Sixth Form not meeting need on EHCP

[Vanillalover84]

My 16 year old (17 in May) has an EHCP. He is diagnosed autistic and dyspraxic and he is under CAMHS for an ADHD assessment and poor mental health (low mood/anxiety). His Sixth Form College is contacting the LA as he currently unable to attend his A level courses regularly (under 40% last term, 0% so far this term). They will tell the LA that they are not able to meet need. The problem is I don’t think he would cope with structured online learning either. He is burnt out and CAMHS are not providing help as they are overwhelmed (long waiting list). Part of me thinks he may just need an extra year at college to do his A levels (but that might just prolong things if the placement is unsuitable, and his attendance has always been a problem since year 5). He has 8 good GCSEs (including 7 at grade 6 and 7), despite below 58% attendance in year 11.

I do suspect he needs ADHD medication to function as his best, but he will not get this for a very long time and there are no guarantees this will work. Another problem is that we are on child benefit, Universal Credit and DLA (we are applying for PIP). If my son has breaks in his education they will stop the benefits relating to him as a child. I know Child Benefit has a 20 week run on, if they register with certain organisations, but Universal Credit doesn’t seem to have this, so we would lose child element and disabled element for him during any gaps in education.

Does anyone have any similar experiences? Can the college off-roll him if he is on an EHCP? Are they allowed to do this if there is nowhere else for him to go? Do the LA have to find him somewhere else before the college are allowed to off-roll him?

Have you asked the LA for an early review?

There are other options. It isn’t a choice between the current provision and online learning.

Assuming the college is not wholly independent, they can’t just terminate DS’s placement because they don’t think he can meet DS’s needs.

The LA is responsible for the provision detailed, specified and quantified in the EHCP.

If DS needs mental health therapies, they should be in F of the EHCP. Therefore, no need to sit on the normal waiting lists.

It is possible to get a child benefit extension for up to 6 months and sometimes longer when the interruption is due to ill health. That is separate to the extension for 20 weeks if the young person is registered with a qualifying body. They can continue to be a qualifying YP for UC too.

If it’s been a long time since he was last assessed you could apply to your LA for a Statutory ReAssessment of the EHCP. The advantage of this is that there’s a fixed 14 week timetable so you can apply pressure that they stick to this. An Emergency Annual Review is not so easily controlled and can be dragged out without clear conclusion. With what you’ve typed about lack of attendance and college maybe saying they can’t meet need, means you’d have plenty of evidence to support this. Watch it - when I did this I think I was the first person ever in our LA to do this and the staff on the SEN team kept getting muddled about the process and kept telling me to call an AR… which would have messed it all up. So get clear about the process and then stick to your guns!

sorry this is happening and I hope you get help soon. I’ll pop back in a moment with some ideas about the setting…

An Emergency Annual Review is not so easily controlled and can be dragged out without clear conclusion.

Whoever told you this is lying to you. If an early review is held it follows the same timescales as normal ARs. The LA must inform parents if they are going to maintain as is, propose to amend or propose to cease to maintain within 4 weeks of the review meeting. And if they are going to amend finalised within a further 8 weeks.

Personally, I would request an early review over a reassessment of needs. You may still end up appeal following a reassessment of needs anyway.

@BrightYellowTrain - maybe not so much lying and more a reflection on observations of our LA. The SR process automatically comes with an EP report and the AR doesn’t. Our LA has been seen to drag out the AR process which has more flexibility in the timings which (from memory) come from case law and aren’t set out in the SENCOP like the SR. It’s the difference between the legal theory that IPSEA advise on and what seems to happen in practice which is slightly different. Our situation was good for the SR but everyone is different… I wanted a new EP report and that seemed the only way to get it! OP might be in a different situation

@KnottyAuty both the timescales for review and reassessment of needs can be enforced via judicial review if necessary. It doesn’t matter the former came about via case law. On the whole, LAs are just as likely to breach the reassessment of needs timescales as the are review timescales. In fact, given the current EP shortage, many LAs are more likely to try to drag out a reassessment of needs using the excuse of a lack of EP time.

And even if the LA agrees to a reassessment of needs and doesn’t drag it out, LA reports these days are often lacking.

@BrightYellowTrain it is a postcode lottery it seems. I weighed up both options and the SR worked really well for us at that time. Other times I’d opt for an emergency AR. Our EP team are pretty good so maybe we’re in a better position than others. But getting judicial reviews and paying for EP reports is way beyond most parents. We have to pull the levers which don’t cost much and tread the fine line between asserting our rights while avoiding being written off as unreasonable! I’m not sure I’ve managed that balance well 😂

But getting judicial reviews and paying for EP reports is way beyond most parents.

Lots of people think this, but it doesn’t have to be so.

JR proceedings themselves are undertaken in the child’s name, so they can be eligible for legal aid in their own right. That doesn’t cover the pre-action letter (unless it is for an older young person). For a pre-action letter, if the parents are eligible for legal aid in their name, that can fund the pre-action letter. Where the parents aren’t eligible for legal aid for the pre-action letter, they can look at SOSSEN who provide them free of charge. Their waiting list is closed at the moment, but it is an option when it reopens.

If an independent EP report is needed but parents can’t afford it and they (or their older younger person for those young people who are eligible in their own right) aren’t eligible for legal aid, which can fund independent assessments, there are charities who can help, e.g. Parents in Need.