To be awake and feeling tearful over SEND EHCP disaster

I do remember Arthur Dent.

I'm a teacher in secondary with a very high SEN tariff. I also have a severely disabled son who's now an adult.

Look, you can only do what you can do. Is it possible to maybe take this one day at a time? Not everyone in mainstream secondary is totally immune to the needs of the children they teach. I had three interactions with three different children today, one in Y11 going into their mocks, one in Y10 who can be a bit tricky and one in Y7 having a hard time. I'm not a specialist teacher or anything, but I'm also a pretty reasonable human being. Y10 kiddo was thrilled when I said I'd be phoning mum cos he smashed it.

You might be able to work with the SENDCo. You might find that there's a bunch of teachers in there who can meet your child's needs and who will take the time to at least try to. OK, things might go sideways, and you might have to think about different strategies, but we only really read / see the horror stories in the media ... We don't get to hear about the dozens and dozens of kids who thrive at school when no one dared think it was possible.

And even if it does all go wrong, you'll have the backing of the SENDCo and teachers to try and sort it.

The draft/amendment notice shouldn’t include a placement or type of placement.

If the LA hasn’t finalised the phase transfer EHCP, you really need to chase the LA to finalise the phase transfer EHCP ASAP. This is important in case you have to appeal. Alongside chasing the LA I would start to look for someone with capacity to write a pre-action letter. I would start looking now because it can take perseverance at the moment.

You don’t have to EHE.

You don’t have to force DS to attend a school he isn’t able to.

The LA has a duty to provide the provision detailed, specified and quantified in F of the EHCP (as per section 42 of the Children and Families Act 2014) and ensure DS receives a suitable (in the legal sense, not just your opinion) full-time education (as per section 19 of the Education Act 1996).

The naming of a school in I doesn’t mean you are obliged to send DS to the school. The naming of a school in section I doesn’t automatically register DS at the school. I wouldn’t personally, but if you decide not to appeal you are still free to EHE or make your own arrangements e.g. at an independent school.

It's a bit complicated. The LA name some random school (A) and call it suitable. You say A is not suitable and say you would accept B or C for example.

LA can insist their school A is suitable and name it in Section I.

You can appeal the situation (if they didn't actually send you the decision letter like they said several months ago, or you can tell the tribunal service there are reasons for late appeal). Appeals will sometimes be expedited in phase transfer, meaning you might get a hearing before September.

If you don't go down the appeal route and the LA really won't budge, I believe they can basically say 'school A is our offer, take it or leave it'. At that point you might legitimately feel "forced" into home education. You won't be legally obliged to send him to school A (because you could home educate, pay for private school or move), however there might not be any practical alternatives and so you are basically being held over a barrel. You could home educate temporarily and then call for an early annual review or reassessment of needs but it's a high risk strategy because there's a chance your child will be without a school place for quite a while.

Your LA might be sympathetic and provide alternative education while a suitable school can be found but not only is this unlikely (because they probably won't agree that School A is unsuitable and fund alt prov), the quality of alt prov is often highly variable.

". If no suitable educational arrangements are made by the LA I don't think I have a legal obligation to make the arrangements myself or to electively home educate. I'd be grateful if anyone can tell me what my legal obligations are in these circumstances."

You should never be forced into home educating, but there is likely a very big difference between what you consider suitable and what the LA does unfortunately.

We had this trouble too, the messages are there but archived.

You can request them through a subject access request which has a legal timescale to be completed.

It could be handy to for again if you need to take this tribunal.

Ooo I missed that it said primary.

Call, complain and appeal. Do not give up, thats what they want.
From one sen parent to another…. go give them hell.

Definitely do NOT appeal Section I only! You need to appeal B, F and I. If the content of the plan doesn’t reflect the evidence that a mainstream school is not appropriate, a special school will not be named.

You can appeal section l. You don't even need a Mediation certificate. Do it now.
Tribunal reserve dates for phase transfers.
My child had mainstream named this time last year. They have just completed half an academic year in specialist and for the first time ever, love school.

Absolutely - I know a lot of what LAs do is indefensible but unfortunately they have to challenge mainstream schools that just don’t want to bother with kids with additional needs.

The system is a mess - I think that’s something we can all agree on 😢

I just want to give you a big hug OP. I relate so much to everything you posted. Until it happens to you, it is a big shock to have a local authority gaslight and lie and ignore and be aggressive and what’s worse it’s all about your child, who is already suffering. It’s awful and of course you feel awful about it because you’re only human and a parent; but it’s not your fault.

It’s lack of government funding making this system and the people in it behave cruelly and that’s about how millions of other people vote, government policies, it’s not about anything you’ve personally done or not done for your child. We can’t all be expected to be a SEN lawyer just because we have a disabled child. And it’s not about your local authority caseworker either. They’re in this broken system too.

I have made myself sick with worry many times over all this but it doesn’t help to change anything. Somehow to get through this you have to put that aside. Imagine to yourself that pursuing a fair EHCP is something you are doing for a child you don’t know, if that helps you to get through it.

You’ve already had good advice on here. You have more agency than you might think or that the LA might be telling you. You can call up this inappropriate school that the LA has named for your boy. You can tell their SENCO all of your DC’s needs, email them any reports you have. Point out where the EHCP is missing or misrepresents his needs. A misleading EHCP is misleading the school too and they don’t want that either. Also the school will have seen all of this before from the local authority. By the sounds of it they will say they can’t meet your son’s needs to the LA and that’s a good start.

At the same time contact IPSEA or SOS!SEN for advice. These charities use lawyers. Start drafting using the IPSEA templates for letters you can adapt to complain to the LA. Don’t rely on your DIASS only for legal advice, even though they can be very helpful they don’t always give accurate legal advice and aren’t lawyers normally. Compare what you’re being advised with elsewhere.

It’s not easy or quick but you can find advice and he is still young. Your child has a right to a full time education and your local authority must provide that for him in a form that he can handle. If he’s given an inappropriate school or setting and the LA won’t budge on that, then you can challenge it right up to SEND tribunal. Good luck.

You can ask for an emergency review. So do this ASAP. See if his current school will support you with this. Once you have emergency review you will then have the chance to appeal and go to tribunal.

What did the ehcp for Nov put in section I. If they wre only just naming placement for high school in Sept 2026? Thet have missed the kegal deadline. It should have been done by Feb 15th?

We just got our final EHCP and it named the wring school. Took over a week to reach our caseworker but immediately she confirmed it would be sorted.
I know it's probably harder as you need a special school and ours was just one mainstream over another, but please do call (and keep calling, and escalate to manager), until you hear from someone. You have a couple of months for appeal so the main thing is finding out why they have refused him.

Don't give up now. I can pretty much guarantee you've been fighting for the past 10/11 years, you do have it within you to keep going

So sorry this has happened, OP. It seems to be the default in so many areas, that the EHCP issued is woefully inadequate. We've been on this merry-go-round for about 13 years now and even with an excellent special school team on the case with regular meetings and chasing things up, as well as us being on the ball (because of previous experience...) the LA still leave things out and leave errors unamended from drafts several years ago (honestly, it's like finding fossils embedded in the current EHCP - DS's old school still named from years ago, the wrong names for various people, statements that we've rewritten over several years mysteriously reverting to earlier versions ...).

A few years ago, we took the LA to tribunal for not having something fairly crucial on his EHCP and for not naming the SS we knew he needed. (I appreciate we were in a very lucky position in the first place as he was already in a SS,but the secondary department was massively inadequate - for him and any other student - and we had to get him out of there for a host of reasons, including serious safeguarding issues.) The LA didn't even turn up to the hearing ... the judge really was not impressed with them! We managed to be the squeaky wheel that got oiled in the end. LAs are geared up to expect most parents to be so beaten down by the system that they won't go the mediation-then-tribunal route. Yet (in our LA anyway) the vast majority of cases taken against the LA by parents will be successful. Think on that.

I see you've already done something we had to do - get a private ed psych assessment and report (we had to pay a private ed psych to do a new assessment on DS because despite already being at a SS for moderate/severe LDs he didn't have a formal diagnosis of LDs alongside his ASD on his EHCP...) and if there are any other reports from specialists - SALT, OT, etc - that you think need updating, lean hard on the LA and his current school to get those, and if you think updated reports will help his case to demonstrate that the named setting won't meet his needs, consider if you can pay for updated assessments to support that.

You do NOT need a lawyer to take the LA to tribunal, however. We didn't. SENDIAS were helpful and so were SN forums on MN and elsewhere. You'll have to go through 'mediation' first if you're in England. However, you don't actually have to do a mediation meeting if the LA are refusing to assess your child, issue an EHCP, fail to amend it, or matters of placement. (I think - check) What you do need to do is 'consider mediation'. The LA should have sent you a letter with the final draft of the EHCP saying that you have the right to go to mediation, with an independent company you can contact. Do that within 2 months of receiving that letter. The company will ask you if you want to go to mediation, you can decline and ask for the mediation certificate. You'll need this in order to proceed to tribunal.

www.ipsea.org.uk/mediation-what-you-need-to-do

https://sossen.org.uk/

They are a charity. They should be able to help you talk through what your options are.

Contact any/all of the organisations below to see if they can help. One of them can talk you through processes

sossen.org.uk/sen-journey/appealing-a-decision/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22395771738&gclid=CjwKCAiAzOXMBhASEiwAe14SaYJYCRvgKAH94W76uwVeTG7hxomLN_815f_LpdHinoQ-nA7dMkf5jRoCFvQQAvD_BwE

Source: (IPSEA) Independent Provider of Special Education Advice https://share.google/MDkkQeH4V4aIQP0IL

https://www.ipsea.org.uk/tribunal-helpline

https://www.scope.org.uk/advice-and-support/applying-for-ehcp-without-educational-psychologist-report

https://www.specialneedsjungle.com/send-law-research/

https://www.mencap.org.uk/help-and-advice/education/education-health-and-care-ehc-plans-explained

https://www.sense.org.uk/information-and-advice/life-stages/childhood-and-school/send/ehcp-appeal/

The LA will always name one mainstream school, they're forced to

LAs do not have to name a MS.

They can say to LA they can’t meet needs and then the LA can’t send him there.

Unless the school is wholly independent, they can be named even if they object when consulted.

I then asked the LA who said they needed a formal response from that school and would then take that into account.

The LA must consult. That isn’t quite the same as must receive a response. Schools don’t always reply. For a non-wholly independent school, that is taken as a positive response. For wholly independent schools, a negative response.

as we wanted a SEN school we were told one mainstream had to be named, but the rest could be SEN.

Despite what some LAs say, you did not need to state any MS as a preference. Neither did you need to give more than one school as a preference.

Our local mainstream has no TAs and no possibility for 1:1. So they said under no circumstance could they take our daughter.

Obviously it isn’t now relevant if DD is in SS, but just because a school doesn’t have TAs currently doesn’t mean they can’t provide 1:1. Needing 1:1 would not be a reason not to name a parent’s preferred state MS. They can recruit.

The LA told us they can consult with s41 schools but not non-s41.

This isn’t true. LAs can consult with s41 and wholly independent schools.