Can I refuse an Interim review of my son's Statement

[dietstartstmoz]

DS2 has HFA, fully supported through Statement in mainstream primary. Age 6. Making good progress because of the support but he is still a very difficult child (obviously). After his AR in July the LA proposed the reduce his hrs to 'between 20-24 hrs pw'. We appealed and won!
But the LA want to have an interim review in Feb 'to look at planning support for the future and because he has made progress since the statement was issued'(2.5 yrs ago). Now is this just another way of trying to reduce his support? Should we refuse as he wont have changed since my appeal which was only October a few weeks ago,and just wait until the summer? Can I do this? Or should we just go ahead?
I will speak to school SENCO but wanted some sensible advice so came on here!

Thanks

I don't think you have the option of refusing. If you don't attend I suspect they'll go ahead without you.

Oh bugger thats what I thought. Thanks for your reply

i think you need to take some advice and speak to ipsea about this - seems very suspect that they are calling this review. most are called because the child is struggling - never heard on being called for this before and im not sure that the code of practice covers this scenario

Yes they clearly are planning on reducing the support. Maybe down to the level school is expected to put in without a statement / from delegated funds (so no need for LA to top up)

You can't stop them calling an interim review but you can object pointing out your reasons e.g. provision has only just been reviewed, his needs haven't changed since Oct when they were last reviewed and are unlikely to change by feb, reviews for over 5's are usually only annually and this subjects him to unnecessary assessment and you to unnecessary stress and admin. You can also ask which professional has advised he needs reviewing more frequently than annually (as per SEN COP) and ask the SEN officer to send you a copy of the 'advice' they are relying on. SEN officers should be responding to evidence of a change not setting the agenda for admin / funding reasons. They should be able to demonstrate a reason for calling an interim review. At least if you end up at tribunal in a year you can show LA using reviews unreasonably frequently.

Best would be for school to also write and say an interim review is not merited.

How are they assessing progress? Is school monitoring for eg social targets etc on P scales? Could school log any behaviour issues? If SENCO is supportive (and I assume will want extra funds) then perhaps you can work together on this. Its a drain on school time having reviews too. Also the school needs certainty about funding not worried about it being removed. We started using P scales before we had to as it was a good way of showing gaps.

Our LA tried this with us after we went to tribunal. I explained to LA EP (ours is lovely) how stressful it was to be constantly looking over our shoulder waiting for provision to be removed and we never got more than a few weeks without letters from SEN team demanding info and meetings and we had a right to get on with our lives without constant stress. The EP has been really supportive since then and basically told the SEN team to get back in their box.

Oh forgot to say the LA did drop the interim review when we challenged them! Making a paper trail is crucial. They wont want to look bad at any future tribunal so may back off.

Thanks agnes and bkj. That is what I thought. I will call ipsea and then work out how to move forward.

Agnes-where would I find social targets on P scales?

Agnes-where would I find social targets on P scales?

I have found P targets for PhSE and citizenship, would it come under this?