EHCP - moving LA

[hanwil32]

I just wondered if anyone has ever moved into the LA where their child’s current school placement is.

Long story short, my child goes to a SEN school in a different local authority to where we live (it’s a 10 minute drive away). The placement was ordered at tribunal. We’re looking at buying our first home and thinking about moving to the LA where his school is, but I’m concerned they’ll reassess his EHCP and change his placement.

Moving LA is risky. The new LA will become responsible for the EHCP and the placement within it. However, they will review the EHCP and potentially amend, reassess or propose to cease to maintain. You would get the right of appeal, but it is something you need to be aware of.

What @BrightYellowTrain says is of course 100% correct.

My personal experience (based on my child, one case only) is that when we moved, a couple of years ago now, the new council took on the old EHCP and didn’t change a word, likely because they are too short staffed to do anything else. They didn’t even call a review of the EHCP, as they were genuinely so hopeless they didn’t realise they should do this within however many months (3?) of us moving to the new council.

I have subsequently been told that if I had initially applied for the EHCP in ‘new council’ area, I would not have got x / y / z items in section F that are now in it. So council shortages and inability to serve their ‘clients’ worked in our favour on this occasion.

On the other hand, they were hopeless about a school. I knew exactly which one I wanted, and DD was out of school for several weeks while they messed about and did nothing. Thank goodness for the SENCO at ‘new school’ who pushed relentlessly to get her in and started at ‘new school’.

Given that your child is already at the school, I would have thought they’d need the most enormous amount of evidence to try to force a child to move schools from where he or she is settled. That’s only my opinion though, I have no experience of this and want to make that clear!

@MabelsBeats the new LA must review the EHCP within 12 months of the EHCP being issued/the previous review or within 3 months of the transfer, whichever is later.

From your previous posts, I believe DD is in MS? Which is very different, especially over the last few years, considering the current political landscape.

Just because a child is at a school doesn’t mean the LA won’t name another school and force parents to challenge that decision, which may or may not go in their favour.

It’s such a shame isn’t it. Very difficult as you want to live your life in the way you choose, but the risk of a new LA changing the EHCP looms large 🙁

I work in SEN and we would adopt the EHCP from the previous LA would keep the placement as long as it's still commutable from the new address. Yes technically LAs can refuse to adopt or amend and EHCP when someone moves in but I've never seen it happen personally (I work in a small LA neighbouring a lot of other LAs so young people moving in and out is common).

It really isn’t that uncommon for LAs to amend EHCPs following DC moving LAs.