need to know is, if they decide he needs extra support in school, will they insist he moves to one of their school to receive that support, or can the new LA fund it in his existing school?

I realise if they suggest SS then it will need to be one in the new LA area, but if its support in MS will he have to move?

The head of his current MS school has just been very stroppy to me cos I haven't given her the new address yet.

We only found out the move was going ahead on Thursday night, and told the class teacher on Friday morning, but didn't give her the exact address. They have known since Sept that we were hoping to move our of the area, but no one would discuss the possible outcomes with us until the ECHP was written. Now they are all in a tizzy about it, needlessly, as I have been truthful with them from the start, and asked to discuss it many times, with school and LA, which they wouldn't do.

Sorry for my rambling, I can't get through to Parent Partnership or IPSEA, and just want to know if they will make him change from the MS school he is at to a different MS school.

thanks

[iloveithere]

Anyone?

[fairgame]

I do know somebody who's child has a statement from one LA but goes to a ms school in the next LA. She lives on the border of both LA's. So i know it's possible but i don't know the ins and outs of how to go about it. Sorry it's not much help x

[Icimoi]

It is legally possible for the new LA to name the current school in the EHCP. However, they are likely to look at moving him, particularly if you would be asking them to provide transport.

[iloveithere]

I wouldn't need transport, its only a 10 min drive. I was hoping that if I could argue that its in his best interests not to unsettle him with a school move, I might be able to keep him there.

If he had no additional needs, he could stay. No one has suggested my dd needs to move from her ms secondary school when we move house. So would making ds move just cos he had a ehcp be discrimination?

[Ineedmorepatience]

It will be all about money in the end ilove?

Sadly that is what it boils down to. Some authorities are more willing to work with parents than others.

Good luck

[LuvMyBoyz]

I work at a school on a border and Statemented pupils who have moved to different LA have stayed with us. Never any question of them being moved.

[iloveithere]

That's good to hear LuvMyBoyz. I hope that will be the case for ds. I'll have to wait till after Xmas now before I hear from the new LA.

[AdventAlibi]

Is the new LA well known for being much better than the existing one? [Christmas PigsInBlankets fly past]

Otherwise suggest you find some reason to delay your official move into the new house. For example- it needs decorating, boiler has to be renewed, we're waiting on another structural survey, too much change for the kids at this time of year, seller having a problem, the solicitor is busy... whatever

Meanwhile we're homeless/ camping out at our old next-door neighbour/ mum's/ staying in a premier inn- or whatever- anyone in the same LA area will do. Divert the post from old address to new 'temporary' address within your current area. If you choose to store your furniture in the new one, camp out in the unhabitable new house for a few days, whatever- none of their business, just make sure that you haven't officially moved in

Tell current LA to hurry up and finalise or you're going to JR them for breaching the timescales. Then send the new EHCP to the new LA and they'll (hopefully) just rubberstamp it. Don't fance the odds on a second LA deciding to pick up a half-done assessment and complete it within the original timescales (as opposed to using some excuse to re-start the clock)

[AdventAlibi]

Don't think they can kick him out, but they could start saying their policies are different and the new LA view is that all the support he needs can be given by the school without an EHCP- nonsense but they often try it on

[AdventAlibi]

from edyourself.org/articles/SENDregs.php

EHC Needs Assessment
Where LA decides whether or not to carry out assessment for EHCP, must notify family within 6 weeks of receiving request for assessment SEND Regs 5.(3)

Where LA decides NOT to secure EHCP following EHC needs assessment, LA must notify family within 18 weeks* of receiving request for EHC needs assessment (NB SEND Regs 10. (1) which said 16 weeks has been replaced by Article 12 Transitional and Savings Provisions Order 2014)

For everywhere- where a plan will be issued, it has to be done within 20w of assessment being requested

BUT see here

Where there are exceptional circumstances, it may not be reasonable to
expect local authorities and others partners to comply with the time limits
above. The Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014
set out specific exemptions. These include where:
• the local authority has requested advice from the head teacher or
principal of a school or post-16 institution during a period beginning
one week before any date on which that school or institution was
closed for a continuous period of not less than 4 weeks from that date
and ending one week before the date on which it re-opens;
• exceptional personal circumstances affect the child, the child’s parent,or the young person during the time period; or
•the child, the child’s parent, or the young person, are absent from the area of the authority for a continuous period of not less than 4 weeks
during the time period referred to in paragraph
They might be about to shaft you

[AdventAlibi]

You can't do an appeal on a 'refusal to issue' EHCP nor on a 'we don't agree with the contents' one unless and until you've had a final decision. So the current bunch can escape any problems with that by delaying a bit right now

And the new lot can then say the old one's EHCP is nothing to do with them and they have to start over- after Christmas.

[AdventAlibi]

And the new lot can then say the old one LA (who had part-done an assessment for EHCP that was put into limbo and not completed) is nothing to do with them and they have to start over, their way- after Christmas

[iloveithere]

all useful advice, AdventAlibi, but a bit too late for me.
We are moving tomorrow, and I have already made sure the EHCP has been moved to the new LA.

If they delay, well, I'll have to face that when I get to it. I just need to get this house move over with, keep DS in the same school for now, then hope he can stay. If they take ages over the EHCP, that's all well and good for me, it will mean more time in his current school without disruption.

[beautifulgirls]

I don't think they can make him move. There would be no good reason to move him if he didn't have SN, so they can not force you to move him just because he does. This obviously is subject to you all agreeing to mainstream still and not specialist school. You are close enough that the time to get there does not justify a change of schools, so stand your ground if that is where you want him to be.

[AdventAlibi]

This is about social care rather than education but I suspect it might still apply.

In brief, recently there was a LA who needed to provide services for a little boy with Down Syndrome, but the council had decided that this was impossible because he was a Traveller and hence likely to move around.

The judge said the LA weren't duty-bound to provide social care funding for his 5 hours a week of nursery respite, including when he was out-of-area, but they had the power to do so if it seemed necessary.

He also referred to another case about different family who moved around, and whose children went to an out-of-area school. That case's judge said that sometimes more than one council would have a duty to assess, and in those cases the various councils had a duty to co-operate.

So if LA number one won't give you a decision, you might want to put these cases in front of them. I know that Coram and Maxwell Gillot do a lot of social care cases as well as SEN ones- so they should know if the care and education law cases do cross-reference. If you need to formally challenge either council, they would try to get legal aid in your dc name.