Statement/EHC plan

[Littlemisssunshine72]

Add message | Report | Message poster Littlemisssunshine72 Thu 23-Oct-14 12:11:18
Just had my son's AR (home educated ,has a statement for his autism).
All going well,them being complimentary, then talk turned to the EHC plans. Was told DS wouldn't go on one this year, then started talking about them and LA bod said not all children with a statement will go on one as if the child's needs can be met by the £6000 the school now gets won't get a plan. So asked how it affects home ed kids. She didn't know but said could always apply for SA again. I said so basically would have to send my son to school to prove he needs extra funds in order to keep his statement so he could go to college or secondary school.
She said his statement wouldn't be relevant then anyway as his needs would have changed. I said his needs would be kept up to date with the annual review. She said she would ask and report back to me.
Just wondering if anyone on here has any more information on how you can prove you need to keep the statement/EHC plan while home edding and obviously meeting your child's needs.
Thank you (will post in special needs too)

Hi there - I'm certainly no expert but I went to a seminar yesterday about the new arrangements and transitions from statements to EHC plans. A couple of parents raised concerns about LEAs using the transitional arrangements to try to stop their child's statement. The SEN lawyer thought that the mere fact that there was going to be a change from statements to EHC plans would not at all be a valid reason to try to stop the provision within the statement.

It sounded to me that many LEA officers are very very unclear about how the new arrangements will work and your LEA bod certainly sounds confused!

I do know that it is definitely the LEA's responsibility to draw up the draft EHC plan for your review so until they do that the statement definitely stays in place.

Thank you for replying. I agree LEA's are in confusion everywhere! My DS's statement will stay in place until 2018 at the latest and I know I'm looking to the future (as he is only 7) but as I am home educating him and meeting his needs they could say he does not need a plan but my concern is that if he chooses to go to secondary school or college he would most definitely need a statement/plan but because I am meeting his needs now, the LEA may say he doesn't need one. Honestly thought that when he got a statement at 3, he would have it for his whole education. Silly me!

The official party line from the DfE is that the usual expectation is that a child with a statement should get an EHC Plan and they don't expect LAs to use this as an excuse to get rid of statements. Each case has to be considered on its merits.

A lot of LAs have separately used the funding rules as an excuse for refusing assessment with arguments along the lines that you quote. However, the point is that a statement isn't just about funding - it's about defining what the child's difficulties are and what support they should be getting, and also about having something that's enforceable. It's no good the LA saying that the school can give £6K for the child's support if the reality is that the school can't or won't do it.