if the LA issued a final statement last week, can the LA issue a revised final statement next week??

[bjkmummy]

its Saturday so of course today I will get a response back from the LA!!!!

the LA been back to their barrister clearly and now say

' as a result of this I am now in a position to inform you that the LA will issue a revised statement ie final statement next week'

the finals statement is as the consent order states a holding statement. The LA intention was to take into account as part of the EHC assessment process the 3 indie reports (and other reports which may be gathered) which were submitted after the NIL.

The LA will now reference these reports in part 2 of the statement and annexe them to the same.'

so how can they now issue another statement (which ive already lodged an appeal against) and only mention the indie reports in part 2 but no mention in part 3

they say nothing wrong with the amount given in part 4 and school can give up to 15 hours or more if needs be.

they tehn say the ehc assessment will be completed by 1 may but don't answer the question that I asked namely - is that when the finalised plan will be issued or is that just the 'assessment' only

so now I have an appeal lodged against a statement which the LA will try to change next week - surely they cannot change a finalised statement cos they've realised they've cocked up on something - can they????

ahhh mr T - yes DD wrote to him a while ago and he responded - he actually put it in writing to her that as her parents we shouldn't be paying for the dyslexia teaching - the letter went into the tribunal bundle - I guess it wouldn't harm to send him an update of what happened next and the full impact that his reforms are now having on us as a family on the ground.........

I did copy in my MP last time and he never responded which I was surprised as he was quite good when we went through it all with her twin brother

guess it doesn't help at the moment that there is an election on the way and everyone will be focused on that.

Also the reports will be added as part of the parental views appendix and not in the medical evidence appendix.

Don't expect that you will get a good enough statement/plan and the placement you prefer without appealing contents. Hoping otherwise will be disappointing, draining and will add delay.

bj you have to appeal every crap final. If you don't, some smart arse will say that you obviously consented to that amount of support.

You just need to keep plugging away making the system produce something that is the best you can get for dc.

In terms of silver lining, every time the LA does something daft, like:- 1)reducing support with no evidence, or
2)claiming that the school can pay for it, when the law is clear that the school support has to be in the statement, and
3) anyway you can get evidence that the school can't pay
4) agreeing with the indie reports for part 2 but not part3

Every time they do this they are helping your next appeal on the contents of the statement because it will show that they are not doing their job in a competent way.

Hang in there

spoken to the class teacher today who came to the hearing.

she confirmed that the LA did not want to issue a statement but we coerced by the barrister to agree to a holding statement and then to go for the EHCP.

The LA have asked the school to refer dd to SALT - I explained the LA had done this in sept and the NHS SALT had refused to accept the referral. Teacher said she cant do the referral as she needs my permission but the LA were putting pressure on her to do it regardless.. she will now speak to the sen officer and say that the sen officer is to contact me directly for permission for it to be done.

clearly the LA are using the EHCP to buy them time to gather evidence again to counter our reports. The teacher was also told by the LA what she could/couldn't say if it had gone to a hearing but teacher made it clear that if she was asked a question she would answer it.

The sen officer was very stressed and making lots of calls to the office. clearly the barrister told them they would lose if it went to a full hearing so got them to agree to this mad plan of an EHCP to buy them time to gather the evidence the LA think they need.

So despite this going on for god knows how many months the LA still trying to fight us and getting people to do reports by the back door. if the NHS SALT have already said no they are not going to say yes are they if the school ask them. plus there is 6 weeks to go - I know hidden in the code it does say that if they are awaiting medical evidence they can delay issuing the EHCP so the can poke off with that idea as well.

teacher herself picked up that the number of hours has reduced what she currently has as well. now we await for this amended final statement to come = which will no doubt be on Saturday.

I thought if all the reports were in date that the LA could not then continue to keep getting more reports.

My dd had also done lots of hand written views - the LA were gong to try and argue those views were not even my dd own views!!!! truth hurts I guess but that's how low they were prepared to go if it had gone to a proper hearing and no doubt will go if we go onto appeal again

Unbelievable. Going to be in exactly the same shoes as you soon.

Write everything the teacher told you down for evidence. What my ct said to me on parents Eve stood up in my appeal. No proof needed.

im just drained by it all - dd said today in the sats test papers she did a maths test where she has to listen - she got one question right. I just feel the world is against me at the moment - phone so many people for advice and no one so far got back to me. dd of for a trial at the school I want for her for secondary and you just know tomorrow is the day everyone will be phoning whilst im doing a 4 hour round driving trip.
the conversation with the teacher has upset me if im honest as clear the LA didn't even want to issue the statement despite the weight of evidence and that's probably behind what they are doing now and therefore the EHCP is going to be absolutely dire.

A truly dire EHCP is in your dd favour. It's a semi-ok one that would lose you the next Tribunal.

Your La being so very openly full of such bad faith and repeated dirty tricks is a very helpful feature. Imagine the horror of facing them at the next Tribunal if they were devious and competent. This way the judge is going to laugh them out of court.

Agree with Meir - remember you can't argue with stupid phone ipsea back - they told me they was getting me a tribunal rep but it was lost in the system. Even if you don't phone the tribunal line - just ask if it's deffinatly in their system

well just had the legal advice come back - I was right to lodge the appeal and they are coming back to me re the consent order as I am going to have to appeal that as well (not sure of the exact terminology but deffo have to challenge it) no such thing as a holding statement and I have the absolute right of appeal so thank you all the lovely people who have been advising me on here - your advice has been spot on as always. I have an awful feeling im on a one way ticket to judicial review

Can ipsea help represent you? I was lucky ( unlucky!) I have dyslexia so fitted criteria ( but ballsed up my paper work with lots of "does" instead of "doesn't" type things.

Good job the la never read it

ipsea still haven't come back to me so its one of the other charities who I contacted today and who has a solicitor work for them that have come back really quickly and advised me what to do next. I think my LA are going to explode when my appeal lands on their desk - I know it will be fast tracked for the hearing date but not sure if its fast tracked through the initial part as well when they log it on the system

Hi, which charity is that? Sounds like they know what they're doing.

its the other well known sen people who help parents - they now have a solicitor from MG working for them. she has just drafted my application to amend the order from the NIL appeal but im worried.

if I lodge an appeal against the consent order - then what ? what if the LA oppose it? the application is asking for the tribunal to order that a statement only should be issued. what if the LA argue against it and I end up with the tribunal saying lets hold a full NIL appeal then even thought the LA have issued a statement? I could get into an absolute mess but I guess I have to appeal the consent order and what happens to the appeal I have lodged in about the statement whilst I ask for the consent order to be amended??????

the application is really well written and open up the loopholes that are potentially hidden further down the line if I do nothing but time is running out for secondary and we know my LA will fight me every step of the way

Ask for the solicitor at MG to explain how they worked out the risk of delay against the benefit of winning the appeal

I have no idea what to do anymore - part of me thinks just withdraw the appeal I have in and let things take their course and let the LA do things really badly but theres a niggle in my head though that tells me the LA know something I don't/have a plan.

its just a huge mess really isn't it. I have a few days left so going to try and think about things. I have asked some more questions as well before I rush to do it plus there is still this 2nd final statement to come as well. if I leave everything alone they can only drag this out until 1st may

I think sendist really let you down. It might not be a clever game. They possibly just thought issue a rubbish statement - that bides them time to then issue a rubbish ehcp and you might give up fighting. Or they want you to appeal the ehcp knowing they can conceed the week before the hearing. From their point if view that's a good plan. They can dodge possibly seven further months of provision. All of which is totally legal and can't be held to account if they conceed last moment.

If your la are not geniuses. Like mine it's personal to your idiot of a rep.

I'm so mad for you

Surely if the LA oppose the consent order appeal they would have to take to position that the consent order stands? They have already issued a statement so they would have to argue over the EHCP bit? So you would be better off appealing.

I reckon the LA will quit before you do, they won't want the expense of an appeal to upper tribunal (or the workload). I suspect another final statement will be on its way once the appeal lands. Esp for sake of a few hours

Any risk of JR would make them think twice

It is going to look like they had contempt for the last tribunal - which isn't going to endear them to the next one!

Stay strong!

LA issues a statement which is basically the NIL but worse: they ignore the main issue, reduce the existing provision, and still haven't contacted you to get the 'parent' bit for the dubious EHCP assessment - it's not looking good for them.

Ideally this would go in front of the original judge for 'review' who will be professionally furious What does the lawyer say about 'change of circumstances'?

Worst case scenario even if you did end up with a NIL appeal, it'd be expedited and all this mucking about will go in the bundle.

I can't see you losing if they ask the LA "So why did you agree to statement then? So, you always planned to deny an EHCP?"

Is that SOS SEN?

Are they actually suggesting an appeal or just asking the tribunal to review? It's a two stage process: first someone has a look to see if there is something obviously unlawful, and if there is orders a review. That may be by the same panel or a different one, and I guess would mean a rehearing of your appeal which could happen quite quickly. I suspect that by that stage the LA would have had a think and would probably concede anyway, but the new hearing could happen quite quickly. If they don't order a review they go on to consider whether to grant an appeal, which would be slower, but I suppose at that stage you could just drop it.

But is there any reason why you couldn't have both a review and an appeal against the statement happening at the same time? It would make it even clearer that the whole thing is an utter mess.

Isn't the problem that they've only agreed to do an EHCP assessment? Therefore if they agree to issue an ECH Plan, they've then got some more time actually to produce that, and if it's the same rubbish as the statement that means you couldn't even begin an appeal until around June. If they don't agree to issue, it's even more delay.

I have appealed the 'holding statement' or whatever you would like to call it - that appeal is in.

im also being advised to ask for the decision contained in the consent order to be reviewed ie that the La issue a statement but names current primary and makes no reference in part 4 to secondary provsison and then to do an EHCP assessment by 1 may but if they don't issue the EHCP then I can appeal the holding statement.

so in theory I could have a review of last tribunal decision ongoing plus also an appeal against the statement at the same time whilst the LA consider their position re EHCP. the LA are also behind my back trying to get more assessments done ie another NHS SALT report - they've tried already to do that and the NHS SALT told them to go away so now they are trying to get the school to ask for it but school have told me as they need my permission so ive told the school to let the LA officer know that if she wants consent she needs to contact me directly and ask me first - so far there has been no further comment......

I would fax the Head NHS salt specifically witholding consent for any input without your prior discussion and authorisation (otherwise LA could simply go to SALT's boss and get classroom observation, comments on other reports etc- or ring you & say she's on site unexpectedly, so you look unreasonable for refusing contact).

The LA had a top barrister and you went alone? Tribunal maybe ought to have adjourned so you could check out what you were agreeing to

So your going to JR for the consent order and have to appeal contents separately? Bonkers