EHCP support thread

[Phineyj]

My DD (10) is being assessed for EHCP. The council refused to assess (despite her already being diagnosed with ADHD, ASD, hypermobility and vision problems following eye surgery).

School have been supportive throughout and they are going above and beyond to keep her engaged in education.

She's about to go into year 6 though.

I took the LA to the tribunal and won.

They must produce the plan by 4th August. I think they probably will (they've stuck to deadlines so far...ish...). But I've got all the IPSEA complaint letter templates primed!

The hardest thing about the whole process is that no-one else in my life understands it or what it's like to spend all your free time essentially begging people to document the deficits your child has.

It is also a hard realisation that no-one cares much about your child's education except you.

I am also a teacher so I feel sad on behalf of the SEN DC I teach as I am told little about their needs (I spent a whole day doing DofE with one recently...I don't even know what her EHCP says...)

Join me if you are also grimly trekking through the EHCP jungle!!

Sorry @Phineyj - my reply was a bit out-ing, so I got it pulled.

@Phineyj - perhaps we need a companion EHCP games theory thread as this is possibly getting a bit niche.😃

Well you've got to do something to pass the long dark nights/4-6 month tribunal waits! But yes back to business.

@Penelope1703 someone (@ThomasWasTortured) I should think, told me the LA has 5 weeks to produce a draft EHCP after a successful appeal and 11 weeks to produce a final one. I expect you know that, but just in case it's any use.

😂
Seriously, before we pack it in, do you think games theory has anything to say in terms of tactics (individual or collective?)?

I only know a little about game theory. Just enough to understand that in a complex problem you need a strategy (and to change your strategy in the light of new information). Also that people who you interact with, in a complex situation, will have their own aims, objectives, constraints. They likely won't see your problem as a problem unless you make it a problem for them.

To get the outcome you want (or a better outcome than you would have had if you'd done nothing), you need to understand the other person's world a bit.

So if and when SENDIST order my LA to issue, I will try to figure out what strategy I should use to get a reasonable outcome for my DD.

Of course it is difficult to work out what the heck the LA want (other than for me to go away, I guess) considering I've only ever "spoken" to them by email (I stopped phoning because there's no data trail), have never met the case officer and none of them have ever met my DD despite supposedly dealing with her "case" for over a year now.

One has to conclude the child and their education is considered more or less irrelevant to the whole process!

That's so funny @Phineyj - you've made me notice how transgressive it felt when trying to communicate with a case worker. Like I was being naughty and accessing an area I wasn't supposed to be in (I was using their published number!). You are right, thet are actually our children's case workers...

So at the risk of depressing us all, if the LA is more concerned with budget balancing than whether our child's needs are met, aren't their interests best served by a) delaying the point they incur cost, b) minimising the provision that incurs cost, c) making it hard to enforce the provision that incurs the cost, and d) ceasing to maintain as soon as possible? If there are no disincentives to losing at tribunals, and a further incentive of demonstrating to the wider SEND parent community that they had better have deep pockets and buckets of time and emotional resilience to play David to their Goliath, why would they not continue to frustrate legitimate requests again and again in furtherance of their corporate interests?

This could be addressed externally by enforcing obligations (reforming the compliance regime) or reducing the budgetary pressures? Not sure how parents can influence individually beyond seeking to enforce compliance? Which raises the question of whether the benefits of the EHC plans eventually settled for, outweigh the disbenefits of acheiving them, for individual children and families?

For Xmas I'd quite like to do an EHCP snakes and ladders board.

The problem with this I suspect (if the set up is similar in other LA's) is that the department responsible for EHCP's will have a SLA with the legal department - so it doesn't cost them to take it to court as such.... different budget cost centre!

yeah, snakes and ladders with tears

I was hoping to be celebrating news that our LA would be 'issueing' this week, but instead I discovered that our 'caseworker' is no longer on the case, and that his boss was hiring a replacement.

I mailed that boss at the beginning of the week asking for an update and have had no kind of a reply all week.

In the meantime i've been working with the school to have DS do yet another SALT assessment, because LA are apparently deaf to us, the school and their own EP saying that a private one done in July is fine.

Now that we don't even have a caseworker it felt a safer bet to just get another assessment done than try to make them hear a reason.

We're now about two weeks from the supposed end date of our EHCNA which almost certainly will be late. Am I in threatening judicial review territory yet?

😱Let's hope someone in the LA looks at the bigger picture in terms of deficits?

I think you should draft that letter @listlesscat! I sent Ipsea's template one on the last day. But I drafted it before that.

The pre action ones cost though or else you have to get on Sossen's waiting list.

@MrsLamb when I rule the world I'm going to deduct every £ they spend on tribunals from the parents' council tax bill.

Have they said they will issue yet? And are you coming up to week 20?

@ThomasWasTortured will no doubt be along, but don't they have to indicate by about wks 14-16 whether they intend to issue? From memory, I think IPSEA has a model letter linked to this (which factors in the min 3 weeks to respond to a draft, plus potentially meet to discuss outstanding issues, and still finalise by wk 20?)?

And when that's exceeded, place the balance in a public justice fund for SEND families to ensure their appeals have a level of expert support? Or use it to contract for independent assessment capacity at scale to reduce family costs, with bursaries for those on low incomes?

Hmm maybe the latter? Although I don't think lack of money is the only reason for the shortage of EPs etc.

Maybe their working conditions would be better if the focus could go back to helping children.

While I'm improving UK infrastructure , I'd like an annual paediatrician checkup for every child like my friend in Switzerland gets, too!

Or even focusing on children who have not already been recently assessed by another EP?

@MrsLamb yes end of our '20 weeks' is now less than three weeks away but they have still not said if they'll issue or not. Our 20 weeks is actually much longer because initially there was a refusal to assess.

If LA can point blame on the school, for example, for not producing a SALT assessment does that justify them running late?

Here's the link to Ipsea's model letter and guidance.

It describes the exceptions to the time limits.

@listlesscat they had to send you the draft by 14 weeks from the date on the appeal letter (if you appealed again refusal to assess). I'm not sure what the time limit is if they did originally agree to assess but I think it's 16 weeks looking at the flow chart in the SEN Code.

I am sure not being able to get a report doesn't change this.

Frankly, the only reason we got OT, EP, physio, SLT done was because I personally chased them and they simply re-used the private optical report we'd paid for (without asking for any Section F stuff to be added) and didn't even ask for the paediatrician report. Useless! When I actually spoke to those people they did have slots you could book (the OT was more tricky as it was outsourced). But clearly no-one at the LA was actually chasing anything at all. They left it all up to me.

Use the template letter to the director of children's services at the LA and back up with a letter to their complaints people pointing out they're in breach of the legal timescales.

I did look into the pre action letter but it costs because it has to be done by a solicitor.

The above was sufficient to shake a decision out of my LA.

Unfortunately it was no, but at least then you can appeal.

Looking at the Ipsea guidance it's 14 weeks for everyone. So if you've had no draft, send your complaint letters ASAP.

@MrsLamb thanks for link to IPSEA letter.

I'm working on a draft ready for Monday, but I think I will first mail the EHCP coordinator manager (again) and ask if I can talk to our new co-ordinator (i suspect i don't have one) and, with apologies, warn about having to raise an official complaint - just incase that makes a difference.

I'm do have slight reservations though because they haven't even said they're going to issue yet. Last time I chased our last co-ordinator for a draft (when i misunderstood the timeline) he pointed out that there'd been no decision to issue.

In a meeting with CAMHS, school and another LA employee recently everyone said they'd be really surprised if the LA say they won't issue. The CAMHS employee said they'd be speaking to their manager if that happened. That gives me some hope but can't take anything for granted.

I guess I can edit the IPSEA letter to say that at this late stage I can only assume the EHCP will be issued because the deadline for saying they won't has also passed?

@listlesscat - That's exactly what I did, saying by at this point, in the absence of communications from you, I assume you are going to issue but, in any event, you appear outwith the statutory timescale...

Sent it to the Director. It illicited a quick reply. It's all beeen downhill from there really!

I don't think what you do or don't do or say will change whether they decide to issue or not. If these LAs were making legal, evidence based decisions, we wouldn't need threads like this.

All these letters do is flush the decision out.

Don't apologise for having to make a complaint though when you're not he one at fault! Just keep it factual.

Listlesscat the LA is responsible for ensuring they seek the advice and information required during an EHCNA, not the school. The LA cannot pass responsibility on.

Yes, send the IPSEA model letter to the Director of Children’s Services reminding them of the timescales (they must finalise by week 20 and in order to do that they should issue a draft by week 14 or must inform you by week 16 if they aren’t going to issue) and pointing out they are at risk of breaching them.

We’ve had good news today!
After getting a no to assess a couple of weeks ago, we had a way forward meeting with LA today.
They changed their mind!
The assessment is going ahead!
No new evidence, they just reconsidered. Maybe because I’ve lodged an appeal…?
Anyway- I’m over the moon!