EHCP support thread no. 3

[Phineyj]

A new thread for when no. 2 is full up.
Link to thread no. 1: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/special_educational_needs/4834986-ehcp-support-thread
Link to thread no. 2:
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/special_educational_needs/4989146-ehcp-support-thread-no-2

I am the mum of an 11 year old girl with SEN and have spent the last 20 months battling for my local authority to issue an EHCP to support her transition from primary to secondary school. We are currently after draft stage after two tribunals. I've had so much useful advice and moral support from posters on here.

This new thread is here to help everyone, whether you're just starting out or are a battle-hardened veteran of years of this.

There is no such thing as a stupid question and there are many acronyms and technical terms so please ask for an explanation of anything that you don't understand.

SEN: special educational needs (sometimes SEND: special educational needs and disability)
SENCO: teacher at school charged with overall responsibility for students on roll with SEN
ECHNA: education care and health needs assessment - the process of a local authority commissioning reports to find out a child's needs
EHCP: the education care and health plan that details a child's needs and the agreed provision to meet them; a legally binding document
SENDIST: the special educational needs and disability tribunal - an independent appeal panel which considers parental appeals against Education Authority decisions about special educational needs.

@BrumToTheRescue forest school said about 12 months ago they could, however since then he has needed more support at school (2 adults) for a few reasons, I don't know if that may have changed things. I will get in contact with them.

It's unlikely he will have anything useful by the end of term. I want to ensure he has suitable arrangements for September.

@Wednesdayy123 definitely contact the forest school yourself. 12 months is a long time in terms of an AP. What they could offer a year ago may not be what they can offer now. If the AP offers places to Y11s you may find they have places available/coming available shortly.

@Scruffily - is that definitely correct? I used a SEN7 form successfully to challenge refuse to issue because it was a phase transfer. SENDIST then moved the tribunal forward from September to June and then again to April as I agreed they could do it on the papers. So it made a huge difference.

@BrumToTheRescue I will. I know the cost of forest school is more than other options, does this matter? I was previously told while he was in school on a trt that it was unaffordable, as the LA hadnt agreed the extra funding. Does that go out of the window when a child is out of school, and the LA are managing ap directly?
I have just refused dd's trt. I know she won't cope with much longer than she is doing but I am hoping it will make getting ap in place for her a little easier.

As expected, LA have declined to assess. Next step I think to to appeal. Their letter states that if I wish to appeal, I must speak to mediation first - is this correct? They use Global Mediation, whose leaflet (helpfully enclosed!) states that before trying mediation, I should first speak with SENDIASS / SENDCO / LA and ask for a meeting with the LA.

So - where to start? No point talking to school, they are on the same page as me as far as I know.

Have now spoken to mediation and they are sending me the mediation certificate. The next step is to complete form for SEND tribunal I think?
Is it worth also emailing the case worker? The letter does state that they "would like to work with you to resolve any concerns" - not convinced by this given what I know of our LA but willing to try....

It is so frustrating given their own advisors have said she is very complex and they cannot offer any advice to the school on how to support! But I also know that our LA refuses most applications without even assessing so no surprise.

@Wednesdayy123 under s19 of the Education Act 1996, the LA is responsible for making arrangements for DC who wouldn’t otherwise receive a suitable full-time education whether they are on the roll of a school or not. The provision has to be suitable. If the suitable provision costs more than an unsuitable provision, that doesn’t matter. If provision A and provision B are both suitable and A is cheaper, the LA can choose to provide A.

@handmademitlove you now need to complete a SEND35a form. Personally, I wouldn’t bother speaking to SENDIASS, the SENCO or the LA other than telling the SENCO you will appeal and expressing disappointment to the LA and informing them you will be appealing.

@BrumToTheRescue yes, I am in the process of filling in the form. Just pondering what to write! Other than including all the paperwork I sent to the LA, what other things could I include? I sent all diagnosis letters and copy of school ILP etc which address part 1 - that she has SEN. Part 2 seems trickier - they are saying she does not need additional provision through an EHCP, but I am pretty sure she does - or at least, that until they do a thorough assessment, they can't say she doesn't!

Any suggestions gratefully received...

Also, school have said that they are not allowed to send me a copy of the submission they made - specifically told not to by LA. I know I could submit a SAR, but that will take ages. Is there a way to get the LA to send any information they used to make this decision to me? or a way to prove to the school that they don't have to do as the LA says!

Interested in how other people's annual reviews ae conducted, written up, and agreed: do you all get to comment on the draft?

@Proserphina at least 2 weeks before the meeting, people should be invited, and their advice and information circulated. After the meeting, the report should be circulated within 2 weeks. Within 4 weeks of the meeting, the LA should inform you if they are proposing to amend or not or if they propose to cease to maintain. This should also be within a year of the previous AR being completed. If they intend to amend, they should issue the amendment notice at the same time. This is when you get to comment and state your preferred placement. If they are going to amend, they should finalise within further 8 weeks. That is what should happen.

@handmademitlove you could ask the LA for a copy, but if they refuse, the easiest way is a SAR which will take 1 month. A SAR can often be helpful in gathering further evidence, anyway.

The second part of the test is the harder part, but it is still a relatively low bar. You don’t have to prove DD definitely does require SEP to be made via an EHCP, only that she might. One way of doing this is showing an EHCNA is the only way of understanding DD’s needs and the provision she requires.

Other things to think about are progress (academic and otherwise), what support is required but the school can’t provide, outside agency involvement beyond what is typically available, any emails you have exchanged, what is DD’s attendance like?

If you haven’t already, it is worth reading IPSEA and SOSSEN’s information which give examples.

I've just found this after posting lol...

Can anyone one advise what I should be sending to Sendist as evidence. My daughter has just been issued with an EHCP stating mainstream.

I believe this is totally unsuitable due to her high needs (glp 1, double incontinent, undiagnosed ASD, spd, gdd)

I've just got the mediation certificate downloaded the appeal form, I have also added in amendments I would like adding into the EHCP pulled from the private salt and OT reports.

Other then the above I'm not sure what I can send send in, DD defo needs a Sen school and it advises this in the ot report however the LA have picked only bits from the ot report and haven't considered the salt report at all

Any help would be appreciated

Has anyone been through mediation?

I have already sent of SEND35 and evidence for both dc's 1 has been registered. I have their mediation meetings back to back. I have nothing to loose going ahead with them however a little nervous.

Thanks @BrumToTheRescue. Approaching the one month mark and no sign of anything...

@Proserphina I am certain it won’t come as a surprise to you, like every other timescale, LAs often breach the AR timescales. If the LA does not inform you within 4 weeks, IPSEA has a model letter you can use to chase them. If that doesn't work, you can email the DCS threatening JR.

@Wednesdayy123 make sure the LA is sending someone who can make decisions. They are supposed to, but you would be surprised (or not!) at how often they don’t. It can help to have notes of the amendments you are requesting with references to the supporting evidence. Don’t be surprised if mediation isn’t successful, especially for content/placement appeals.

@Mummytodo I don’t want you to think I am ignoring you. I have responded on your thread.

@BrumToTheRescue I don't have high hopes.. I wouldn't participate if there wasn't someone who had the power to make decisions, so I will check that. Its in 2.5 weeks time so fairly soon (and ofc didn't happen within 30 days of asking). Yes, I will ensure I have everything in front of me notes, reports. Can I send video evidence or is that only for the tribunal?

My LA seems not to bother responding to the AR if they aren't going to amend. I write to them last year as they were late and got a sniffy response that they weren't amending.

@Wednesdayy123 you can use video evidence. Although, I would focus on your professional evidence.

@SaltBlossom too many LAs think they don’t have to follow the rules.

Yes, under Regulation 18 of the SEND Regulations 2014 the time limits around phase transfer only apply in relation to holding an annual review to enable the new school to be named by the relevant deadline - so it can only be applicable if the child already has an EHCP. Great that the tribunal moved your hearing forward, but I suspect that it was a one-off in your particular circumstances.

It isn’t a one off. If you read the thread that poster isn’t the only one. And I have supported numerous parents to expedite a hearing for RTA and RTI. The SEN Regs don’t stipulate rules for expediting hearing. Reg 18 is only about deadlines for amending existing phase transfer EHCPs. It doesn’t cover expediting hearings whether there is an existing EHCP or not.

SOS SEN recently did a webinar on this and the recording is available - https://sossen.org.uk/services/webinars/ You might find it useful. They've also done some other webinars on the appeal process generally.

The point is that the tribunal has kept aside slots for appeals they deem urgent, and have said that this is primarily change of phase appeals and children out of school. They put this in place specifically to deal with the spate of appeals they receive after the initial 15th February deadline for issuing amended change of phase EHCPs, and have made it very clear that they do it to make sure that the children affected have their school place sorted out in good time for the start of the new school year. Therefore if you issue an appeal in those cases it will always be brought forward.

You can always apply for expedited hearing dates in other cases, whether phase change or not, but you have to convince the tribunal that there is a good case to bring the hearing forward ahead of all the other pending cases. It's not guaranteed.

I know exactly what SENDIST does, thanks. No-one has said it is guaranteed. They have said parents can request the hearing is expedited, which they can, and many are successful in their request purely on the basis of an upcoming transition.

Sadly, I have had parents put off asking SENDIST to expedite the hearing because advocates, SENDIASS, LAs or schools… have incorrectly told them it doesn’t apply unless they already have a finalised EHCP and they won’t get their hearing expedited. It is a shame really because it leaves some missing out. SENDIST don’t always agree, no, but it isn’t uncommon for them to agree, so it is always worth trying.

Like with all things SEN, the squeaky wheel gets the grease...

Why so defensive, @BrumToTheRescue? When did I say that you can't request that hearings be brought forward? Obviously they can. The original suggestion to which I was responding was that the hearing would be brought forward because it was a change of phase, but the phase change expedition process only applies to children and young people with EHCPs. I have never suggested that appellants can't apply for an expedited hearing for any reason which might be relevant to their particular case.

@Scruffily not defensive. I am pointing out parents can request their hearing is expedited and many are successful on the basis of transferring between phases of education because saying otherwise puts parents off and means some lose out.

Your post on the 5/6 at 15.58 implied a request to expedite wouldn’t be successful for phase transfer RTA and RTI appeals because they don’t already have a finalised EHCP. It isn’t automatic for this group and isn’t guaranteed, but is possible, and many successfully request their hearing is expedited on this basis.

The original suggestion to which I was responding was that the hearing would be brought forward because it was a change of phase, but the phase change expedition process only applies to children and young people with EHCPs.

No, the poster you quoted said ”SENDIST might be able to move it forwards…” if the other poster made a request via an RfC form. My bold. She said might. Not definitely would. What @Phineyj posted was correct - the poster can make such a request and it might be brought forward. Phase transfer appeals for existing EHCPs are prioritised, but appeals for those with RTI and RTA appeals can also be expedited.