EHCP and the race to state

Thanks

That is the reality

eg 1:1 needed in every lesson requiring recording but no LSA given to my son for French and Geograpy in Year 6

Direct OT x number of hours a term but OT don’t show up and then OT written out with the next review

Same applies for SALT

and it’s an expensive process getting SALT and OT plus Ed Psych to tribunal.

I work from home 4 hours a day doing an admin job. It's all the hours I can fit in around all the EBSA/SEN needs.

Before that I worked as a childminder for 10 years from DD being age 3 - 13 years. Again, it was the only way I could see that I could be there for DD and work.

As she's got older her needs have increased rather than reduced. Mainstream school has nearly destroyed her and us as a family.

Before children I worked in finance in the City. Although I'll be classed as still working the contrast of my work pre SEN child and now is massive.

Yes I had to give up work - my daughter is non verbal, doubly incontinent and has challenging behaviours.

Lincolnshire LA insisted there was no evidence that she couldn't cope with mainstream.

It really is shocking.

I don’t think people outside of the Sen world realise quite how bad things are. I,posted up thread that I knew loads that had had to give up work and another poster dismissed the comment saying she didn’t know anyone. To be fair before I had an autistic child I just assumed that children that needed extra support in schools got it which in reality couldn’t be further from the truth. Now we’re seeing even non verbal children still in nappies with learning difficulties being placed in mainstream without an ehcp in the governments drive to reduce ehcps, it’s quite frankly dangerous and why so many children end up out of school and parents not able to work

I tell you what's definitely not hiding down the back of the sofa (or maybe they are...) - replacement head teachers!

It would be interesting if there was a figure for how many mums who are teachers, nurses, doctos etc have been forced out of work due to EBSA following unmet SEN needs.

Having just been through the EHCP process I've experienced the following:-

The 20 weeks statutory timescale is non existent. Our application passed every stage unchallenged and was "fast tracked". It still took over 40 weeks.

Unless you're prepared to battle and battle the EHCP will contain only a relatively small amount of support.

In reality the school, despite verbal promises and numerous meetings to explain the needs, will repeatedly and consistently fail to follow what is on the EHCP.

It's been a long drawn out process that has, in reality, achieved very little. That's why so many SEN children are out of education and classed as long term absent. The support just isn't there even with an EHCP.

It’s ok, the 6500 extra teachers are all hiding in the magic money tree.

Sometimes independent assessments are necessary for Tribunal. It is why legal aid funds them when needed for those who are eligible.

Many don’t need further evidence for refusal to assess appeals because the bar is so low. Some don’t for refusal to issue depending on what evidence is already available. Most need them for content and placement appeals.

Some panels are definitely pro LA despite the success rates. This is more noticeable in content and placement appeals. And LAs get away with a lot other areas of law wouldn’t tolerate.

I would concur that it takes up to two years to get an EHCP issued (other posts). That's realistic. So to e.g. have one for year 7 you probably need to start the ball rolling in year 4. Which is a bit ridiculous but it's a ridiculous system.

@Noras what are you talking about? Taking a case to tribunal doesn't cost anything. Any reports needed should be carried out during the needs assessment for free (true they might not be great).

How can the tribunals be "pro LA" when the LAs lose nearly all the cases? Quite the reverse!

I have done two tribunals. It cost £0 (it was a lot of time on paperwork).

I did pay for a private OT report but that was my choice and the LA did one too.

Please don't be put off by this kind of alarmism.

and at least two full cycles of intervention.

Two APDR cycles are not required. This is a myth LAs and some schools like to perpetuate.

The school does not need to try lots of things before an EHCP is issued. That is another myth many LAs and some schools would like parents to believe.

DC who can cope in an independent MS can still be eligible for an EHCP. DC do not have to have been in state MS before getting an EHCP. The parents may have to appeal but there’s nothing in law saying a child who can cope in an independent isn’t eligible despite what some LAs think.

Schools who are not wholly independent can be named even if they object, and the SEP in F must be provided. If the school claim they can’t fit another TA in the classroom, the LA would have to actually provide proof of incompatibility if the parent appealed. The bar for incompatibility is higher than many LAs and schools admit. It is more than an “adverse effect”, “impact on” or “prejudicial to”.

An EHCP is not meaningless if well written. It can be enforced. It may take an appeal to get it detailed, specified and quantified in the first place, but the majority of appeals to SENDIST are upheld and reports do not need to refer to percentiles or complex needs in order to secure 1:1.

Yes, EHCPs are reviewed at least annually, but the majority are not amended every year. If LAs remove SEP recently ordered by SENDIST without new evidence that it isn’t required, JR is sometimes possible. And obviously following ARs there is the right of appeal.

@Lostmymarblesalongtimeago you're right. However if EHCP provision is needed they must issue a plan. It still doesn't mean anyone has to prove they've done certain things first. It's about whether the setting can (or will) provide what's needed without further support

I don’t know why some people are so confrontational OP. You DC now seems to need a SEN provision and you need to go through the process to see if that can be evidenced in which case it should be granted.

It doesn’t matter if your DC was educated privately or not, if they need an EHCP, that is was the tax is there for.

It also doesn’t matter if they were private before or not, now they are state, state education is for everyone and everyone needs to have their needs met.

I wish you the best of luck!

I have not read the entirety of this thread but my own view is as follows.

The people who like me tended to have an EHCP that had any value ( has funding attached to the kid) had children so severe that the private school they were at made an excuse to get shot of them end year 2. No private school keeps kids like that as it might dent their results. The only private school available to them is a specialist school and these usually are in the middle of nowhere.

An EHCP is not a panacea.

An EHCP is meaningless unless there are the funds to provide any 1:1 etc - this is called ‘high needs / low incident’ for a reason. To get this type of funding your reports are will refer to percentiles eg 4 or below even as low as 0.5% etc. Your reports might also refer to complex needs.

To get this level of support it won’t just be an EHCP report - there will be SALT, OT , audiology, sensory services etc. The cost of tribunal is huge.

The tribunal is pro local authority, the Ombudsman is pro local authority, the NHS reports are constrained by available resources.

Any services written into an EHCP can be reviewed and written out the year following - it’s an ongoing battle.

School can even say we can’t fit another LSA into the classroom etc

Anyhow even being a legally trained professional I have never experienced such a thing as an educational tribunal - it’s the Wild West of law.

So good luck if you think that you can take on the local authority and the system because I found it exhausting and distressing. It will eat into all your free time and cause distress. What’s more it’s reviewed yearly and whatever provision is in it can be removed.

My son finally managed to get some A Levels and a university place but it was one long fight.

So the independent schools have joined forces to go for EHCPs. A service parents are paying for. A cynic might think said private schools
were doing this in an attempt to get school fees paid for by local authorities.

And yes yes to the poster who said evidence is needed for an EHCP. Little Jimmy’s parents saying he’d never cope in a state school having never actually tried it is not evidence.

I really do hope local authorities are going to be on the ball re this. Also op if you’re not making a point re vat on fees and not issuing vague threats and a call to arms as seen on other vat on fees MN threads I’m not sure of the need to mention your other 2 children who will no longer be privately educated.

That is the threshold for an ehcp assessment. it doesn't guarantee a plan

This isn't true. The legal test is the child MAY have Sen which MAY require EHCP provision. there is nothing in law that says multiple things have to be tried first. It's rather do concerning that so many people who work in Sen don't know this,

'It may take an appeal to get a well written EHCP, but once it is detailed, specified and quantified, it can be enforced. Lack of funding, staffing, resources are not lawful excuses for LAs breaching section 42 of the Children and Families Act 2014. EHCPs can be fully funded, but LAs won’t do that unless forced.'

This! I wish schools would start challenging LAs more! If you can't do the EHCP support due to lack of funding tell the parents, they can take legal action and there are charities out there (sossen) who will do this for free/low cost.

No point having a lawyer if you don't have the evidence! Evidence is far more important and many many families never use a lawyer/solicitor and get what's needed.

I have a lot of experience with echps and battles for it. If your DC copes in an independent school without echp, I doubt you will get one for state. there are a lot of things school will have to try first before an echp would be granted. You hugely oversimplify this.

Unless you can show that state doesn't work (that is spending some time in a state school), there is no chance.

@Djthhtk9494 im not sure what your point is tbh. My kids will get EHCPs because they cannot function in mainstream state schools without them. They could cope in a very small class size school where they get lots of extra support. Spending thousands is sadly necessary to get through the process.

Not sure why you're getting so much flack, OP.

As something of a Povvo myself, if your child needs that support, you should absolutely use the resources you have to secure that support.

I couldn't in a million years have afforded a lawyer, but I did research relevant pieces of legislation whilst having a personal mental health crisis over it all and kept poking the LAs whilst they tried to deny my DD's very substantial needs.

If you can avoid having to go through that stress, please do. Your child needs at your healthiest.

My child IS in an independent special school but has an EHCP, so not quite the parent you're asking to hear from.

Our school only accepts those with EHCPs, so hopefully we should be safe but LAbour haven't exempted special schools as a whole either, so I'm still cautious.

Yes, that's what I was thinking?! 25k would surely cover the fee increase over the next few years, even if there is one (some schools will find ways to absorb this cost rather than risk losing student numbers).

Or, if you attend state and really do have lots of money spare, you could donate a large sum to your child's new state school each year as this would be hugely welcome no doubt. Just a thought.