EHCP support thread no. 2

[Phineyj]

This is a support thread for anyone at any stage of the EHCP process. I've got an 11 year old girl in year 6 of a mainstream private primary school. I've been seeking an EHCP since she was in year 5, to support her transition to secondary school. She is diagnosed with ASD and ADHD and is working about two years behind age related expectations. Our local authority refused to assess and refused to issue. We are currently in the 11 month wait for a second tribunal which I am hoping (but not sure) will take place before she actually goes to secondary, although I doubt the actual EHCP will be finalised by then. In the meantime I've been enjoying (not) learning all these acronyms and trying to support other people in this journey. In my spare time, I'm a secondary school teacher.

If you, too, are drowning in acronyms and paperwork while finding your local authority (LA) as useful as a chocolate teapot, join your fellow travellers here!

were 2 years into the fight, and it’s been a fight, delay after delay, (refusal to assess, tribunal won, still didn’t assess, finally assessed, assessor quit, first draft EHCP issued dire) finally the updated EHCP landed today and has all the required changes in section B and F (I think) I was shocked as expected them to throw them out (weekly salt, weekly OT, small group learning, specialist dyslexia level 3 + teacher required etc) I almost can’t believe it, but they wouldn’t have sent it to me for review if they intended to remove stuff now would they?
what happens next? We are currently self funding, independent SEN school but we can’t afford to keep going :(
2 years!! They are shits.
this EHCP should have been issued in September and it’s now feb!
ive managed to get this far just solo and reading websites for tips, but I’m prepared for one last hurrah with a sen solicitor if needed.
any thoughts?

Oh should have said, year 5, severe dyslexia, dyspraxia and speech and language. But a complete dude!!
oh and Kent. kCC. FML. 🤦🏻‍♀️

@Fruitbatdancer do you mean the LA has issued another draft or do you mean they have finalised? Are you sure it is as detailed, specified and quantified as you think?

@RMNofTikTok try not to worry. The SEND7 will be read.

Yes they’ve issued an updated draft which (I basically wrote 50% of) I’ve asked for 3 point to be added in B but everything I wanted in F is there and extremely specific.
I guess what you’re saying is, it’s still a draft till it’s final? Surely they can’t take it out now they’ve sent it to me?! (I did a comparison with one I sent and they’ve changed bugger all! Which I was NOT expecting.

@Fruitbatdancer email the Director of Children’s Services reminding them they are in breach of the timescales. If that doesn’t work email again threatening judicial review unless they finalise ASAP. Post back if that doesn’t work. Don’t get drawn into a protracted back and forth that delays finalising. As you have found it is a delaying tactic.

Along with making the points about B, have you stated your preferred placement? Is the independent SS wholly independent or a s.41 independent? They should not remove provision from the draft (unless it is in response to your representations).

Obviously I haven’t seen the draft, but check very carefully. It is very unusual for the draft to be completely detailed, specified and quantified with any LA, let alone KCC. Even when amendments from parental representations have been made. For example, what is a “small group”?

Thank you that’s so helpful, I’m pretty comfortable with content mostly as the SENCO at the school provided a comprehensive list so it’s ’reading, 20 minutes daily, specialist teacher with dyslexic level 3 + qualifications, maths etc small group is always referenced with ‘6 to 8’
It’s OT, weekly, 40 mins, qualified OT’ etc etc

stated preferred placement is to continue at current school, which is independent but how would I know if a section 41?

I looked it up, current setting not section 41

You can see a list of s.41 independents here.

If the school is a s.41 independent the rules which apply to maintained schools/academies apply. So, the LA must name your preferred school unless the LA can prove:
-The setting is unsuitable for the age, ability, aptitude or special educational needs (“SEN”) of the child or young person; or
-The attendance of the child or young person would be incompatible with the provision of efficient education for others; or
-The attendance of the child or young person would be incompatible with the efficient use of resources.

If the school is wholly independent you will need an offer of a place and to prove the LA’s proposed school(s) can’t meet needs &/or it isn’t unreasonable public expenditure.

The reason I mention checking carefully is because many parents don’t realise their DC’s EHCP isn’t completely detailed, specified and quantified until they need to enforce it and can’t. It is honestly very, very rare for an EHCP issued by KCC to be detailed, specified and quantified without their hand being forced by SENDIST. If you need sensory OT, stating a quantified OT isn’t enough.

Our LA missed the final evidence deadline by half an hour. Then they missed the final bundle deadline at the end of December by several days. They said it was because they were on Christmas holidays. SENDIST didn't do anything about that. Not sure they'd be as lenient if we had missed the deadlines, though.

Then the final bundles were a mess. We had two refusal to assess appeals running simultaneously, one for each of our children. LA had put docs regarding DS in DD's bundle, left out pages, included multiple duplicates of docs, despite the guidelines saying not to send duplicates. I had to screenshot and highlight the errors because after several complaints they still hadn't corrected them. The LA actually told me off for copying SENDIST into the emails where I cited all the errors in the bundles and said I should stop doing that.

I felt slightly vindicated when we won the appeals and SENDIST specifically mentioned in their order the multiple errors in the bundles and advised the LA to avoid duplicate documents and to create a proper index in future.

At one point the LA also replied to me on an email containing a detailed thread about another child. I was tempted to report it to the ICO as a data breach. It also made me wonder whether our personal data had been accidentally shared with anyone it shouldn't have been.

Wow! The LAs are shockingly bad. I'm not looking forward to having to deal with ours further.

I did finally manage to send in the SEND35a form with some attached evidence, two days before deadline. No help from Legal Aid who still haven't managed to tell us if we're entitled to help yet. I managed to get a SAR back from college which details some of DDs more unusual and non-communicative behaviours so when I can add that I will. Not much I can do meanwhile but wait and damage control with DD and college (she still detests it and is predicted to fail her course).

Hi all,

Can I just ask.. is there a time limit for when u can request a mediation certificate. I took it from my refusal letter that I had 2 months, is this correct?

My appeal needs to be submitted by 9 March. I have been waiting for legal aid to be approved, so I held off getting certificate, this has now gone through, so I will call the mediation provider tomorrow, which I'm assuming will add another month to the appeal time.

Sorry if this is incorrect, I honestly don't know what I'm doing!

@Theoneandonlyjrae you need to contact the mediation company within 2 months of the date of the LA’s decision letter. You will then get 30 days from the date of the certificate to submit to SENDIST.

@CookMeDinner SENDIST is fairly lenient with parents too, especially if they don’t have representation.

@SearchingForSolitude thank you so much, that's what I thought I'll get on it today. I've kind of buried my head whilst waiting for the Legal aid decision.

Today is day 14 of my placement request for final ehcp. Sen school move from Ms. Fully expecting a no but getting ever so slightly impatient waiting. Have emailed la and got an out of office reply. Sigh

Woohoo! Tribunal against refusal to assess now moved to 2nd April (if there is a judge available) "on the papers". I'm glad they didn't pick April Fool's Day. Just imagining someone popping up and saying "April Fool! You can't have an EHCP..."

@Phineyj brilliant news. I thought it was a refusal to issue?

Oh yes. My bad. Ah well, at least I can't say foolish things if they're just looking at the papers!

I suppose the next challenge will be to see what the LA decide to miss out of the bundle. Which they are supposed to send by Wednesday at noon...

Great news, @Phineyj. Good luck!

I chased our LA today to find out when they're going to start the EHCNA they've been ordered to conduct, and I was a bit confused when they started talking about the draft plan they'll be sending in April. I asked for clarification in several different ways and made sure they were looking at the right record and the person kept saying that as the tribunal ordered the assessment, they have now agreed to issue a plan. Does that make sense? Our SENCO said the evidence we submitted was 'robust', so they may have decided to issue.

The LA also said their EP would be in touch to arrange a meeting. And they said they had contacted schools and other involved professionals last week for advices, but neither the school nor the private EP and OT we used have actually heard anything from the LA. So that seems a bit dodgy to me. Should I trust that everything is proceeding as it should? Are they really going to issue?

@SpaceInvader321 it sounds positive, but you can never be sure. LAs are unpredictable.

During an EHCNA the LA must seek information and advice from:
a) the child’s parent or the young person;
b) educational advice (usually from the head teacher or principal);
c) medical advice and information from a health care professional;
d) psychological advice and information from an educational psychologist;
e) advice and information in relation to social care;
f) advice and information from any other person the local authority thinks appropriate;
g) where the child or young person is in or beyond year 9, advice and information in relation to provision to assist the child or young person in preparation for adulthood and independent living; and
h) advice and information from any person the child’s parent or young person reasonably requests that the local authority seek advice from.

If the LA, report writer and you agree existing information is sufficient new advice must not be sought. Typically the problem is the LA doesn’t agree it is sufficient so they can get their own more woolly reports. So, if you are satisfied with the existing information I wouldn’t rock that boat. If you aren’t, send IPSEA’s model letter to the LA.

@SearchingForSolitude We're definitely happy with the private reports we have from the EP and the OT as they are pretty thorough. I'm happy to go with the LA's plan to issue, but I'm suspicious of them saying they contacted everyone for advice yet none of those people have received anything. Our EP said she's seen LAs agree to issue but then issue without any funding.

I'm such a cynic now that I can't believe it will just happen completely smoothly. But I'd be delighted to be proven wrong!

Omg this gives me some hope again! That's so soon too! Good luck!

@SpaceInvader321 I really hope you are as lucky as you sound 😊

@SpaceInvader321 focus on F being detailed, specified and quantified with all the required provision. Then it must be provided and can be enforced.

This...

Mysteriously, requests for advice not sought, including from health. Then advanced obfuscation when questioned about this, including a SAR not responded to within legal time frames.

And an EHCP issued that consists of over 30 provisions all to be delivered as part of quality first teaching...

@Cafetabac

LA claimed they did not need to issue an EHCP for DD as they claim all of the provision is ordinarily available! Just shows the inconsistency....