They've issued a NIL

[bjkmummy]

So phoned sen. Officer again this morning , she's not in so I went for a shower and took the phone with me after dh nightmare yesterday for them to phone whilst I was in the shower - cue a very wet me!!

They are issuing a NIL. They've offered me a meeting?! She has made the decision as a lone statementing officer - it has not gone to panel.

There is an interesting paragraph in the last tribunals judgement which states ' we share the concerns about DD's future provision on secondary transfer. She will be in much larger classes and it is highly unlikely if not impossible that any mainstream secondary school could or would match her current level of support '

So I said how in earth is she going to cope in secondary then? She didn't answer that question. How are they going to get round her at nearly 11 having expressive language skills of a 6 year old - I'll tell you how cos I bet they have ignored every single one of my indie reports.

The assessment has been a 4 min phone call from the medical people and a 20 min assessment by the EP meeting DD, he did no assessments of her whatsoever! He used an out of date dyslexia action report.

I did tell her we had margo sharps report coming and that she had said that my daughter was in the autistic spectrum.

So off to bloody tribunal for the 3rd time in bloody 2 years. Time to get saving, selling my kidneys and go back and finish my shower and then let the photocopying begin to get it lodged today.

Exactly what was expected, really. Perfectly legal time wasting :(

Oh bjkmummy, I'm so sorry to read this :-(

My heart goes out to you, your daughter is so lucky to have you fighting her corner xx

Unbelievable! I point out regularly to our LEA that if they had put in appropriate support quicker than it would have saved them ££££££ in the long run. They still don't get it though.

P.S. You have put your daughter's name in your post so you might want to get it removed.

Utter bastards! Can't believe that Tribunal ordered them to assess but now they've issued a NIL.

Deep breath, and then keep fighting. We're all here urging you on.

Sorry to hear that having got an answer out of the LA it was not what you wanted to hear - though not exactly unexpected either.

I would hang on to the comment you picked out from the last tribunal judgement about it being'highly unlikely' your DD can be supported in a MS secondary. I mean it's not exactly good news when you've just been given a NIL, but you know,and professionals independent of the LA know, what your DD needs - but you are going to have to fight to get it.

I'm not going to get an answer from my LA til we are back from holiday now, so last week of August. I can't see how the LA can justify issuing a NIL for either DD or DS as neither has been able to attend their MS school since Jan, but I sort of expect that either or both of them may get one simply as a time-wasting, cost-saving exercise for the LA.

My friend has just advised me to email the top bloke at the sen team. Clearly what's happened is that they were working to the wrong timeline, I've pointed it out and they've panicked. She's admitted she has made the decision alone, no panel involvement whatsoever so she just issued the nil to make it go away but at my daughters expense.

She was twittering about current school meeting need - but she's in a school of 25 kids hence the panel comments at tribunal. She's offered me a meeting - erm I have 3 with sen and it's the school holidays? My friend advised me to email her and say would love a meeting but given my situation the La would have offer childcare and arrange it!

Who made the decision? Was it a case worker or a senior manager? Tbh in most cases "the panel" doesn't actually exist because it's the senior manager who holds all the power to say yay or nay. The "panel" just does as they are told by the senior manager

But, being that they've got the deadlines wrong, it could be that they've rushed a decision.

I'd agree with emailing the top person. In my LA there's a Team Manager of the Statutory Assessment Team, who is in charge of all the senior managers - if you have the equivalent, then I would start there.

It's the plain old sen caseworker who has made the decision, we only have one here. Her direct line manager is I know away on holiday. She said that she has it with her jib description to make this decision but she did 'discuss' it - maybe it was discussed with the office cat - who knows....... Post man been - no letter - no surprises there then!

Here we have the sen officer then her manager who is more social care based and doesn't really understand the 'law' then an assistant director then the director. I'm going to email the director, he's new in post so doesn't know me , guess he will be interested to see whats going in down the bottom of the chain.

Bastards :(

Sorry to hear that.

I was so hoping that this wasnt your thread BJK. the utter bastards

Haven't they learnt that this is only going to cause them more paperwork? Though perhaps it justifies their full-time positions as seem to have time for personal postal deliveries.

Even if you don't win this appeal (and you probably will), secondary school will trigger a whole new reason to apply again. It's even been suggested that you'd have to.

Sending very bad Karma to those idiots......

I wouldn't panic. You'll get the statement without selling a kidney. You have all the evidence already, and a second tribunal aren't going to look fondly at the LA blatently ignoring first tribunals ruling.

This lot suggests to me that she's worried about getting into trouble a) if the LA get JR'd for delay, but also b) if she issues any statements with the boss away. Suspect she's been told to wait and block till after sept 1 for everything & then to pretend EHCPs are the only game in town.

What you don't know yet is if they'll back down ASAP (ie single brief meeting when boss gets back) or a bit later (when they have to file a response to your appeal). Or if it'll be a hearing.

well the NIL itself came today - this is the first one my LA have ever issued - the EP report places her at least 30 months behind in every single area. it says at least 30 months so worrying exactly how far behind the true figure is. they put the OT in part 5 , part 3 is blank and the rest of it is the usual cut and place job of strategies - says several times in it that the LA have nothing to do with it, up to the school and they don't have to listen to it. asking my permission of this crock of crap to be shared with all the people who contributed to it! been offered 2 meetings - one with LA officer and one with LA officer and school in sept = words poke off spring to mind. so today and tomorrow will get photocopying and get it lodged Monday morning and then im going to forget about it and enjoy our lovely holiday to sunny devon next weekend.

no where in the NIL does it mention specialist teaching or referring her to the LA teaching service the school is in which the tribunal asked the school to do but then they cant cos come secondary this county has no specialist teaching service and if they admit she needs it then they should statement her despite the class teacher stating in the tribunal she needs it and of we stopped paying for it the school would have to buy it in and the judgement cites the teacher saying this.

in a sick kind of way going back to tribunal would be fun to watch but obviously don't want to go there on a personal level. as to who the LA will call they wont be able to call anyone from secondary school as at that point we will not know where she is going and pretty pointless calling current school.

the school report places her now in year 6 at NC 3B which is surprising given the LA report places her so much further behind.

anyway it is what it is - will go and get some ink shortly then head for a sneaky coffee in a lovely café somewhere with my gorgeous daughter

Yes. Get it done asap. You should be able to do it in your sleep now.

I am sorry to learn of your experience. I know it can be very stressful.

I think it is worth the effort complaining to highlight any procedural and factual errors & omissions in the decision process.

My LA too had initially issued a NIL. Having checked the papers I discovered that the Community Paediatrician's medical report hadn't been sent to the LA and they had gone ahead and made the decision without this vital evidence.

Following strongly worded complaint letters to the paediatrician (for having delayed sending the report) and to the LA (for having made the decision without a vital evidence) the LA reversed the NIL decision after receiving the medical report.

reminds me of my daughters twins statement - they did that with no school report at all!! at least he got a statement no problem though so didn't raise but when it came to tribunal the LA were in a panic as they couldn't find the appendix cos it had never been done!

The new Code of Practice refers to transparency in decision making by LAs including setting up moderation groups to ensure consistency. You could write to the Director of Education to express your dismay that the LA's decision not to issue a Statement has been conducted in a way which is inconsistent with current legislation, and request that the decision is reviewed. This might get them to review their decision as they know it won't go down at all well at tribunal. Also you could point out that the organisational structure of the LA does not lend itself to fair decision making since there isn't sufficient educational expertise and experience what with the caseworker's manager having a background in Social Care.

The LA has to be transparent about decisions and it's unacceptable to say a decision made by one or two people has been made by "panel".
pg 148, Special Educational Needs and Disability Code of Practice: 0-25 years is relevant here.
www.gov.uk/government/publications/send-code-of-practice-0-to-25
The criteria for commencing a statutory assessment hasn't changed under the new SEN CoP. It's just that the Statement is replaced by an EHC plan so you could take that tack from September.

thanks marie - it says that under the old code as well as I was just sat reading it whilst Ive been busy photocopying.

ive just compared her EP report with the one for her elder brother - he got a statement of 25 hours - her report is twice as long with more recommendations. her scores in the WIAT are substantially lower than her brothers, the report mentions her needing a high level of adult support and also mentions needing annual reviews which so does her brothers so my gut tells me the LA EP probably does feel she needs a statement but the sen officer of course has made the final decision.

because im lodging the appeal now I will I guess go under the old code

Yes old code! However don't expect the LA to know that or even agree with you.

I think you've caught them on the hop because of the wrong timescales.

Try & make it easy for the statementing officer to save face, give her something pathetically small that is genuinely new, in case she wants an excuse to change her mind once the boss gets back.

A brief update to "the dc's views" might do the trick, sent through now, or else a few days before any meeting you plan to agree to.

i guess handing over a dx of asd will be the get out clause she needs - im just awaiting the report which is due imminently.

been busy copying - still - and just come to the IEPs the school have sent to the LA = they are completely different to ones I have been given! targets which were reached in feb just before the refusal to assess have now reappeared and are still being worked on = a new IEP that was apparently written in may has now also appeared.

the IEP I have for feb - june is completely different to the one the school have submitted to the LA - same dates etc but worded differently = completely odd and strange and I cant make sense of it or understand at all what the school are up to - apparently she now has the use of a voice recorder??? she has never mentioned she has been using one so I doubt she has been

ive now compared her EP report to both my sons and they all have the same things in them - both boys are in special schools! the part in hers has about additional adult support - the boys have an additional few words saying for a statemented child - hers doesn't have those words but then it looks like lots of other stuff been added to the report later as its in a completely different font as though it did originally say that but as they've issued a NIL hurriedly amended it for a NIL but forgot to amend the final part where it mentions about annual reviews!!! so I really think the EP does think she should be statemented but been made to change his report. he mentions her being at least 30 months behind - on closer inspection on some things she is 42 months behind! but I guess 30 months sounds better.........

will be glad to get this in the post on Monday morning and can then forget about it for a few months

The changed IEPs and the different font report amendments will be interesting to raise at Tribunal. Wonder if EP did it accidentally on purpose wasn't as careful as usual if she wasn't too impressed was in a hurry being forced asked to chop and change her professional views.

Presume under data protection you can ask for copies of all emails sharing previous drafts

yes I am going to do the data request but am biding my time for now to let more emails amongst everyone float around. the school appendix is appalling - written on last day of term in a scrawl and then on a scrappy A4 piece of paper. I now have so many different versions of the same IEPs - think the feb - june one now has 3 different versions of it! will add it all to the pile to submit.

the EP is an okay person I think - he came to my sons tribunal and when the panel asked him a very leading question he just said 'I couldn't possibly comment' house of cards style which told everyone what we already knew but he could have thrown us under the bus but didn't and I guess for that I have some respect for him.