Legal timeframes after Consent Order

[EHCP22]

Hiya,
after lodging an Appeal, the LA agreed to issue an EHCP. The Tribunal order was issued on 21.12.22. On the 11.01.23 the LA sent a “working document” EHCP, which was not fit for purpose. On the 17.01.23 we had a meeting with the EP and an LA representative to talk about the EHCP and we were told that following the meeting the EHCP “working document” will undergo statutory checks and then a draft EHCP will be sent to us.

Should the LA issue a draft EHCP within 5 weeks from the date of the order and a final EHCP within 11 weeks? Is the
initial “working document ” a legal document if it hasn’t gone through statutory checks (it was issued 3 weeks after the court order)? It has now been almost 7 weeks since the court order, I’ve emailed the LA, but not heard back.

If the initial “working document” isn’t the actual draft EHCP then the LA are 2 weeks late. Could you please advise how can I proceed?
Would Judicial review be relevant in this case?

Thank you for reading.

Depends whether the LA concedes before or after they submit a response. If before the timescales in SEND Reg 45 apply. If afterwards, there’s no automatic deadlines, they are agreed between you, often the timescales in SEND Reg 44 are used. JR is possible if the LA don’t comply. Have you emailed the Director of Children’s Services? Emailing them threatening JR often works. If it doesn’t contact SOSSEN.

The LA shouldn’t be sending a working document, they should be issuing the draft.

Hi, thanks for your response. The LA submitted a response to the appeal, explaining why they refused to issue and saying that they will hire a new EP to observe DS. I suspected that they are being sneaky sending a useless document to cover their backs. Thank you for your help again.