Proposed Statement

[Frustrated2003]

Okay well my DS proposed statement is due on the 6th March, and I am getting really nervous as I know it will not be worth the paper it is written on.

Just wondered as the LA wont communicate with me without going through their legal department how can I discuss the proposed statement with them and ask for a rationale behind their decisions when they wont deal with me. Or do I just leave it to my solicitor and their solicitor to argue the points.

Anyway am just panicking so any advice on how to deal with these people or to stay calm during this process would be greatly appreciated.

everyone ive heard of on here seems to have troubles of one sort or another unfortunately, having said that ive found its like everything certain people have a heart and help as much as they can whilst others must go to bed at night and have to drink a lot of Horlicks

I remembered SOS!SEN telling me that the LA must issue statement within certain time limit but, sorry, I can't remember what it was.

I think the best course of action is to finalize the statement and then appeal.

Once it is in the appeal system, you can then copy SEND in any correspondence to the LA and it all gets added to the bundle of evidence. The LA seems to take that more seriously and respond quite efficiently to such correspondence.

Good luck.

but to finalize the statement don't you have to agree with it?

no, i think you just ask them to issue the final statement when you recognise that you are not going to agree to it and have shown that you tried hard enough.

you ask for ammendments to the first (draft) then they either agree or disagree often asking you to a meeting with them to discuss then "supposedly" within 8 weeks they send it back(im waiting for this myself now)if you dont come to a mutual agreement you then go to tribunal (sendist)

Just to clarify - the final statement should be issued within 8 weeks in most circumstances. You can ask for one meeting and ask for amendments within 15 days without affecting that deadline. If you ask for a further meeting or you need longer than 15 days then the LA can go beyond the 8 week deadline.

Agree with justa that it's best to finalise sooner rather than later, it takes 6 months to get a tribunal hearing so you're still able to negotiate and collect evidence during that time. Finalising the statement triggers your right to appeal and it also makes the statement a legal document, so any provision on it must be made once it's finalised.

id ask PP or someone they have told me and ive written telling the la along with returning the statement proposal we will not except anything else or we will go to trib PP say here they would rather as long as not unreasonable agree to our wishes they dont like going to trib it costs so we will see hope shes right but i think wether you agree and fight later at trib depends where yr dc is placed and atm i mean a badly written statements worthless really isnt it so looks like we'd have no choice then

Leonie - what is the likelihood that negotiations will bring about a better statement? Yes, you might be working with a crap statement in the meantime while waiting for appeal but on the other hand you might be wasting time trying to negotiate the statement and putting up with the rubbish.

It might be that once you appeal, the statement becomes a 'working document' and things might start being quantified and specified as the la would want to show sendist that they are trying their best and also going to tribunal cost them money.

how can you get the LEA to finalize a statement then?

From our own experience, it was only when we registered our appeal with sendist that we started getting any kind of useful response from the lea. In retrospect, we probably should have registered the appeal straight away and not been so trusting that our negotiations with the lea over content of statement and placement were going to achieve anything. Some of the delays probably were genuine - xmas leave, illness - but crappy standards of communication, selective interpretation of evidence and no real sense of urgency on behalf of the child sadly also played a part.

corns12k - there should be a date on your initial agree to assess letter setting out when the final statment is due or you can work it out yourself from the timelines given in sencop - normally 8 weeks from when proposed statemtn is issued. (exceptions are if school holidays fall in that period)

leonie - lea still are bound to continue negotiating with you even after statement is finalised and the fact is most appeals don't make it as far as tribunal. I would guess that it's more likely that leas give in rather than parents give up.

You can also request that sendist expedite your hearing although you need to get the lea to agree to this.

thats how it was explained to me too ty pinkorkid im so useless explaining wish they would hurry up its sucha huge cloud i feel like all weve ever done is wait just wont to get on helping DS at this rate by the time they all get their acts together he will be leaving school , what does expedite the hearing mean?

what is ACE?

ACE - Advisory Centre for Education.

If you have had enough of negotiating, write to the LA and ask them to please issue the final statement as soon as possible. Do it in writing. If all else fails, you might have to get a lawyer or advocate to write the letter for you.

It is also in my experience that only when the appeal is lodged that the LA decided to ask the OT to specify and quantify her recommendations instead of the 'frequent' and 'regular' etc. words used. They are also sending in SALTS to observe so that they can quantify and specify provisions in Part 3. This after months of negotiating and saying that they understood my concerns!

betty,
expedite means asking the tribunal to hear your dc's case earlier than their usual timescale of 5/6months after applying. they will normally agree to do it about 3 months after if your lea agree.