Educational Psychologists and Independent Schools/Home Ed - who pays?

[SilkStalkings]

Friend has a DC with SEN in a private school over the border in another LEA. She is thinking an Ed Psych report would be useful in case her finances take a nosedive and they have to try a state school or Home Ed. Who would pay for this - parents, independent school, parents' home LA or school's LA? If you Home Ed (part or full time) can you request Ed Psych referral from your LA?
Tia.

She can apply to her local education authority to be assessed for a statement. IPSEA gives good advice on who qualifies for a statement and how to go about it.

Home ed is exactly like private school - you fund it yourself unless a Tribunal declares otherwise (& the first part of that process is an application for a statement of special educational needs as above).

Depending on the local NHS scene, your friend might be able to get a referral via the NHS for an assessment by a neuropsychologist, This is what my home educated child has had.

I was curious how this differed from an assessment by an educational psychologist so I asked the chap. He said that it's virtually identical. The only differences are these. He's employed by the NHS rather than the LA. He doesn't make specific recommendations on how best to address the child's needs within a school setting - but will give general informal advice on this if asked.

He mentioned that if he had recently assessed a child, the LA would often just use his assessment instead of having the child reassessed by and Ed Psych.

I was in a similar situation. We paid for the first three years so that we could delay DS starting school. He went to a private infant school. We had to pay for the original EP report and based on the findings we applied for a statement. He has since moved to a more specialist school which is now funded by the LA.

I made a request to the LA's Ed Psych after ds had been home educated for four years. Initially this was for assessment towards exam access arrangements but from there we went on to do a full statutory assessment which was finalised last summer. There was no charge, and we're still home educating. Ed Psych is a statutory service and should be available to all, though some LAs don't realise this and will argue to the contrary.

My MP helped me get the initial meeting as I'd had very negative responses to earlier attempts to make contact with SEN team. He set up contact with the Director of Learning which led to the EP meeting. So if you're having difficulty you could try going through your MP.

Thanks all. Will suggest she hassle her LA first.