"7:74 After deciding to make a statutory assessment the LEA must seek parental, educational,
medical, psychological and social services advice. They must also seek any other advice
they consider appropriate53 and, where reasonable, should consult those whom the
parents have named. They should do so immediately and should ask all concerned to
respond within six weeks."
"7:93 LEAs should always strive to ensure that any delay arising from the exceptions is kept to
a minimum. As soon as the conditions that have led to an exception no longer apply, the
LEA should endeavour to complete the process as quickly as possible. Any remaining
components of the process must, of course, be completed within their prescribed
periods, regardless of whether exceptions have delayed earlier components."
"7:28 At the same time, the LEA must notify the educational psychology service, the designated
Annexe A:
"12 (6) Subject to paragraph (7), where under sections 323(4) or 329A(7) an authority have given notice to the child?s parent of their decision to make an assessment they shall complete that assessment within 10 weeks of the date on which such notice was given.
(7) An authority need not comply with the time limit referred to in paragraph (6) if it is impractical to do so because-
(a) in exceptional cases after receiving the advice sought under regulation 7 it is necessary for the authority to seek further advice;
(b) the child?s parent has indicated to the authority that he wishes to provide advice to the authority after the expiry of 6 weeks from the date of on which a request for such advice under regulation 7(1)(a) was received, and the authority have agreed to consider such advice before completing the assessment;
(c) the authority have requested advice from the head teacher of a school under regulation 7(1)(b) during a period beginning 1 week before any date on which that school was closed for a continuous period of not less than 4 weeks from that date and ending 1 week before the date on which it re-opens;
(d) the authority have requested advice from the head of SEN in relation to or other person responsible for a child?s education at an early education provider under regulation 7(1)(b) during a period beginning 1 week before any date on which that early education provider was closed for a continuous period of not less than 4 weeks from that date and ending 1 week before the date on which it re-opens;
(e) the authority have requested advice from a health authority or a social services authority under regulation 7(1)(c) or (e) respectively and the health authority or the social services authority have not complied with that request within 6 weeks from the date on which it was made;
(f) exceptional personal circumstances affect the child or his parent during the 10 week period referred to in paragraph (6);
(g) the child or his parent are absent from the area of the authority for a continuous period of not less than 4 weeks during the 10 week period referred to in paragraph (6)
"
Sorry for the delay, Annexe A is not able to copy and paste, so I had to type it!!
As you can see, they can't delay for the Ed Psych. There was nothing to stop them assessing at home, or in the 7 weeks prior to the Summer Holidays!!
officers of the Social Services department and the health authority and any other agencies
that might later be asked for advice. They will thus be ?on notice? so that if a decision is
later made to carry out an assessment they will be able to provide advice to the LEA
within the prescribed time limits."
"7:86 Having received all the advice, the LEA must decide whether it needs to make a
statement or amend an existing statement. It must make that decision within ten weeks
of serving the notice under section 323(4) or 329A(7).
7:87 If the LEA decides that a statement or amended statement is necessary, it must draft a
proposed statement or proposed amended statement and send a copy to the child?s
parents within two weeks. The advice received as part of the assessment should be
attached. It is also good practice to send a copy of the draft to those who gave advice;
it would then be possible to amend any misconceptions that have arisen in interpreting
the advice, prior to finalising the statement.
7:88 If the LEA decides that a statement or an amended statement is not necessary, it must
notify the parents and give reasons, and should also notify the school of that decision,
giving the reasons, and preferably provide a note in lieu of the statement, also within two
weeks. The period from the service of the notice under section 323(4) or 329A(7) to the
issue of a proposed statement or a note in lieu of a statement should therefore normally
be no more than 12 weeks.
7:89 The LEA should receive all the necessary advice within six weeks of the issue of the
notice under section 323(4) or 329A(7), although the guidance sets out a maximum time
span of ten weeks. The LEA must therefore decide whether to make a statement by the
end of the ten weeks; and send parents a proposed statement or the written reasons why
it will not make a statement, preferably in the form of a note in lieu, within a further two
weeks. Further guidance on writing a note in lieu is to be found at paragraph 8.15.
7:90 The critical point is that parents must normally receive written notification of the outcome
of the assessment within 12 weeks of the start of the statutory assessment. Where the
LEA decides not to assess, parents must be informed of their right to appeal to the SEN
Tribunal, the time limits for lodging an appeal, the availability of parent partnership and
disagreement resolution services and that using disagreement resolution will not affect the
parent?s right of appeal.