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!!

Thanks @ThomasWasTortured and all.

Am I right that if the LA refuses to assess in week 5, and then that decision is reversed a few months later, then we start counting the twenty week from week 6 or 7? You don't start from week one if the refusal to assess is reversed? Right?

@MrsLamb can you appeal against lack of OT? assuming you have a spare year or two 😱?

Also well done @Phineyj

I have just, for the first time, received an actual response to an email from a caseworker on the same day I sent one. I'm in shock!

@listlesscat the LA agreed to assess following you submitting an appeal, yes? If the LA conceded before submitting a response, the timescales in SEN Reg 45 apply. If the LA conceded after submitting a response, the timescales in SEN Reg 44 apply unless the consent order states otherwise. So, unless a consent order states otherwise, if the LA is not going to issue, they must inform you by week 10. If they are going to issue, they must finalise by week 14.

@ThomasWasTortured I registered the appeal against refusal to assess apparently exactly when everyone was appealing secondary school places, so we waited ages for it to be even fully officially registered. I also sent all the appeal docs to the LA and they agreed to assess almost exactly when I received official documentation about the appeal process. So the appeal was never actually heard.

I raised the delay today, assuming we started from week 6 or 7 when they proceeded with case, but they replied with a date for 20 weeks that shows they restarted the clock at that point.

@listlesscat if the LA conceded before they submitted a response to SENDIST they must inform you they aren’t going to issue within 10 weeks of the date they notified SENDIST they didn’t oppose the appeal or finalise with 14 weeks if they are going to issue.

Great news @Phineyj well done!.... also thanks to @fedupallthisrubbish and @ThomasWasTortured Tortured for the solicitors advice.... I have a tribunal date for end October/November for refusal to assess but it is so slow and school starts soon. I am dreading that first day not sure DD will go back and if she does how it will play out, reduced timetable again or just point blank refusal to go....am thinking of complaining to the Director of children's services (like @Phineyj ) because I sent GP letters in my initial application for an EHCNA and it was all ignored (the pretext being there was not enough evidence provided from the regarding school intervention/support etc.... all ridiculous). I just feel like I can't keep waiting and watching DD suffer because of all this bureaucracy its so unfair.. I agree with @fedupallthisrubbish it doesn't look like there will be any change to the system and @MrsLamb its unbelievable school ignored clinical advice, how awful....they all seem to be a law unto themselves....one final point @ThomasWasTortured I think you would be wonderful as a caseworker, you give some brilliant advice on here which I have taken on board, (thank you) but totally understand why it's not possible for you.....Grateful to @Phineyj for starting this thread, great source of support/advice, even if I don't always comment, I often read stuff and it helps me know it is not just me fighting this battle gives me a good insight and tips on what to do going forward :0)

Oh, ok, so the LA told me they would assess on 23rd June, but they didn't share their decision not to oppose the appeal with Sendist until 26/07/2023, so we have to count 10/14 weeks from then.
Oh well, thanks for explaining

@CHAKRAlight if DD can’t attend school full-time the LA has a statutory duty to ensure DD receives a suitable full-time education under s.19 of the Education Act 1996. This should begin once it becomes clear 15 days will be missed. The days don’t need to have already been missed or consecutive. Part time timetables should only be used short term aimed at reintegration. After that DC should either be in school full time or alternative arrangements made as well or instead of part time school.

You are very kind, but I would definitely become frustrated as a caseworker and go rogue.

@listlesscat unfortunately for you the notice date is the date that matters.

@ThomasWasTortured Brilliant, thanks for the advice... ...Go rogue...made me chuckle 😂

The Director of Children's Services is the only person in this whole tedious saga who has answered emails quickly and to the point.

I also made the solicitor happy. He said "Ah! We call these 'double yellow line cases' (as in, you've either got an EHCP out by week 20 or not).

Do you think the saga of EHCP would make a darkly comic novel? I'm tempted...people not involved need to know what happens.

Morning,

@Phineyj I think a comic would be brilliant! It could even be a best seller! Wouldn’t that be fabulous!

You must of dropped lucky with your director of children’s service - you obviously don’t live where I do as our is beyond useless as she has never answered any of my 3 emails - so I think it must vary on who you have ….. the best person well it takes 3 months is the cabinet of education.

Now I add every person in to emails that I want an answer to - the more the merrier 😂 (as the director never replies) but again highlights how it can be different for different counties.

The formal email complaint process by the council is quite good - at least you get some sort of reply 😂

The Director of Children's Service replied to me quickly too. And I have subsequently whizzed through two tiers of complaints, it's just that they have failed to engage with the substance of the complaints and I have exhausted the process. So I need to contact the ombudsman.

Glad you are making progress. Yes, you can see a streamlined process where parents work with schools to submit a draft plan using available experts reports and then enter mediation with LA. Would allow precious EP time to be used to actually understand children's needs who have not already been assessed, rather than be deployed as a crude rebuttal service reassessing those children who have already been thoroughly assessed by independent EPs, with the sole purpose of refuting evidenced needs for expensive provision.

@Phineyj, I think you should write that novel.

I had a bad previous experience with the LA and a school, and an older child with significant health difficulties which, despite long term clinical involvement, and school non-attendance, were never recognised as a SEN issue at all, and instead were dealt with punitively but also informally (without following due process). Awfully distressing, with long term harm caused, and much closing of ranks in the aftermath.

So my dark novel would be more a thriller in the style of Sara Paretsky, and a look into the dark corners of academised education, corporate ambition, and safeguarding failures.

I shall consider it. My first job was rather traumatic (in a darkly comic kind of way) and that exists in novel form (unpublished) so I could do it if I wanted.

I'm so sorry @MrsLamb. It's not what you hope for when you have children, is it? I hope both of them eventually escape the clutches of uncomprehending bureaucracy and go on to live good lives despite the education system.

💐

Thank you, Lovely. Little communities of understanding like this, make such a difference.

I really do think, if you have the head space, that novel should be written!

The upsetting thing in respect of all of our our DC, is that some of the damage done in these struggles can be life changing. Whilst my plucky, talented, and bright older child is now making their way in the world, school events were so traumatic, in combination with their state of health, that they are living with PTSD as a consequence. At the moment, that is making a return to gain the post-16 qualifications that they were unlawfully forced out of, impossible.

I can't believe how naive I was in not understanding SEND policies or their relevance to our situation, or for assuming that the School/LA would be primarily motivated by the needs of a vulnerable young person. Concern to protect institutional performance against exam grade averages and attendance targets appears to have been more a important driver (high performing 6th Form).

So sorry to read about the trauma your DC has suffered @MrsLamb and the lasting damage. What you have written has reinforced my decision to send an email to the director of children's services, my DD saw CAMHS last week but it could be months for any intervention/therapy (still waiting to find out the plan) she is 8 and I can see her mental health escalating if we don't get an EHCP as school is a major trigger. Reading @fedupallthisrubbish I will now CC the deputy into the email as well .
I agree this is a lovely little community, helps to be able to vent some of the frustration (in a nice way) and listen to all the positive/negatives on what might be helpful going forward...

yes @Phineyj write that novel.... or perhaps even a play (Westend! lights camera action 🙂you could even feature actors as Mumsnetter's typing away, then in the background (curtain up) the big shots making all the decisions putting their feet up, pressing print on their computers reading the latest EHCNA application then tossing it in the bin (because that is what it feels like 😕....anyway i'm off back to finish that email...Good luck everyone onwards and upwards 🙂

Refused to issue!

Argh! I'm so fed up with all this.

@Phineyj how infuriating!

I know. I'm so fed of working for them for free!!!

@Phineyj so frustrating for you 😡

I've just googled SENDIST waiting list times. Will it really take 26 weeks to get an appeal heard?! I know I can point out it's a phase transfer so maybe a bit less. But still...that would take us to Easter next year and then the plan's still got to get written...grr...

I haven't got the letter yet with the justification for their decision but I just don't know how a child with an educational psychology and occupational therapy report saying the things they said doesn't merit an EHCP.

In the meantime DH and I need to start viewing secondary schools because we're obviously going to have to do a regular application (which I was expecting anyway). No chance of finding out for sure what their SEN set up is like though. As a teacher I know (sadly) that I will be fobbed off if not outright lied to to about that.

Yes, unfortunately. Some are receiving dates for slightly quicker (which yours should be if you request an expedited hearing due to begin a phase transfer year), some a bit longer. It is far better than it has been over the last couple of years, but I realise that doesn’t help you.

Might get it done before year 7 though - yes?

Yes, it will definitely be heard in time for Y7.

Well that's something. My school's got 20 EHCP among the new starters next week (most ever) and SEN support is being rationed mostly to those kids. I know I'm doing the right thing for DD, so I'll soldier on.