Time scale after annual review when part 4 is to be changed.

[zazzie]

Could someone let me know the time scale between decision to change school at annual review and receiving the finalised amended statement?

We were told at ds's annual review that his mainstream school could not provide his statement. This is a statement which was also an amended statement and was only finalised 10 weeks before the review. We have given the name of the specialist school that we want and LA officer who was at the meeting verbally agreed. However we don't trust them (think they will try to name a closer cheaper option) and want to know the timetable they should be sticking to. Thanks.

I'm in a very similar position to you, zazzie - the timings here are a real grey area, and our LA is gleefully exploiting it.

As things stand, Chapter 9 of the 2001 SEN Code of Practice has the guidance that applies now. The guidance isn't very clear though when it comes to your issue.

You should have had a copy of the head teacher's report from your Annual Review meeting by now (10 school days after the meeting). If it's an accurate account of what they said at the meeting, it should be recommending further amendment to the statement - hopefully recommending specific changes to Part 4.

This is where things get blurry. The LA are under no specific time pressure to make a decision on amending the statement - but when they do make a decision, they have to let you know within a week.

There's a sentence in Chapter 9 of the 2001 SEN CoP (9:35) that says "Where the decision is to amend the statement, the LEA should start the process of amendment without delay." Unhelpfully, this is a "should" not a "must", and there's no time limit specified, or what "without delay" actually means in a practical sense.

We're waiting for our amended statement (changes to Parts 2,3,4). We have been waiting for several months. The LA is interpreting "without delay" to mean "for as long as we can get away with before even the average Zen Buddhist starts to think we're taking our time"

This is one area where the new draft Code of Practice looks like it's going to be a bit tighter - 4 weeks for a decision to amend or not, and 8 weeks from there to issue the amended EHCP.

The one thing that might make a difference is if your DS is about to go into a major phase transfer, like primary to secondary, or Year 9. I think different timescales apply here, but I'm not sure.

Hope this helps!

I don't know the official timescales but ours was quite quick - about 6 weeks from annual review to beginning transitioning at new school. We did keep ringing up asking what was happening so imagine it was quick to get rid of us!

We have had statements amended after one review we only received 11 months later just before the next!!! the whole annual review process should be within 12 months of the previous review. So if the previous statement or decision not to amend was say March 2013 then the annual review for 2013 should be completed by March 2014, regardless of when the actual meeting was held. The review is completed when you have the amended statement or the decision not to amend.
The 'annual' refers to the whole process being completed once a year at least.
LAs do exploit the lack of specific timescale after the meeting / report as it's not a statistic they are measured on whereas issuing statements in time is published. If the delay seems unreasonable and no explanation is given then start the complaint process via official complaint on council website as then you can go to LGO. If it is accepted the current placement is not meeting need then the delay should be minimal, whereas if it's minor wording changes then there is no real harm in delaying.
In your situation I would bung in formal complaint as delay is in their interests (may find somewhere cheaper) not yours.

Got my dates mixed up, 2014 review

Thanks for your replies. The 10 days isn't up yet so I will chase the school if they don't produce the head teachers report on time. We would like him to move schools in September so I hope it gets sorted soon. If we don't get the school we want we will be going to tribunal because the other one won't meet his needs.

The LA does have a problem because it has a statutory duty to provide for your child's needs and, every day that he is in his current school, they are failing to meet that duty. Obviously they need a reasonable time to identify the right school but I think you can use that argument to apply pressure.