Mediation EHCP refusal

[gnome2782]

We have mediation with the LA next month after an EHCP refusal, although they acknowledge he is SEN (strongly suspected autism, very limited speech, emotional disregulation, stammer)

The three main reasons for refusal are:

• 1. His attainment is too high
• 2. The school is doing a sufficiently good job that he does not require any extra help
• 3. We have not sought enough help from outside agencies

Our school Senco addressed these anyway with our submission for mediation -

1
• A very able pupil who has the potential to perform well academically, however his assessment scores have deteriorated.
• Standardised score in maths was 115, at the end of Y5 it is 106 ie. was at greater depth, now "as expected".
• Reading has reduced from 113 in KS1 to 110.
• There is a marked difference between hisattainment in English and Maths (AM) and the subjects covered in the afternoon sessions. In History, Geography and Science he often doesn’t produce any work in his books. Without adult support he struggles to organise himself and apply himself to his work.

2
• School’s capacity to provide him with TA support has been impacted by a reduction in staffing allocation for SEND pupils. He has gone into Y6 with no direct TA support. Staff will have to react to his need for support rather than proactively plan support around his needs.

3
• He has been on the CAMHS waiting list for 27 months.
• He was seeing SALT for 6 months in 2025
• SALT then came into to school to assess him in January 2026
• He now has been given a SALT EHCP assessment for next week.
• The Senco put his case to a school psychologist Circles Meeting in February 2026 which provided some good solutions to his care.

So, in a nutshell we're trying to understand what else we can evidence -

• His attainment has diminished slightly, but what else can we argue over what his TA has said? The LA will maintain his raw scores are good enough.

• The school has run out of money for his TA and he is definitely less happy when he comes out of school now he has no TA. So it's not a case of "the school is doing enough already".

• What other outside agencies could we state? We visit a well known local charity for advice coffee mornings quarterly. The waiting list for CAMHS is so long it seems like a trap - we won't assess because you aren't using the facility we provide because we underfund it.

You should focus on the legal test rather than the LA’s unlawful policy.

Is this refusal to assess or refusal to issue?

I wouldn’t get drawn into focusing so much on raw attainment. Instead you can look at things like progress, achievement differences across subjects, non-academic needs. Similarly, I wouldn’t focus so much on outside agency involvement. Neither of these are not part of the legal test. Although just for this post other outside agencies could be ed psych, OT, specialist teaching service.

Thank you. This is the refusal to even assess.

I can draw everything back to the legal test, but I was just mindful in arguing against their specific reasons / excuses under the Code of Practice

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a7dcb85ed915d2ac884d995/SEND_Code_of_Practice_January_2015.pdf

You can tell they've gone through 9.14

For refusal to assess the legal test is a) has or may have SEN, and b) may need special educational provision to be made via an EHCP. This is what you need to bring it back to. Forget all the noise and unlawful policies. For most, including in your case, it is the second point that is where LA’s disagree. It is this part you need to focus on.

There is case law showing the SENCOP does not trump the legislation.