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

This is 100% my experience too.

I agree that most case officers have an awful job and are probably trying their best. However, you cannot seriously claim that all of them are. Far too many parents have experience of case officers who ignore them, who do not do what they say they will do, and take local authority policy as gospel without checking what the legal requirements actually are. And yes, some can and do lie and bully parents. I accept that a degree of the misinformation that is churned out is down to poor training by LAs, but the Code of Practice and the relevant statutes and regulations all relatively easily available.

It is very clear that some are being told to delay, defend indefensible appeals,and follow unlawful blanket policies, and they are meekly following instructions rather than consulting their consciences. That is particularly the case with the more senior ones. There are times when they have a choice between throwing a vulnerable child under the bus and doing the right thing, and even the caseworkers on this thread have admitted that a proportion of their colleagues will make the wrong choice for the sake of a quiet life.

Yes. And additionally the case workers do this for a job. They could do something else. Flip burgers. Drive Ubers. Whatever. But they do this through choice. As parents this is our LIFE. We can’t resign. We can’t brush up our CV and move on. This is it, and it’s often really REALLY hard, made harder by some of the appalling attitudes displayed on this thread.

I think that’s my first thought about sen caseworkers on the whole.

They are either ineffectual or (by following what they reckon is a moral rather than legal perspective) make life much worse.

Off the back of this I looked up job ads for "EHCP writers". Not caseworkers but subcontractors.

Blimey. They need to commit to writing two EHCPs PER DAY. No wonder they are cut and paste jobs from EP report if you're lucky and bugger all else. Who can write an EHCP in half a day? I've spent longer than that reasonably requesting that a SaLT assessment be included in an EHCNA, over and over. And someone has probably spent another half a day reading them all, then ignoring or occasionally writing "no" in creative ways.

That is a fairly low rate for a special school though. I presume your child didn't have complex physical or medical needs? Places at our LA PMLD special school are between 40k and 60k dependent on need, so when an independent quotes lower they look better, despite not actually providing an equivalent service. The system is in crisis and children are loosing out, both those with SEN and those without.

No, they primarily needed a calm low arousal environment. But a) without it they had been very dangerously broken, b) there were schools offering the same, but with nicer grounds at up to £80k and the LA were paying that. This was pre pandemic though. All professionals agreed it was needed, we didnt pay for any independent reports or legal representation. I am sure that it would be a different story now

"My child is mid teens now and when we were looking at specialist 10 years ago the independent specialists were only for the most severe complex children be that behavioural, medical etc. now I’m seeing that the same schools don’t want these children anymore they are only taking children with less severe needs that at one time would have been managed in mainstream with support"

Yep my son had to leave his independent specialist where he has been for years because they now don't take young people with his complex needs.

That's heartbreaking x

I completely agree! I’ll never forget how pissed off I felt at an annual review where my daughter’s teacher was saying that if she wasn’t able to come to school then it should be recorded as an unauthorised absence. One of the people on ‘my side’ piped up in support of me and said that would get me in trouble with the council and it wasn’t fair and also that it was in breach of the disability discrimination act. The stupid teacher started crying. At that moment I lost all respect for her. I wondered how she could dare to play the victim when I have to worry about my extremely complex daughter for the rest of my life. And when I’m gone, what then?

Would she remember my daughter in 10 or even 5 years? No.

Yep. And yet further up the thread, I got a “well you sound lovely” for pointing out that parents have way more skin in the game.

We are supposed to be gracious and suck up any offers of help, however much they fall short.

And we should all be happy to let our child be screwed over, be illegally refused an education, affecting their entire future, because we are only after horse riding lessons and all the extra curriculars to make up a private education apparently!

Absolutely agree, but I think the persons point was that many staff are trying to do their best in a system which is really stressful, not that it in any way compares to the level of stress parents go through, I don't think anyone thinks that. I have absolute admiration for the families i work with. But that doesn't mean it doesn't matter, that it has no affect on us, that our families don't also suffer when we come home emotionally drained from knowing children are being failed on a daily basis and it only seems to be getting worse. There was a short period of hope when the new government came in, which has rapidly turned to despair.

Working in SEN, but as a health professional, I have come home crying many nights that I haven't been able to provide what the children I care for need, due to a system which is so overwhelmed and clunky. Many times my manager has said to me 'you need to distance yourself, you can't hold yourself responsible for everything which doesn't work out, otherwise you will burn out'. And that is what happens, those that care often burn out, leaving behind those who don't care as much. Junior staff join and then leave, with their idealism and good intentions in tatters, and our team constantly has several vacancies. My husband keeps telling me to go private, to double my earnings, but more importantly, for my mental health.

So whilst it may look like many of us dont care, we do, or we would walk away, i am fighting every day to try to make things better for the children we work with, and i know i am failing, and I'm sorry, on behalf of a broken system I am so sorry.

Some horrible posts on here. Borne of frustration, no doubt, but still horrible.

Where? The caseworker telling parents to fuck off has all been deleted?

I'm really sure (hope?) this is the majority of those working in the system but the problem is some do actively lie and treat families with complete and utter disdain. The things I have seen from SAR documents...

Think OP is scared off now. Maybe they had a specific follow up question 😢

which ones???

It would be fascinating to know if they are permitted to advise. A conscientious EHCP writer should be saying time and again "I have done what I can with the evidence but this will not be a lawful document unless and until you instruct the EP to advise properly on specific support, and get decent evidence on the child's speech/physical/sensory/emotional/mental health/whatever needs." I mean, I know they will be ignored and probably sacked, but it would be good at least to have that sort of advice clearly on record.

I've heard quite good (pretty senior) Caseworker say very similar. Unfortunately parents often get ignored or are unable to access these services independently to ask for more specific advice (won't go into specific details as it outs the area I live in).

Also, these very senior Case managers are given absolutely no authority to make decisions on anything, despite being paid sometimes £60k+ One officer refused to write into an EHCP a 10 minute a day free intervention, that is known to cause no harm whatsoever, for a child who already had a 1:1, without "more" evidence. I don't know many other industries who pay such a decent salary where staff aren't allowed to make any decisions themselves, especially as most of the Caseworkers are qualified teachers.

@Agenoria and that's completely incompatible with a very clear messaging in the job description that the job means signing up to churn out 2 EHCPs per day, come hell or high water. Volume trumping quality on every level.

I also get very frustrated that our LA rejects recommendations from school, deeming it "not professional evidence". In our case evidence from senior leadership who knows our child very well, has years of experience in teaching and leading a SEN school and a sodding PhD in SEN. But nope, "not a professional". Whereas someone who's never met him writing "not known to our service" is taken as professional evidence that he doesn't need support in that area. It's an absolute travesty.

100% with you. The number of piss poor EP reports I have seen is beyond belief. The most recent one I read (private EP LA commissioned) spouted various 'learning theories' and stated the child's school history but said absolutely nothing about the child's learning ability or support needs. They took by far the longest to submit, all therapies got theirs in quickly due to concerns about this child being out of school so long and the hope that if they completed promptly it would move the process along quicker. I asked the Dad if the EP had actually met the child, turned out their 'assessment' was a 20 min phone call with Dad! Our LA employed EP's are fantastic - caring, knowledgeable and thorough, bit the huge increase in numbers of assessments requested means some have to be privately commissioned unfortunately.

The case workers role is what is is under law, not what you think it should be.
Of course you have to have evidence, that's the whole point, it's an evidence based assessment.
That said, schools can be crap at following the graduated approach when needs escalate and change, which is where the evidence would come from. Partly due to capacity issues at school and partly due to a less inclusive culture than I have ever known in mainstream schools.

That doesn't mean anyone can start making it up as they go along.

No case officer or manager is on 60k.
Case officers are on 32-38. Their team manager about 45-50. The overall SEND manager 54k. The service lead (senior management) is on about 65-75 and manage functions across inclusion (perm ex's etc), SEND, Educational Psychology, virtual school. It's a really senior position. Not a case manager. And no they still can't hand out funds on a whim. They are rightfully checks and safeguards around handing out taxpayers money.

In our LA out case officers have a caseload of 300+. That's as well as managing annual reviews for 300, transfers for about 50, movers in and out, placement breakdowns, perm exclusions, consults for school moves, attending mediations, prepping reapons to tribunal, new assessments for about 30 they are also the people answering the phone, responding to emails etc. They aren't 'not bothering ' to reply, they are prioritising. Making difficult decisions.

My team like the SEND team is in crisis, and when. I arrive at 7.30 they are mostly in and when I leave at 6-7 the same.

I have 3 children with SEND, EHCPS, I've had one I crisis and put of school for a year, had to pay for a private autism assessment for one due to waiting lists, had to leva my teaching job because of his struggles to get into school. Had to pick up the pieces of his distress. My life is exhausting with them. Still doesn't mean I have the right to rest people working in the system as their own personal punchbags.

I know what it like I have lived it. The system is in crisis due to underfunding, and increasing mental health needs post pandemic that are being lumped in with SEND, genuine increase in the occurrence of SEN and a serious increase in parental expectations.

There are provisions in the legislation, regs and guidance that were written in he expectation that they would be used for very rare cases. The landscape has changed and people are asking for things like therapy packages, AP, EOTIS all over the place. And I get why, we all desperately want our kids to be happy and have opportunities. There is no judgement from me on this.

However there is an increasingly toxic group of parents, who are very vocal who take pleasure in trying to attack those who work in the broke system. It's like listening to the bitchy clique on the playground.

They genuinely think their actions are beyond reproach because they are a SEND parent. Well so am I. And it doesn't mean we are entitled to be bitches to anyone we feel like.

Unfortunately, many SEN are hereditary and there is also the environmental issue. So unsurprisingly the incidence of parents who can't regulate their emotions appropriately or communicate appropriately or see things from other people's perspectives are higher in this group. I say that as a SEN parent who is almost certainly ND. I know that I have to be hyper aware of these things for myself. But there are some parents who feel entitled to be abusive twunts simply because the have a SEND child and that nobody has the right to pull them up on it.

I have never, particularly having worked in the system myself, treated professionals like my "own personal punchbag". In fact, many times on this thread people have said parents have posted nasty things and then not identified any nasty posts.

Some senior Case Managers and locum Case Officers are on salaries over £60k, I've seen them advertised.

I understand it should be evidence based but as someone said earlier, some LAs don't even take school evidence as evidence! I really can't go into details (although I want to) but in my area at least there are examples of Case Officers not even being allowed (so not their fault) to make very obvious decisions based on evidence available but then policies prohibit certain (very high need) children accessing services based on technicalities like what type of school they go to.

The main problem with SEND departments up and down the country is that their way of doing things is backwards. The laws says that the council is supposed to assess the child and then identify provision to meet need. But what actually happens is that the council look at what they want to provide (ie what is cheapest) and then write lies so that the child can be stuck into it when there is evidence that it wouldn’t be appropriate.