ECHP review question - under pressure regarding named school

[PerpetualCircle]

DS was diagnosed ASD last week, his ECHP Was issued in December. I have also contacted social services regarding a care needs assessment. DS is in Final year of primary school.

Will the ASD diagnosis trigger a review of the ECHP? I was going to request one but there is no right of appeal if LEA refuse to review. However we are still within the timeframe of 8 weeks to reject the ECHP and go for mediation.

Also, the LEA are pressuring me to name the school on ECHP by 15th February. I will not be receiving the full autism diagnostic report and recommendations until 21st Feb, and I have no idea when the social service assessment will take place. So I feel that I would not be making an informed choice when naming the school.

Has anyone else had a similar experience?

Just to clarify, does he have a named school and finalised EHCP already? You can call early annual reviews if needs and diagnosis change (I have) you need to tell your case worker what you’ve said here as whatever flannel they say, the whole point of the EHCP is pitting the child at the centre and meeting their needs.

Thanks for your reply.

He only has the school he’s at now on the ECHP, and leaves there in July.

You will need to call the review meeting at the school he’s at now and ask the LA to attend. The actual “review” takes place once that meeting has taken place, so it is actually a bit like the assessment process but within a shorter timescale. At that point they can issue you a new draft EHCP with any changes, THEN the school gets named on the final draft, like before. They shouldn’t be harassing you to name a school without having had a review meeting anyway. They know that! But if you have a different school in mind to the one they are thinking you will need further back up evidence etc etc

Cheers Lanbury, I do have a school in mind which I’m sure they won’t agree too, hoping the social services assent will add more weight to my argument.

*assessment

An ASD diagnosis alone will not necessarily trigger a review, if you want/need one you will have to request one from the LA.

The LA are pushing the 15th February because that is the deadline for issuing amended EHCPs for secondary transfers.

Is the social care assessment a carer's assessment for you or an assessment from the disabled children's team for DS? If the later why was it not completed during the needs assessment? If the former it won't really matter that it will be after naming the school.

If you have a school in mind start building a case as to why they can meet DS' needs and why the LA's likely choice can not using the existing reports you have, then hopefully you can strengthen your case with the ASD and Social care reports. If you need to go to tribunal for the placement you want you will need to appeal sections B and F as well as I, so will need evidence to support that.

I have requested a social services assessment for DS and for myself. ( I am a single parent and ex DP lives abroad, I have very little support and have my own mental health problems )

During the ECHP process social services were never raised. But during my DS diagnosis it was advised I should contact social services disability team for assessment.
I did think about contacting Social Services during the ECHP process but we have had previous experience with our local social services a couple of years ago, they were useless, a Social Worker even told me that my DS wasn’t autistic, and that I needed parenting classes. I therefore did not want to engage with them until DS was diagnosed.