Refusal to assess - the given reason seems crazy

[mumsuz]

The panel met on Monday and have notified the school that the assessment has been refused. Over the phone the reason was that the panle did not have a copy of the Ed Psych's report. How can that be?

That is their Ed Psych who prepared the report knowing that we had made the assessment. I had also commented on her report in a letter and the case officer said my letter would be put before the panel. Surely it is impossible that they would not have access to the report - in fact the first letter I received said "we will now check whether your child is known by the LEA Educational psychologist".

Im trying to get more information at the moment but I really cant believe what the LEA are saying. It shows that they didnt even look at my letter commenting on the ed psych report.

Does anyone know if there is a likelihood of them reconvening to consider the report?

I am so upset and angry. Our SENCO thought we had a really good case for them agreeing an assessment. But I dont even think they have looked at all the information we provided.

Any thoughts/comments appreciated.

My heart sank for you - what a load of rubbish.

Sadly, going for assessment and then, challenging it, turns you into a total cynic. The only person who has your child's interests in mind is you and possibly your SENCO, by the sound of it.

In our cases, the LA just stonewalled until the week before Tribunals and then, caved. It is horrible. It is stressful. It is wrong. Appeal! Good luck.

Dear LA,

Why didn't you tell us about this sooner? Either you could have contacted the LA EP or we could have forwarded a copy of the report to you. You are such silly people.

Love and snuggles,

Mumsuz x

Just put an appeal in straight away, our parental request for Dd3 was turned down so we appealed went to tribunal and won.

The LA only had her NC levels as evidence for not assessing her. The tribunal panel made them look very foolish in their decision letter.

I bet your LA will concede!

Good luck

Of course it's not a valid reason for refusing statutory assessment. Get your appeal in and tell them you have done so. If your evidence is strong, it could well be worth asking the tribunal to expedite the hearing.

The panels meet regularly - maybe fortnightly or monthly. I suggest you write to your case officer and ask for your child's papers, including this time the ed psy report be put forward for consideration again; and ask under the Data Protection Act for a copy of all the papers that went to the panel the first time.

Here, all the papers did not go to the panel - instead they got a basic summary on one side of A4.

Download the appeal forms immediately and start to fill in the basis stuff (name date of birth etc.) right away. When your letter comes put the actual written reason on here and people will tell you what to write in response.

I am telling you with absolutely certainty that lack of EP report is NOT the reason they are refusing. The reason they are refusing is because they want you to go away until they have the EHCP system in place.

Thanks for support everyone. Felt really upset yesterday but up for the fight again now.

Tempe - I cant believe that they would be able to give the panel a summary rather than them having to look at everything. My written request included a detailed letter summarising difficulties across so many aspects and the school part was pretty compelling too. There were also detailed reports (many from the LA) on speech and language, ADOS, neurodevelopmental, sensory, OT, epilepsy.

I have asked for the panel to consider again with all the papers but I agree that it's pretty obvious what the outcome will be.

To all those urging me to do the Appeal quickly, yes Ive started getting the Appeal stuff from the IPSEA website and filling in details. Looks like I also might need some further information from the school on the SEN provision etc - just as the summer term is coming to an end!

Thanks again.

With my panel that's what happened - sen officer wrote a summary report which at no point mentioned she was 3- 4 years behind, was on the 2nd centile for all of the core curriculum subjects. There was an odd quote on the minutes which appears to mean they dodont even have a report from the school at that point. They bought the date forward without telling anyone so my views weren't even put before panel. Needless to say we were refused, I appealed and ended up at tribunal and won so mad as it sounds, yes they can be very sneaky with the panel. I'm biding my time as now waiting to see if they issue a statement then will lodge my complaint.

mumsuz That's just shocking they could use such an excuse - sounds like you have a strong case to appeal. We are in a similar position of having been refused SA... my DS is just about to move up to Junior School and is now not going to have a statement in place (which the school and all the professionals agree that he desperately needs!).

I have been having help from Parent Partnership. They said if you are going to appeal, the SEN Panel do expect you to keep up a dialogue with them in the meantime... So don't be afraid to ask to speak to the top decision maker after you receive the refusal letter (I did). You could also email him/her the EP report personally so they have everything. Keep up the pressure so they know you're not going to go away.