Are SEN case workers to be trusted?

[Ricecakesaremyjam]

Are local authority SEN case workers to be trusted? Do they work to serve the child, or on behalf of the school who aren’t delivering EHCP interventions?
Can anyone advise?! Thanks x

Never. Always treat them (politely) with healthy suspicion.

It depends really. But if the LA is paying for an intervention and the school is not delivering it, then a SEN caseworker should care about that no matter whether they are on the child’s side or the LAs side. Least likely they’ll be on the school’s side if the school are failing to deliver what an EHCP is funding (LA and school not necessarily the same side).

but as PP said, always good to have cynicism because -yes, could be untrustworthy but also could just be incompetent/lazy/overworked/undertrained/unbothered: any reason which means they don’t do a very good job.

they’re not all bad though ;)

They work on behalf of the Local Authority.

They work for the la. They do what they are told to do. Most I dealt with were dreadful. One was good and did help to secure the right funding for my dd. I think you need a healthy dose if scepticism. Don't accept everything you are told but be open to their help.

Depends on who you get - money savers or child minded.

Most the time it's money savers.

Based on my experience, I would advise you to get everything in writing. The case workers at my LA have behaved appallingly. Also, if they say they will do something, either chase it or organise it yourself, if practical to do so. Don’t trust that they will do it.

No, not at all. The system is stacked against parents and stalling, ignoring communication from parents, ignoring legal deadlines are all standard practice in EHCP teams. It's all part of a system that aims to deny or at least delay often expensive placements for children with disabilities. Given that many placements are tens of thousands a year (plus transport) it is really worth throwing families under the bus even if they win 12 months down the line at tribunal. There is no accountability and no fines for LA if they don't follow the law so delaying tactics save a fortune. All EHCP workers are training in those. I live in an LA where last year, just 6% of EHCP were finalised within the legal time frame. The amount of distress and suffering it causes for the disabled children and their families is awful. I have one who hasn't been in the whole school year and EHCP well overdue. Don't trust them. They are all evil. I think it takes a special kind of person to take that role which has been essentially designed to wreck lives!!!

I'm going to be honest I work in an LA team close to the SEND team and these comments are ridiculous.

A caseworker in a neighbouring LA to mine that I know took their own life earlier this year, work related stress was a high part of it, endless abuse from parents. The team in my LA are constantly working extra hours under huge pressure. I think because you aren't dealing with them face to face it feels acceptable to be abusive to them and it isn't.

They are the front line staff trying to deliver overstretched services with no budget and demand on service that has doubled since the pandemic. Against schools that are increasingly hostile to learners with SEND. Most are from a teaching background and many have children of their own with SEND. They have gone into this role for good reasons.

Suggesting that an entire profession of people have a character flaw of untrustworthiness... You must realise how irrational that is.

They are following processes and policies written by directors and legal teams.

I have 3 children with SEND, and understand the parental perspective, and that does not make this ok. One had a horrific year of crisis, a delayed EHCP, no school place for months and it was awful. It wasn't because anyone was being lazy or not doing their job. It is because the capacity in the system is lower than the need. Same as the NHS.

Do you realise it's not their money, they are not going on a cruise with the money saved if they follow policy and name a mainstream school rather than special etc.

It's like holding the class teacher accountable for national curriculum design and school budget allocation.

They are people and this needs to be remembered.
Edited for typos

It's like holding the class teacher accountable for national curriculum design and school budget allocation.

no it isn't. a class teacher would in most cases still teach. In my LA, EHCP and hardly ever completed on time. Plans are shoddily written. When you contact the team, then nobody ever picks up the phone, noone returns calls when you ring them. Emails are always ignored, not even acknowledged. It is impossible to get into contact with the team who are clearly not doing their job. The only way to get things going is to go through the LA complaints procedure. You usually have to get to stage 2 in order to get a response. It's more like a teacher who doesn't rock up to work in the first place if you wanna draw analogies.

Agreed.

They are working for the local authority and are only interested in saving money. In my experience they never have the childs best interest at heart.

You are understandably frustrated. Again what you are describing is a team that has a capacity lower than the level of demand on it. One caseworker can't be simultaneously attending meetings, writing plans and answering the phone. They will be rushing staff into post and asking them to produce high numbers of plans whilst still doing everything else. This will impact quality. And then they are dependent on the quality of advice they receive (my service is similar.

Do you truly and honestly think they are sitting around filing their nails and drinking coffee until you escalate a stage 2 complaint? Is that really likely?

Please vent at the system... It desperately needs higher levels of resourcing and an overhaul. But calling people trying to do a job 'evil' is quite abusive and somewhat childish.

This. Some of them probably want to do the right thing but it instilled in them that saving money is the ultimate aim. They will pretend to listen to you then do everything they can to not so what you want.

where I am we have had a never ending supply of different case workers and none of them seem to care about the actual child. Even for transition echp reviews they don’t turn up and then go against what everyone knows is needed.

Mine was good (if incredibly patronising) and did her best in a system stacked against her. Then she got taken off our case and now we are like the above poster having to submit formal complaints just to get a response to an email. Our LA has a generic inbox and no allocated caseworker so all a bit of a mess.

What they are doing to families is abuse. Period.

It's not saving money, most LAs SEND budgets are in defects to the tune of millions, along with social care budgets etc.
They are trying to make not enough resources reach too many people, not squirelling money into a a LA savings pot.

Can you give an example of an action you are aware of a caseworker taking that is abuse?

I agree that the shortcomings of the system cause trauma to families (mine included). But there are no actions of individuals that could be described as abusive.

I wonder why they keep leaving? ...

I don’t doubt that there are some good ones, but I’ve yet to meet one within our LA. We’ve been actively lied to and thwarted on several occasions by ours. I mostly blame the managers as the SEN officers themselves often seem woefully underqualified and are obviously overworked. It’s no excuse for dishonestly though, and it certainly isn’t an isolated problem (our LA’s recent Ofsted/CQC report proves this).

As a result or not replying to emails, not updating the draft plan, nor answering phone calls etc, our EHCP is now well beyond deadline. My child has not had an education for 9 months and as a result, went into a mental health crisis. They are currently on our 8th week in an inpatient ward as a direct result of being pushed into crisis by being denied an education. We are going through absolute hell. Is that a good enough reason for being a tiny bit upset with the echp team??? Case worker has a clear job to do and is not doing it. we are paying a very high price.

We've had some good caseworkers, although I was always aware that they were very constrained by the system and couldn't always help us in the way that they might have liked.

We have also had awful ones. One in particular did a lot of damage. He just lied all the time. It wasn't just me who thought this, out headteacher at the time also despaired as all the children at the school were under him. He let a lot of children down and caused a lot of trauma to them and to parents.

Most are somewhere in the middle in my experience but hid behaviour was so damaging. It was brutal

Nope they point blank lie and misdirect at every opportunity breaking the law and ignoring all court deadlines when your forced to go to sendist to try to hold them account. Honestly the system in our La is completely broken. The whole EHCP process is horrendous

You can absolutely be upset with them. You have not described any individuals perpetrating abuse.
You have described a team that have more work than they can get through.

You sound just like the guys in my LA who are, once you get to speak to them, are only good at gaslighting. Maybe you should consider that as a career move. If I would refuse to send my child to school, I would be hauled in front of of the courts. But it's ok if the neglect is caused by the LA? right.

What exactly do you know about my LA and my team? Nada. Exactly.