Can my son be signed of school?

Get angry and/or upset, because it is totally shit but neither of those will actually help fix the situation. The system is totally broken and doesn't work. The only way to get what you need is to use the legal process to force the council to give your child access to education (which absolutely should be provided as a human right).

I have skim read the thread, so apologies if I have missed something, and it looks like you have an ehcp but they haven't issued a final ehcp with a named school by the 15th of Feb deadline.
Unfortunately all you can do is use the template letter on ipsea and copy it to the legal team at the council and the send team https://www.ipsea.org.uk/letter-when-a-local-authority-does-not-send-a-draft-or-final-education-health-and-care-plan-on-time-template-letter-10

If they still don't issue it then you take them to judicial review.
If they do issue it then you can automatically go straight through to tribunal without mediation and the council have to give you a school place at tribunal.

You can put in complaints to the council but I have done this and they don't make any difference as they will just apologies and say that they don't have enough staff or don't have enough money or whatever. It won't make you feel any better or change anything for you or anyone else.
The only way to change this shit heap is to petition the government.
Start a petition asking for the government to make aure there are enough school places for kids with SEND. I will sign it and I bet a load of other people would too.

@Madthings Yes, the LA ignoring parents is why the pre-action letter/JR route is a better remedy for anyone in the OP’s situation, which is what the OP is going to do.

Yep I suggested this. Going through similar myself eith child out of school, tribunsl Sept. The system is a mess and even when you use relevant laws and processes the LA ignore.

@HollyBerryz can I ask, was your experience recently? I have had success doing that in the past but when I have tried it in more recent times, have been refused, so I would be interested to know if was in the past or more recently. I agree the OP has nothing to lose.

Exhausting the complaints process then going to the LGO will not be quick enough. That is why the JR route is a more suitable remedy.

@SpidersAreShitheads I didn’t suggest any poster was lying! If you actually read my posts what I actually said was “The LA who says SS places aren’t allocated until July/August is lying.” Saying the LA is lying (when they are) is not the same as suggesting posters are lying. Please don’t suggest I have said something I haven’t.

I agree with you.

But in your earlier posts you said that anyone who suggested LAs don’t allocate places until June were lying. My point is that it does sometimes happen and I’ve seen it firsthand repeatedly.

Doesn’t make it right, doesn’t make it legal, doesn’t make it acceptable. And absolutely there is legal recourse.

But to suggest posters are lying when they say that it happens is unfair.

Not read all of the responses but you don't need permission for him to not do his SATs. Just keep him off school until June.... Report his absence as illness due to the meltdown/crisis point. You don't need to make it complicated at all.

And yes in meantime call in sick each day, say it's mental health. Try and get a referral from GP to mh team. In Norfolk we have norfolk just one and parents can self refer, look to see what is available in your county. They may threaten you with attendance team, get in esely contact them yourself and explsin the situation, also contact send and inclusion team.

Have you gone to the LGO given they are the responding it's urgent, phase teenager placement and they are in clear breach of legal deadlines. I would do this and I think you could tell the council you will go to judicial review. A letter from a solicitor threatening this may be enough to get them to finalise ehcps naming placement so then you can apply for expediated tribunal if needed.

Possibly. I managed to get a 6 week one for DD in year 10 to get the local education authority off my back, they'd asked for it. The GP wasn't happy about it though, they rang me to see if they could support her and I pointed out I'd been trying for a decade. I've never been threatened with a school fine though despite DD missing 18 months of school so it seemed to work.

Put one in anyway and tell the tribunal you don't have the official paperwork as the LA have missed their statutory deadlines. You do have something to appeal as you have no secondary place which should have been named by 15 Feb. Tribunal have the discretion to allow appeals where they think it's needed even if they're late/missing paperwork etc. Try it, the worst that can happen is they say no, if they say yes, it will put pressure on the LA to get their arse in gear. the solicitor probably won't advise you do this, but what do you have to lose? I got an appeal registered when my LA refused to finalise our AR, so I think it's worth a try.

I agree with others. Just take him out of school for a couple of weeks. If you say he is sick then he is sick. Also wanted to pop on as a parent who has been through this and say that it is likely that it will work out in the end. I know it feels really stressful but I have been through so many school placement related issues and for us they have all been ok after a few months of abject misery and high enough stress to make your eyeballs melt. Hang in there and keep push but also try to spend some time ignoring it too so you can rest and don't go completely mad.

I answered about keeping DS home if he is unable to attend in my first post before moving on to the EHCP. In subsequent posts, I have explained about the Regulations and the statutory attendance guidance too.

No-one has to accept LAs acting unlawfully no matter how behind they claim to be. This applies equally to failure to provide s19 provision and breach of s42 as it does to failure to follow the statutory timescales following AR and the phase transfer deadline. Sadly, DC whose parents know the system and can advocate and enforce their rights get better support. It shouldn’t be that way, but isn’t going to change it the foreseeable future. If LAs see they can get away with stringing someone along, they will continue to do so.

Wales has a different system. EHCPs don’t exist there. Although even if Wales, legally, parents don’t have to have a MS as the preferred placement.

OP, I have autistic DC and without going into the whole story, our GP signed DS for 8 weeks due to anxiety. He was 7 years old at the time.

If your GP can't/won't provide an NHS sick note, you could ask him for a private certificate. You'd have to pay, but IIRC it was only about £20 or so, and might give you the breathing space you need. Our GP issued an NHS sick note, no problem though.

Also, although what @StrivingForSleep says is legally correct, the reality is that some LAs are running hopelessly behind. Some panels for special schools in our area weren't being held until May, and parents informed at that point whether a space had been awarded. It left them very little time to find an alternative placement if they didn't get a space. The legality of it doesn't seem to matter.

I don't know if the reason is that special schools don't have the same adherence to year groups in the same way as mainstream schools? The smaller size usually means multiple year groups are together, with classes made up according to ability/needs rather than age. The LAs seem incapable of figuring out how many pupils will be leaving and how many spaces there will be left!

I was the SEN school governor and our mainstream school had a special communication unit attached (this was primary school). Our school started to initiate the process for getting a special school space in the Easter of Y5 rather than Y6 as would normally be the case. By going for it so early, the children had a chance of getting a decision by the February of Y6 and being able to properly transition. If they waited until Y6 to request their placement, there would be zero chance of a decision by February, and probably no spaces left.

The system is a diabolical shitshow and in my experience, LAs have very little regard for the legal framework around SEN. I'm glad you've got a solicitor on the case.

Send tribunral us prioritising phase transfer cases, so as soon as your pre action protocol letter is sent, hopefully the LA will finalise the plan. You can then appeal. The tribunal will sit through August to hear these. I wouldn’t waste time once you have the decision letter arguing with the LA.

my own child has been out of school all year, not signed off but an additional diagnosis of ocd given. I have never been fined despite having three children with EBSA (thought I am always fearful!).

I just think until you register an appeal, no one seems to take you seriously. If he is at home due to mental health you can ask for temporary education to be made. Again, everything is a battle, but this is the law. You could try contacting your local sendiass, but they do vary.

With attendance , I would just pull him out for as long as he needs. If the LA are trying to fly under the radar they won't issue a fine because that means actually contacting you.

I know you're doing a JR, and that's the best way forward, but if you need the EHCP etc I would search your LAs send/admissions/EHCP teams on Google and copy everyone into an email. DDs caseworker ignored me for weeks pre tribunal. So I copied every single case worker, her manager, everyone else above her the SEN team admin, and the director of children's services and our MP into an email chasing a response. It was incredibly immature of me but I got a reply within 15 minutes

If this was my child I’d keep him at home or take him on holiday for SATS week. There is absolutely nothing the Headteacher can do about it. Schools will only accept CAMHS letters, not GP letters. I’ve known parents take their children on holiday during their GCSEs and not be taken to court. It’s SATs - they are unimportant. If it’s having this much impact on his mental health, try to get an emergency appointment with CAMHS. If that’s not possible, just keep him off that week and say he’s unwell.

We had to apply for mainstream places, and were offered a place in March 2024.

DS had been put forward for a place in a specialist autism base and the decision about that was made later - in April or May iirc - thankfully DS got in.

(Though we're in Wales so maybe different here.)

@StrivingForSleep has absolutely set out the way to go and the legal considerations here: listen to them.

There is also a website

https://notfineinschool.co.uk/

Any LA telling parents secondary phase transfer SS places aren’t allocated until July/August is lying. That is not the law.