LEA - finally agreeing to meeting before tribunal - what to expect?

[alison222]

That's it really. They have invited me ( via school - why can't they talk to me directly?) next week to a pre-tribunal meeting.
What do I need to have prepared before I go?
What do I need to do?

Any advice welcomed.

Ooh, good luck. No experience I'm afraid because the LA I am used to dealing with are only interested in maximum stress and finance for the parents a a deterent for future families.

They will just be trying to get an early indication of what you are going to say at tribunal - probably

Why have they proposed the meeting? Is it to discuss your appeal? I'm guessing they want to try and negotiate out of tribunal. Are you appealing part 3?

Assuming that you are appealing part 3, here's what I'd do

1. email them to confirm why they want the meeting; who will be there; is it on or off-record (ie will it be recorded and used in tribunal)

1. Get someone to go with you - your lawyer if you have one, or a legal advocate (they're cheaper - pm me if you want one we used but it might be too short notice), or Parent Partnership, or a friend. There's also a mediation service, certainly in London (kids.org ??? Not sure, but when you got your final statement they should have given you details of any mediation service provided - if you don't have this, ring the LEA and ask.

Whoever goes with you needs to take notes.

1. If it's Part 3, you need to prepare exactly what you want to see. For the tribunal anyway, you'll need to provide a Working Document which is the statement as you want it line-by-line.

1. Don't give anything away I agree with wassup they're probably trying to get information from you. I would keep my cards very close to my chest, don't commit or agree to anything. Let them do the talking - they've called the meeting, see what they have to offer. Just keep in mind what you want (ie your Working Document) but don't give them any information or even titbits about ds/dd (don't know which, sorry) - they will use anything they can against you, so eg even if you casually mention somehting he/she's doing or recent progress made, you can bet they'll try to use it against you.

The fact they've done this thorugh school stinks but is par for the course - ime they'll try and play power/mind games with you, and this is just one of them. They're probably trying to make you think they've got the school on their side. Ignore this crap - concentrate on your case.

Good luck.

bialystockandbloom Yes we are appealing part 3.(and 2 as well to some extent)
They have my latest version of the working document as they sent one to the tribunal conveniently leaving out all my proposed amendments the day before the deadline. Needless to say , my document with them in, and an independent OT report went in the day of the deadline.

As DS is moving to High school in September its kind of irrelevant what the current school say at this point TBH. The SENCO there wanted the statement and knows what I am trying to achieve. I'm not sure how much she agrees with all my amendments, but still.

Much of the stuff is to quantify and tighten up the provision as they were SO woolly in the first version, no better in the 2nd etc.

The tribunal is only 4 weeks away and I have been trying to get them to meet with me since September last year. I think that they are supposed to have met if we request it so this is them now doing so.

There does seem to be a mediation service involved looking at the CC's to the e-mail. ( I contacted the LEA directly as DH couldn't do their meeting and so we have agreed an alternative date).

We do not have an advocate.

Am e-mailing them now to ask about purpose and if it is off record. Thanks

The only reason to have a meeting is to go through the working doc or if they have something new to put on the table. If it is not one of these and just seems a fishing expedition to see how good a witness you will make at tribunal / what you are going to say at tribunal, don't go. If you do go stick to what you have agreed to talk about and don't go over the evidence - just tell them thats for the tribunal to decide. It should be to negotiate. Not to test out your case!

It has to be to go through the working document surely?
The date for submissions to tribunal has passed so they can't have anything new at this date can they?
If it is not then I can't see the point of a meeting.
I am waiting for a reply of why we are having the meeting, who is attending and are they minuting it for tribunal.
That should hopefully warn them I will take no prisoners.

What do you mean agnes about not going over the evidence. surely if they ask where did you get XYZ from and I can say page xx of Y report that is not a bad thing is it?

Does anyone know anything about these people as they are cc.d into the invitation to the meeting. I have looked at the website and since we didn't instruct them are they there as mediators do you think, or on the side of the LEA?

Aghhhh! I am beginning to think that they are playing hardball now when a couple of hours ago I was feeling hopeful.

Ok that is weird, as that is the advocate we used (She was great btw, won us our agreement for statement without going to tribunal.

I would ask them why Advocacy & Mediation (Fiona Slomovic) are coming, and is she representing the LEA?

And as agnes said, if the meeting is not to go through the working document and reach agreement, there's no point going.

I think by not going over evidence, agnes means the meeting must not be about trawling over, arguing about, disputing or discrediting your evidence. That is not their role. It is the tribunal who decide, on the face of the evidence, who has the better case, not the LEA! So don't get drawn into debating the merits of your evidence.

Btw if A&M are coming as independent mediators that's probably not a bad thing as F.S. is great - but you need to be clear about why they are there, and are they actually representing the LEA? (I'd be surprised if that was the case, I thought A&M only represented parents.)

Ah so I can say" OT says ..... and it came from her report that is why we want xy provision in...." but not explain why I think that it is correct.

That is the impression I got from their website too. I hope it is as a mediatior.

Ask for what you want. Tell them you have the evidence to support it. Don't tell them what or where the evidence is or what arguments or interpretation you have.

This is what we want - yes or no. If no, ask THEM why not. If they say there is no evidence say you dispute that as you have all seen the tribunal docs so then the tribunal can decide.

Wierd about the mediator link. Are they coming or have they just been randomly added to scare you?

Yes - it's a meeting to try and reach agreement on working document - not a forum for picking apart the evidence itself.

I guess it depends if this is 'real' mediation; ie an attempt to reach an agreement which both parties are happy with, or if it is an attempt to win you over or to weaken your case for tribunal.

I think LAs are expected to show tribunal they made an effort to conciliate

Yes what bialy said
You have set out your case - they have set out theirs - tribunal should decide
Only if they truly seem to be willing to negotiate - i.e. move and concede some things should you get into it
So for working doc refer to evidence on a point you want in and they don't but don't get into the merits of the evidence
eg we want x because OT recommended it
LA may say well we don't think x is appropriate - that is for tribunal to decide

But if they say no evidence child needs x and a report does mention that needs it then yes you can say the report of Y does recommend it
So point to the evidence but don't get into the merits is what I mean

I'm still waiting for reply about attendees - so still no wiser as to the mediator link - ie no idea if they are attending and if so in what capacity.
Given the way they have dragged their heels so far I expect to get all the details the night before the meeting!

We will be writing up our notes though ie cross referencing all our amendments to the reports just in case ( and also useful if we still do get to tribunal)

We used that mediator as a parent and was great but am confused why they would be cc'd if you have not been asked to agree to mediation.

I have had a reply today to say it is to see how many of the amendments can be agreed.
They have offered mediation now in this reply - so I guess this must be the service CC'd and say they cannot guarantee it and want to know if I want them to secure independent mediation. I haven't a clue if I do or not .

I have been looking through the amendments that they have agreed - they have agreed to a lot of them. They still won't give us the 21 hours we asked for.

However there are several things they have refused to accept so I need a bit of further help from someone who may know.

DS has AS. I want them to limit the no of TA's who will help him to 3. He needs continuity . They are refusing this saying it is up to the school. Can I insist do you think?

One of the provisions he needs is social skills teaching and I want the statement to say that he must attend the available things at lunch/and or go to the library. They are saying "if he wants" - if I let them do that then how can I then ensure all the social skills training actually happens as it is usually all done in lunch and breaktimes?

There is a part for a recognised desensitisation programme and I have put in eg ABA or CBT. The LEA are saying they are not recognised programmes of desensitisation so WHAT IS?

As a result of my independent OT review I had changes to part 2. They are saying that I have to get the tribunal to register that I want these included as I didn't originally and so they have not considered the changes - however all the recommendations as a result of these have pretty well been accepted by them. Has anyone had to go back to the tribunal to get them to allow this? If so was it successful?

Call A&M yourself and ask them if they are even aware of your case.

I just e-mailed and got a reply saying that they were not aware and that the LEA had not formally asked for mediation and in any case they have no availability in the coming month.
So now I go back to wondering what the LEA are up to.

Pmsl. That has made my day. Truly.

Sorry though. Well done for discovering their intimidation and bullying tactics. That company are well known to many of us and have a reputation for being ethical which is why we were all confused.

Idiots. Still if that's the best weapon they have you have every reason to be confident.

They can't refuse to consider the OT amendments to Part 2.
If the OT report was served in time you can add to the working doc / opposed statement right up to the last minute.
what is the point of mediation if they are not willing to continue negotiating?

I would be annoyed they were sending my child's personal info to a company before they got your consent to mediation and which cannot possibly help anyway.

God they are fricking idiots aren't they. What on earth did they think A&M would make of a random email they were copied into?

Back to the statement itself - what they have said about the OT recommendations is a load of rubbish. If the OT report was submitted as evidence they can consider it. And if not, you can ask SENDIST to consider it as late evidence (if the deadline has passed). I can't see why they would object to considering this in a mediation meeting outside of the tribunal - seems plain stubborn and silly bugger tactics to me. I don't think a tribunal would look too kindly on that.

I'm not entirely sure what the procedure would be for a meeting before tribunal, but I guess each party should provide a Working Statement either in advance or at the meeting. So concentrate on working on that.

I would probably ring an advocate (A&M if you choose!) and ask for advice about how you should proceed on that.

The number of hours is prob the big sticking point. Are you confident of your evidence to back up the hours you want?

Perhaps they just got you mixed up with a family that were using A&M and copied them in by accident!?