Daughter refused Sen school so upset

We are in the same boat. Out of school 11 months and been offered a Specialist Provision at a state SP which the LA consulted with, in a different borough. Our LA would have to fund it. Instead of funding it, they are deleting the part of the agreed draft EHCP that says she needs specialist funding, and sending her to the mainstream she's not been in all year. The mainstream school says they cannot meet need. Specialist Provision said directly to the LA that they can. we have a few days to convince the LA. Just so depressing.

Can you appeal? This is the sort of thing your MP can help with, you should get in touch.

You can ask to see the consultation response from the specialist school to see what they said.

The LA not naming the school doesn’t automatically mean the school objected when consulted. Even if the school did object when consulted, unless it is wholly independent, it can still be named.

Parents with a hearing 11 months away can ask for the hearing to be brought further forward than 11 months’ time.

My expedited hearing as my son out of school was an 11 month wait last year.

OP I read so often people going to tribunal and winning. I think as there just isn't the money for SEN education most LAs say no automaticly then expect they will loose at apeal but that year delay saves lots of money

What would happen if she starts going to mainstream? Presumably it will be immediately obvious that she can't cope, what would happen then? Would they find something more appropriate?

If that happens again, you can take enforcement action. You don’t have to accept the LA acting unlawfully and ignoring you.

So you are aware for the future, ARs should still be held even if you EHE. In future, if the LA fails to review the EHCP at least annually, email the Director of Children’s Services reminding them of their duty and threatening judicial review. If that fails, you need a pre-action letter. Then, if that doesn’t work, JR proceedings would.

If it is a formal reassessment of needs, that has statutory timescales. Although LAs try to get away with breaching them and it still wouldn’t be the route I would go down.

And if it isn’t part of a formal reassessment of needs, that would be even more of a reason not to do go down that route because there wouldn’t be the right of appeal again after the reassessment but the LA is likely to string it out long enough to let the clock run down on OP’s right of appeal following the annual review.

Costs in independent schools have never just been about tallying up F. That isn’t what Holly said. There are the base fees to start with (which cover different things in different schools). Then things like transport costs. However, LAs are responsible for the provision in F and that includes ensuring that is sufficient funding.

The law is the same in all LAs. I support parents across the country, all LAs act unlawfully at times.

Mainstreams have also changed considerably over the past few years which is having a detrimental impact.
Teachers no longer have to be qualified, 1:1 support staff have been dramatically reduced, staff retention and recruitment crisis, budget cuts...the list goes on.

@DrRuthGalloway

Once an EHCP is finalised you must appeal within two months (or within one month of your mediation certificate, whichever is the latter). I assume there is a 'new' EHCP because OP said the LA have given her DD mainstream. Is there a final EHCP naming mainstream in section I @CornflakesCorn ?

It's poor advice because even if the LA agree to seek new EP advice (which they may not) it won't be a quick process. Ehcna's are running months and months past statutory deadlines due to a National shortage of EPs, why would they prioritise OP when there's no statutory deadline to meet for simply requesting updated EP advice? Then they have to write a new draft, consult OP, consult settings again, issue a new final. By the time all that is done OP will have missed her current appeal deadline and there's absolutely no guarantee the LA will change the setting named in section I anyway. In which case several months have gone by and then still has to appeal anyway. That's what she has to lose, months more of her child's education with no guarantee of the LA agreeing to a specialist setting at the end of it.

If the LA refuses and tries to issue a new EHCP (without seeking new EP advice) that names this mainstream she can appeal.

But they've already issued a new plan with out of date advice anyway by the sounds of it. OP can appeal now. What's the point in waiting? The LA can get the updated EP advice as part of the appeal process and resolve any outstanding issues at any time they choose too during the appeal process.

Tribunal doesn't have to cost anything. Most of mine haven't cost me a penny.

Ok so costings are no longer done by simply 'tallying up' section F. It appears that we're all working with different LAs, which operate in different ways. That's not to diminish anyone's experience or advice on here, but simply to state that we all have different (apparently extensive) experience. There is a huge shortage of school places for children with EHCPs currently, as we all know, although again this may vary between regions and counties. Schools are under huge pressures to meet need for children with EHCPs and with limited resources, hence my previous comments about ensuring section F is appropriate to the desired setting. One thing which remains clear is that we all want to do our best to meet need for these incredibly vulnerable children and that occasionally the bureaucracy holds the process up. Thank you all for your different views - this has been insightful to hear others' experiences. OP good luck and hope your DD ends up in the best possible setting for her.

I'm going to correct that and say non section 41 independent school 😂

Or to be precise I said ‘Unless the school is wholly independent’.

What do you mean by that's not how it works anymore?

If you're a non section 41 school they probably send less plans because they don't want to pay out the ££££ when you say yes.

Perhaps you missed it but I said non-wholly independent schools.

Although to be precise, just because a school is a ‘non-section 41 school’ doesn’t mean it is wholly independent. There are non-section 41 schools that absolutely can be named against their will. For example, maintained schools are not section 41 schools and can be named even if they object. Another example of a type of non-wholly independent schools are non-maintained special schools. They can also be named against their will.

All LAs sometimes send consultations to completely unsuitable schools. This increases when the LA is trying to avoid paying expensive independent fees or avoid EOTAS/EOTIS.

They cannot do this with non-section 41 schools.

This is not how it works any more, unless different LAs have different methods. We work with 3, which thankfully all work in the same way and don't waste our precious time. Maybe we're lucky.

It isn’t uncommon for LAs to send consultations to completely unsuitable schools. Unless the school is wholly independent, the LA doesn’t need them to agree to being named. The LA can name them even if they object so the school can’t refuse to accept pupils from a particular LA.

Consultations can be up to 120 pages long (EHCP, EP reports, SALT, OT etc). LAs know not to send these out to schools unless there is a very high chance that the school would accept the student and be able to meet need. A more scattergun approach would result in schools refusing to take students with EHCPs from that particular LA. A significant amount of SLT time is required to go through each of these in detail.

LA's won't know the costings until they send out a consult as the cost will depend on the provision in section F and what each individual school can already provide (or not provide). Part of the point of a consultation is to obtain costings, more so re independent schools but this can apply to other settings too. Not every child costs the same to educate.

I'm not sure what you mean by LAs wouldn't waste time? They send consults to settings all the time who can't meet needs if that's what you mean?