Anyone around who knows about ehcp deadlines?

[Nancy74]

I know LA's have 20 weeks from the time they receive a request to complete an EHC plan. However, what happens if they refuse to assess and then change their mind?

Ie, They receive the request on week 0. Decide not to assess on week 3. The parent appeals by sending an email outlining their reasons and the decision is overturned 3 weeks later.

Does the 20 weeks go on hold during this time, so week 4 starts when they decide to assess?

Or does the clock restart at the point they decide to assess?

I'm pretty certain it's the first one as otherwise all LA's would leave EHCP requests gathering dust as there's no pressure on them to get it done.

Just asking as my sons caseworker is claiming the 20 weeks starts when they decided to assess which was 6 weeks after I first requested the assessment, but 3 weeks after they initially refused.

If you can point me at the law to quote at them that would be great.

Thanks.

Yes, the clock stops when they refuse to assess and starts again when they change their minds. So at that point they have 14 weeks left.

I'm not sure there's anything in the rules that deals with precisely that situation, but there's something in the SEND Regulations 2014 and the SEND Amendment Regulations 2015 that says if you have to go to tribunal and they either concede or are ordered to assess, they have 14 weeks, so logically it must be the same in other circumstances.

It might be an idea to point out to the case officer that the point of the 20 week period is that it must include the first 6 weeks when they're deciding whether to assess, and it's illogical to suggest anything else. If she insists it's 20 weeks, ask her to give you chapter and verse of the relevant legal provisions.

Thank you so much @SaturdayNext. Can I just check. Does the clock stop when they made the decision? So, in my case they decided af week 3 but changed their mind at week 7. So, does week 7 become week 4? Or are you saying it doesn't matter how long they stop for, it automatically becomes week 7 when they decide to assess (so they have 14 weeks left irrespective if when they make the decision to assess).

I don't think that there's anything that deals with the scenario of an early decision, but logically in your case they would have a further 17 weeks to make a decision, given that the deadline is 20 weeks every if they said yes to assessment immediately on receiving the request.

If the difference is only three weeks it's probably not worth making a fuss about it, to be honest - if you complained or took it to court it wouldn't be resolved quickly enough to make a difference. However, I would definitely use the fact that they've had three extra weeks to keep them strictly to the time limits they're working to.

Thank you. That makes sense. I'm being picky about time as my son is transferring to secondary in September so every second counts.