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what would you do next if the lea are just ignoring you?

17 replies

bjkmummy · 05/07/2012 17:04

emailed the lea on tuesday lunch time asking for a response by return - basically my sons school cant meet his needs, hes only in school part time, emergency review held 31st may - myself and school want him to go to a special school - since 31st may lea have lost his paperwork for 2 weeks, sent one letter saying they were thinking about the recommendations and thats it in 5 weeks - in 10 days time my son will not have a school place as current school dont want him back in seot and i dont want him to go back.

anyway since my email on tuesday lunchtime asking for some kind of answer - anything will do - a clue or something as to what is happening - i have just got silence absolute silence - what would you do next? parent partnership are now on leave until sept and their last piece of advice 2 weeks ago was to leave the lea to it and accept that my son will have no school place in sept and pushing the lea may just make them make the wrong decision - but since the lea have just been completely silent i have no idea what to do........

do the leas have some kind of protocol on a time frame on which emails etc should be answered?

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twlight · 05/07/2012 17:18

Try and get hold of a SEN code of practise and read up on what the LEA have ot provide for a SEN child or go on the IPSEA website and download their standard letters for schools and or lea's not placing a child.

WetAugust · 05/07/2012 17:25

PP's advice is just rubbish Angry

I would:

send them one further email stating that if you have had no response by 4pm tomorrow afternoon you will make a formal complaint to your local councillor.

That should get them moving.

But what do you actually want from the LA? Achange to the Statement naming your chosen SS in Part 4?

bjkmummy · 05/07/2012 18:15

yes - had a private OT report done which they had 2 weeks before the review so have had it for 7 weeks so we want parts 2 and 3 changing - his needs have changed so much now - needs part 4 changing to name a new school but i have no idea if the lea are even contacting suitable schools or not because of the silence. the current school in the emrgency review said and have put in writing they cannot meet his needs any longer. he is vomiting daily due to anxiety - he was signed off by the go for a week but he has now gone back but mornings only - he is still being sick - i have letters from paed stating its due to anxiety - i have evidence from so many people to say he needs a specialist placement - i dont know what more i can do - i have done everything in power and now we wait - i cant do anything until the lea tell me what they are doing - i cant do anything until i get the statement back but they wont tell me when this will happen or ifthey are even going to amend. he is not going back to this school in sept - how can he when they cant meet his needs and he is being sick daily - the head i know has also been emailing the lea and they are ignoring her as well - school breaks up 2 weeks today.......

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notactuallyme · 05/07/2012 18:40

ring your sen officer?

bjkmummy · 05/07/2012 18:45

ive tried ringing her, emailing her - hence why the post is about them ignoring me!

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notactuallyme · 05/07/2012 18:49

ok, didn't get that you'd rung - what happened when you did?

bjkmummy · 05/07/2012 18:58

ive tried several times and am still waiting for them to phone me back! thats why i also emailed as well to try and cover all angles - in the email i even copied in the sen officers boss and still silence

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WetAugust · 05/07/2012 18:58

Emailing the LA repeatedly will not force them to respond. You need someone who has 'authority' over them to make them respond.

That's why I said contact your Local Councillor - that does shake them up because ultimately they do have to answer to Councillors.

Sometimes the most direct approcah is not always the best route - sometgimes a less direct route via Councillor is required.

Forget about school breaking up. There's no need for school to be involved anymore - you have it in writing that school have stated they can no longer meet his needs. So a different school is required. There's no need for the LA to wait until after the school holidays to talk to old school. You're past that stage.

bjkmummy · 05/07/2012 19:10

school are just chasing as well as they want to know for my sons sake what is going on. the LA know exactly the schools position regarding my son - its just so frustrating the games they play which means a 8 year old child will have no school place in sept.

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moosemama · 05/07/2012 19:34

Bjk, we are having similar issue with our LEA. We have taken some legal advice and they said to write a formal letter, stating a deadline by which you want (in our case a finalised statement to appeal against) in your case whatever answers you want and informing them that if you don't receive a response by the deadline you will instruct a solicitor to act on your behalf.

Other suggestions have been local councillor as Wet said and/or MP. I am told they usually shift pretty quickly once MPs are involved.

Make sure any letters you do send are copied to the head honcho of the department as well.

AgnesDiPesto · 05/07/2012 22:34

Put in a formal complaint to the Chief Exec about the delay. Complaint policy will be on council website

I would also ring the local govt ombudsman - usually you have to go through the council complaint process first - but explain your child is already effectively out of school, not receiving a FT education since May, there are 2 weeks left to view any other schools LA may suggest and LA has sat on case since 31 May. Tell them you can't appeal to SENDIST (I am assuming you have a statement?) until the LA make a final decision which gives you an appeal right - which they have not done since 31 May. Ask if LGO will take the complaint early.

I would then write to your SEN officer -say given the timescale you have now had to make a formal complaint and have referred the matter to LGO. Say that as the LA has delayed in investigating alternative options and your DS currently has no school place for sept, and there is now no time to view any potential schools, that you require them to put in writing how they intend to meet your child's needs out of school in Sept. eg via home tuition

Agree also go to MP and copy all letters to MP

If having your DS at home is a problem e.g. as you work etc? You may need to have a social care assessment for disabled child / carers assessment so you can buy in childcare. Keep details of any costs you build up e.g. loss of pay etc so you can go to Ombudsman later and ask for these to be repaid.

There was some talk on here in the past about cases where LA delayed in amending the statement after review and whether their non response could be taken as a refusal to amend and you could persuade SENDIST to take the case even though you did not yet have the written notice. I don't know what the outcome was whether SENDIST would intervene or you would have to use LGO to get the decision and then appeal. You could ring SENDIST and ask if its essential you have the written notice or if non action can be taken as refusal to amend.

328A Education Act 199 (added in 2010 under Chiildren and Families Act) gave a right of appeal against determination of local authority in England not to amend statement following review

(1)This section applies where a local authority in England?
(a)conduct a review of a statement in accordance with section 328(5)(b), and
(b)determine not to amend the statement.
(2)The authority shall give written notice of the determination and of their reasons for making it to the parent of the child concerned.
(3)The parent may appeal to the Tribunal.
(4)Subsections (1A), (3), (4) and (5) of section 326 apply to an appeal under this section as they apply to an appeal under that section, but with the omission of subsection (3)(c).
(5)A notice under subsection (2) must inform the parent of the right of appeal and of the period within which the right may be exercised.
(6)A notice under subsection (2) must be given to the parent within the period of seven days beginning with the day on which the determination is made.?

I suspect if pushed the LA will name the current school - make you appeal - and buy themselves time as an appeal will not be heard for several months. Has the school actually refused in writing to have him back in Sept?

If your child cannot attend the current school in Sept either as no school place or because anxiety then LA have a duty to provide education out of school e.g. a home tutor.

Look at LGO report on their website 'out of school out of mind' and info on IPSEA about rights when a child is not accessing FT education and what LA should be doing.

Are you eligible for legal aid?

Once they know you will expect home tuition there will be an incentive to move things on.

Where do you want your DS to go? Do you have a school in mind? Do they have places in Sept? Be worth finding out / doing a visit of what you think is suitable.

Shellywelly1973 · 06/07/2012 11:06

Excellent advice!!

I was in exactly same situation to you this time last year...

I got a very well known solicitor involved and started legal action.

My DS was offered a place in an independant AS school in October, surprise surprise!!

bjkmummy · 06/07/2012 11:28

I have a meeting on tues when the sen officer boss should be there- I will bevmaking it quite clear that I am not happy with how this is being handled. Depending on the answers I will do the advice as above. With my elder son last year I ended up instructing a solicitor and lodging judicial review papers - was the very well known solicitor I used- so the lea know that I will use the law so it just frustrates that they are putting me through this again. Last year I got a grovelling apology about how they had behaved and here we are again! I am going to phone now but want to speak to the sen officers boss and then will take it from tuesday

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bjkmummy · 11/07/2012 12:48

well the meeting yesterday was very interesting. sen officers boss came - refused to discuss the case. i pointed out it needed to be discussed because to this point they had refused to speak to us. she then went on to say that a meeting with her and the sen officer has been arranged for friday morning and she had left a voicemail message on my answer phone that morning - when we got home she had phoned at 12.45pm - the meeting was at 2pm!

she the said taht there was nothing in the paperwork which supported a specialist school placement which is rubbish. the head has put in writing they cannot meet his needs and a new placement for sept is needed. teh head wasnt at the meeting but the class teacher was. it was clear that the sen boss has only been told half of the story - just the bits from the sen officer taht supports her view he doesnt need a special school missing out all of the evidence that actually he does - very very sneaky. the class teahcer asked what evidence do you need? boss then listed loads of stuff which the school have sent to them already on the 1st june!!

she yet again refused to discuss it in the meeting say ing not the right place etc. she said no response from them as she has been on annual leave and sen officer off sick. they dispute our OT report so want an NHS one doing which they will have to pay for but dont want their OT to come into school but for us to take him to another town to a clinic like enviroment to be assessed. class teacher commented it was ridiculous as when the private OT came she saw him chew his toes till they bled plus witnessed a meltdown as he struggled to cope with sensory overload.

this morning i went in - teh head and class teacher were waiting. the class teacher was so upset she phoned the head at home last night. the head has fired off several strongly worded emails as she is furious that a game is being played and lies being told by someone as all of the facts about Joe are not being considered. she has again said that they cannot meet his needs - she wants to come to the meeting on friday but when we put this to the sen boss yesterday she said this was not appropriate, been given joes school report early and he is failing in all areas academically even though this is a gifted child. EP report very wishy washy and of course sen officer only highlighted one area of progress and ignored the areas that joe has actually decreased in. it just wrong on so many levels it really is. he still is in school only in the mornings - so far this week no sickness but his behaviour has been awful

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AgnesDiPesto · 11/07/2012 20:00

Yes all sounds very familiar. Stalling stalling stalling. Tell them you want the written decision that gives you an appeal right by for eg close of business Friday. You will continue to talk to them but they now need to let your child have the benfit of his legal rights to challenge their decision which clearly is not going to be a ss placement. The OT report may just be another delay so they can put off sending the final letter that gives the right of appeal.

Sighingagain · 11/07/2012 21:22

Contact MP - I did - I have a meeting with head of education on Monday.

Sighingagain · 11/07/2012 21:23

Also I have had a lot of help from SNAP.

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