EHCP help

[HelloKittyHelloKitty]

Need advice please, you honestly can’t make this up, my son’s school is terrible. I had an annual review in july for my son, with the school senco, I said all the changes I want made to his ehcp etc she wrote them all down and we went through it all together.
Then a few days later she informed me she was leaving at the end of the year but would make sure the LA got all the paperwork from his annual review, well it’s november and I have never had an outcome from his AR, ive emailed the LA on the 20th of October but they never responded. I called them today and guess what?! they’ve never received ANY of the paperwork! senco has since left and now that’s it! what do i do now? the guy on the phone was suggesting an emergency annual review but that doesn’t seem right given he was due one anyway? case worker never responds to me. Can I go above the LA? is there anyone else to take this further? i’ve found an ehcp means nothing honestly not worth the paper it’s written on.

If the caseworker is ignoring you, have you emailed the DCS and MO?

The problem with just holding another AR meeting is the clock would then restart for the new review process and that would frustrate OP’s right of appeal. (And another AR meeting doesn’t actually relieve the LA of their duty to complete the previous one.) The LA may not be falling over themselves to make the amendments needed. They could equally take the view that they have got away with acting unlawfully so will continue to do so. If LAs are given an inch, they often take a mild.

Then your legal remedy is JR on the basis that the LA failed to review the plan.

That said, a stiffly worded pre action protocol letter will often do the trick but in any event you’re going to have to sit though it being reviewed again. Perhaps put the changes you wanted in the PAP, send it to Legal at the LA and of course the director of children’s services, and your EHCP coordinator and pester daily.

An urgent review is likely to be quicker than all the faffing around 'trying to find the lost paperwork". Whoever is Acting SENDCO, who is likely to be a member of Support Staff, in the absence of a replacement teacher, will probably have to contact the previous SENDCO, who has very likely forgotten all about it by now. I can see this becoming a very lengthy, unproductive process. Just hold another review.

So they should get away with it?

I was planning to appeal so I know the LA won’t make changes but I need the final plan to appeal but now it’s delayed it by months and my son is not in school and unable to attend

I know you can’t appeal yet, that is why I mentioned it is frustrating your right of appeal. It is also why I suggested contacting the DCS and MO and if chasing doesn’t work, a pre-action letter.

If DS is not in school, if you appeal, you will be able to request an expedited hearing.

If DS is not in school, is AP in place?

Not yet, it says he has to be absent 15 days, I plan to contact the DCS tomorrow

The 15 days don’t have to have already been missed. Provision should be arranged once it becomes clear 15 days will be missed. They don’t need to be consecutive of already missed. And provision should start by the 6th day.

I don’t mean to Minimise how inconvenient this is but honestly in the scale of EHCP bollocks, this is a low misdemeanour frankly. Do a pre action protocol letter if you like, but kindly, it’s a very hard road so make sure you pick your battles, and optimise for simple.

i can see how you would feel that way if you are not in the situation but this school has been awful so this is just another problem with them and now it’s delayed me being able to appeal and when they wait for appeals is already 18 months + that’s now going to be looking at 2 years for an appeal my son will be out of school by then!

What actual things do you need in place for your son to attend? Was he attending back in July when you had the AR?
And lastly and Im not defending the school or LA but as someone else mentioned this sort of delay and incompetence is not that big a deal. It would not even have been considered a problem in my old LA unless someone was using it against someone else as a weapon.
As a parent of a child with an EHCP though you have the right to ask for the named provision to change.If that does occur my advice is go for a specialist provision given it is about a billion times easier to go into mainstream from specialist than the other way round.

they’ve never followed his ehcp (i applied for it myself) i’ve made formal complaints but the la just side with the school, most of the provision in the ehcp no longer exists as it’s been taken away, so this is just the icing on the cake

nothing they can do, most of the provision no longer exists as they’ve taken it away and he is constantly getting attacked at school by other children so i’m not sending him back as they can’t keep him safe

You need to appeal it if they’re removing provision without evidence.

3 of my children have EHCPs and Im a legal advisor in SEND. I know the road you’re on. Pick your battles.

can i appeal without the final ehcp?

It’s a shit show! All of it is a mess I don’t know about your LA but our is working on a 12week wait for ‘urgent’ cases! Most likely your poor SENCO was overworked and vastly underpaid not that it should be an excuse but if it was all piling on top of her she’s probably just ignored very important things. The best you can do is start over again and keep your fingers crossed. I’m sorry

Op the actual problem is way beyond an AR. If I as Sendco had a child with an Ehcp who was being physically or verbally assaulted I would raise this with both the ewo and the head. I was in a secondary school so my first port of call would have been the head of year.
All children have the right to be safe in school. I would advise that you write to the chair of governors immediately, that is if you have already written to the head, which I think you said you had done.
Also there will be an officer at the LA whose job it is to monitor attendance why not contact them? Also there are members of staff who work for the LA in the send department. Email them so you have a record of when you contacted them for when the attendance team becomes involved.
Emails are better than phone calls as they are solid clear written evidence. And time and date stamped.

i don’t want to go into it all but i’ve spoken to the head of year, i’ve done all that, they are not supportive and he is out now,

never followed his EHCP

If the provision detailed, specifed and quantified in F of theEHCP isn’t provided, rather tan go down the normal complaint route, which takes too long and may not result in positive change, you need a pre-action letter, then can look at JR if necessary. However, this is only possible if the provision is detailed, specified and quantified in F. If I the wording is vague and woolly, it can’t be enforced and needs improving. The LA is the one ultimately responsible for ensuring the provison in F is provided. It doesn’t matter if they side with the school.

most of the provision in the ehcp no longer exists as it’s been taken away

Do you mean the provision has been removed from section F? Or do you mean the provision has been removed in the sense that it is not being provided?

You need the right of appeal to appeal. In theory, it is possible to ask SENDIST to accept an appeal without the formal decision letter, but in your circumstances it is highly, highly unlikely they will agree to do that.

it does not exist in the school anymore, certain provision he had access to and was specified in his ehcp has been taken away from the school. i’ve also gone through his ehcp with him and he has told me that certain things are not happening and yes it’s specific and quantified.

If provision detailed, specified and quantified in F isn’t being provided, you can enforce it. Lack of resources, funding, staffing, etc. are not lawful excuses for the LA breaching their duty under section 42 of the Children and Families Act 2014.

the LA accepted the reasons the school gave for not following his ehcp i already made a formal complaint, this is been going on since april, he won’t be going back to the school now anyway i guess im going to have to suck it up and have another AR, the said it should be an emergency AR but ive heard the LA do not have to do an emergency review?

It is irrelevant that you say the LA accepted the reasons the school gave for not following the EHCP, the provision detailed, specified and quantified in F isn’t optional. The LA’s duty is absolute and non-delegable. As I said earlier, going down the normal complaint route isn’t a suitable remedy, it takes too long and made not lead to a positive change, but you could enforce the provision via a pre-action letter then JR if necessary. Even if DS is out of school, the provision in F should still be provided. (Although obviously some may not be relevant to out of school.)

An early/emergency review follows the same process as the annual review. The LA must hold a review at least every 12 months. They may not agree to holding one sooner than that, but if you want an early review it doesn’t sound like that will be a problem since the LA has a.ready suggested that.

it was the man on the phone not the case worker so wasn’t officially agreed he just said that as a suggestion as i still have not heard from the case worker

@hibernatinghedgehog you know your stuff <fistbump>

OP you’re going to have to go all in. None of us want to. And yet we all have to, and generally regret not getting stuck in earlier.