New Right to Access SEND following Annual Review

[Nigel1]

Up until now, parents who were unhappy with the outcome of an Annual Review of their child?s Statement were only able to appeal if the LEA decided either to amend the Statement or to cease to maintain it. There was no right of appeal when an LEA decided to leave the Statement as it was.
As from September 1st 2010 parents will have the right of appeal to SEND Tribunal if an LEA decide to make no change to their child?s Statement following Annual Review. This will affect those Statements whose deadlines for Review fall after September 1st (bearing in mind that the date of an Annual Review is the date when the LEA make their decision, not the date of the Annual Review Meeting, and that this must be within 12 months of the previous Annual Review decision.)

Excellent

Thanks for this, good news.

It doesn't affect me right now, but what paperwork should I receive after an AR? And what happens if the AR is called early?

I had an early AR (only 5 months after statement issued) and the only paperwork I got was directly from the SENCO. Should I have received a letter from the LA saying they'd make no changes to the statement? I'm just wondering (for future reference) when deadline for appealing would fall - it's usually 2 months from the date of a letter from the LA, but I've never received any letters regarding the AR.

The statement was issued in Yr6 and was then amended for secondary (and we went to tribunal for that placement) so I had the right of appeal anyway. The LA knew I was appealing so maybe they didn't respond to the AR because they knew the statement would probably be amended at tribunal anyway?

where did you see this ? i can't find anything to indicate this ?

www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2010/uksi_20101817_en_1

*Provisions coming into force on 1st September 2010

Section 1 of the Act amends section 5 of the Education Act 2005. This amendment requires Her Majesty?s Chief Inspector of Education, Children?s Services and Skills to consider the needs of children with disabilities or special educational needs in reporting on how far the education provided in a mainstream school meets the needs of the range of pupils at the school.

Section 2 of the Act inserts section 328A into the Education Act 1996 and provides a new right of appeal for parents to the First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability), which sits in the Health, Education and Social Care Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal, in circumstances where, following a review of a statement of special educational needs, a local authority in England decides not to make any changes to the statement.*

fantastic thank you so much - you have just made my day :-)

Actually if you ask for an Interium Annual Review/Emergency AR you can get it sooner!