No case statement from LEA

[insanityscratching]

Tribunal date in just over a fortnight and had confirmation today that LA have submitted nothing to Tribunal since their response which basically said they couldn't respond without the working document and the attendance form naming an ed psych and SALT who haven't seen ds.
Does no case statement mean they will be barred from taking part in the appeal now or will they be able to play for more time?
Would like to think they believe it's a lost cause but judging by performance to date it could be entirely down to incompetence.

Have you and the LA liased to produce a working document?

The LA won't be barred they never are, however it doesn't look good for them to the Tribunal.

What is the appeal about - parts 2, 3 and 4 of the staement?

They may back down - the tribunal need a working document from the 10 working days before the case, are the LA trying to say that you haven't told them of the changes you want?

The tribunal may use the final statement as a working document to work from.
You will be asked if you want to go into a room to work with the LA on a working document or if you want to work on this with the tribunal present. Always best to choose the later and the tribunal will decide on anything that can't be agreed.

We have a working document now based on independent reports, current school reports and their final statement (seriously edited) Solicitor said it would have been easier to start afresh but we have kept what little of it is relevant.
LA have sent nothing and made no assessments so the statement's appendices are 14 years old, part two doesn't particularly relate to the appendices unsurprisingly because they refer to a non verbal, nappy wearing three year old with moderate autism and learning difficulties. Whereas ds is seventeen with severe autism, no learning difficulties, selective mutism and sensory modulation disorder.
Part two has objectives plucked from the air or based on reports 14 years old or most recent observation from autism outreach which is eight years old with no basis and no professional recommendations and part three suggests strategies for difficulties not mentioned in part two and not necessarily even needed and some certainly not relevant. Independent ed psych said it is quite possibly the worst statement she has ever seen.
We agree on part four because LEA backed down to avoid Judicial Review and so ds is at the independent specialist school of my choice.
Yes, LA say we didn't tell them of the changes we want although there was an eight page submission to Tribunal detailing exactly what we weren't happy with and they have received all the independent assessment reports in good time and the early AR called by them gave them more evidence of ds's needs.
Until we had the assessments made we couldn't detail exactly the changes we wanted and LEA chose not to have any more recent assessments made even though their witnesses are an ed psych and SALT who have never seen ds.
Tribunal advice says What if the local authority does not
send us or you a response?
If the local authority does not send a response by the end of the time in which they have to reply, we can do a number of things, including barring them from taking further part in the appeal. Before deciding what to do, we will write to the local authority asking for an explanation of why they have not responded, or not responded in time. A tribunal judge will consider any reply the local authority gives and will decide what should happen. If the local authority is barred from further involvement, we will decide whether your case can be dealt with on the papers or whether there should still be a hearing, but without the local authority.
Hoping that because Tribunal already had to order them to respond to initial submission (after they waited until deadline and then decided they didn't understand the appeal and asked for a strike out instead) they will be less tolerant of the missing case statement at least.

The tribunal will go along the lines on wanting a fair case hearing despite the LA's failures and their guidelines,.The LA are going to try and blame yourselves at tribunal and say that you wanted too many changes and that they therefore don't undersatnd what you want. The tribunal will put this aside and concentrate on the working document hopefully so it shouldn't be a problem. LA will claim overworked not had enough time ect but as you copied them and the tribunal into your submission the LA have no legs to stand on with their argument.