School want to cut son's hours - help!

[TheCountessofFitzdotterel]

Ds is 8. In his local state primary which also happens to be an enhanced mainstream school.
He is going through EHC assessment and also being assessed for autism (though most people think it's not that). He overreacts to emotional triggers and isn't learning due to that. A year ago he was fine - problems have got steadily worse since Jan.
He is currently on inreach, mornings only, in EMS unit at school (but we agreed this). We have just had an email saying they are going to cut his hours to 2, 4 days a week. No discussion, just that.
We have his team around the child meeting first thing tomorrow.

Can they even do this? What about his right to an education? I feel like they are trying to push us into taking him out of school. So why don't they just expel him?
He has still not even been seen by an educational psychologist.

Thing is, I am wondering if we would be better off if he was actually expelled because then the local authority would have to provide something else?

I wonder if this is an illegal exclusion . Can you call IPSEA for advice?

Definitely call ipsea and also scope for advice. I really don't think they are allowed to do this.

I can't call IPSEA before the TATC meeting because it's first thing tomorrow and they don't open on Sunday (is it too cynical to wonder if school telling us this on a Sunday afternoon was deliberate?!).

Going by the IPSEA factsheets it must be an illegal exclusion, I would think. But then, so would the half days which we agreed.

It feels a bit like being constructively dismissed from a job - rather than go for it and sacking you they make your position untenable till you jump.
Is it possible they're playing games with the local authority and trying to make sure the EHC plan comes through? Or is that overoptimistic and they just want shot of him ASAP? I no longer believe they have his interests at heart.

If I were you he'd suddenly come down with a bug tomorrow and is suddenly unable to go into school / have the meeting etc and that would buy me some time to ring ipsea and find out some more and also to contact the inclusion manager at the local council (I have asked ours various things and they've been very helpful). It may not be the "right" thing to do to have a convenient illness but what they are doing isn't right either and I think you need some more advice.

Thanks but I really don't think that would help. While we were waiting for a date for a new TATC meeting school could be doing anything, and this one took several months to organise. I was hoping to go to the meeting with a partial clue about the legal position but not going isn't going to achieve anything.

How did it go? Cutting your son's hours is definitely an illegal exclusion, so I hope they've abandoned that idea.

Hope it went okay?