is this a good sign

[Onmyownwith4kids]

In midst of appeal for a specialist placement for my son..LA have just sent a message asking if I would agree to transport if they name the School I am appealing for. I had previously said I would happily organise this to save them money. At the moment they have been unable to find a school of their own to meet needs. This is the first glimmer of hope that I may not have to face another tribunal..Has anyone else got them to concede by agreeing to transport..Feeling quite optimistic but don't want to be disappointed

I would think the LA are worried. They know they aren't going to win so are now trying to save themselves transport costs. Personally, if you have a strong case I wouldn't agree, committing to transport for the whole time DS attends to school is a big ask, who knows how your circumstances will change.

thankyou for the advice..They don't have a case at the moment as they have been unable to find their own School despite approaching one three times! The transport would be a struggle but it would only be on a Monday and Friday and could make it work just to stop this carrying on. Now though the School have emailed me to tell me that the LA have been in touch to ask what a day place would cost instead of a weekly boarder. Wondering what they are up to or whether they need to do this to work out how much boarding fees are..It's actually a very good value placement and boarding fees would be much less than transport.

We had this - I agreed to transport M/F for a mileage payment. I could have pushed it to tribunal but decided (as we were self funding the school during appeal) that the extra terms fees to go all the way to tribunal outweighed additional costs for taxi plus my DD would likely have refused a taxi Mon am at least.

However, our LA milage rate is good and I calculated it would cover just over 50% of the taxi fee if I were ever unable to transport. If yours is under 45p a mile insist of 45p a mile.

Literally 2 weeks after final EHCP was issued with the school named, I broke my foot. Had to use a taxi and had to pay the additional £40 per day as LA stuck to my agreement that I'd drive.

If you aren't close to the tribunal date or are self funding now, you might decide to say yes but if you couldn't cover taxi's or find a friend to drive when you can't, be careful. You are committing for the whole time he is at the school.

The tribunal was at the end of September but has been brought forward to early August which the LA will be most unhappy about. I am worried if I say no to funding transport I could risk going to tribunal and losing altogether if they come up with something at the last minute. I suppose they would not be talking like this though if they were confident they had a case

If the LA don't have a placement to name and transport is going to be a struggle I wouldn't agree. They are panicking. I think they are working out whether it's cheaper to offer a day place with transport or boarding, or working out where the tipping point between compatible and incompatible with efficient use of public funds compared to a placement they are planning to put on the table.

Whatever they're up to it's terribly stressful..They've been looking for a School for months and not come up with anything. Now they've only got three and a half weeks until the final evidence deadline. They were expecting to have until the end of August. I am assuming that they are going to have to name a School in their final evidence..Can they go all the way to tribunal with no named School?

Yes, they can. Im pretty sure a poster on here had their hearing adjourned last year when the LA didn't have a mainstream to put forward.

@10brokengreenbottles

Yes, they can. Im pretty sure a poster on here had their hearing adjourned last year when the LA didn't have a mainstream to put forward.

Yes I remember that case too. The parent won their case in the end.

The school the LA comes up with has to be suitable and meet all of your child's needs. If it doesn't any argument about efficient use of resources is dead in the water. They have to be comparing like with like.

It's so incredibly frustrating..Two weeks after asking if I would do transport and me agreeing I have heard nothing. I have emailed and left messages and there is no School on the ehcp. My son has to listen to all his friends talking about where they are going to Secondary and he has no confirmed place. I am beginning to think I should just tell them to forget about my offer of transport and go to tribunal. They have no case and no School at the moment and the final evidence date is in two weeks. The transport would be hard for me but I agreed as I thought it would mean a quick resolution. Just wondering if they could realistically win a tribunal with no School and no alternative. All their options have said no but they are going back to one for a third consultaion..Will a tribunal really agree to a placement that have clearly been bullied into it

Stop waiting for the LA to do the right thing. LAs engage in delaying tactics all the time. Withdraw your offer and push on with the appeal .

If your school is wholly independent, focus on proving why it's the only school that can meet needs. If it's the only school that can meet needs, the LA will have to provide transport.

Do you have independent reports?

I have got some great independent reports..Even the LAa own reports don't back their case and the consultation responses all say he needs a specialist placement..I am not sure why they are taking such a weak case all the way to tribunal, He is a bright boy with the literacy skills of a five year old..His mental health is suffering, He has become depressed and resentful. The LA ep and my own ep say if this trajectory continues he will end up illiterate and with real mental health problems. He needs somewhere that can cope with his severe dyslexia and there is absolutely nothing around here whcih is why he would need to go as a weekly boarder in the next county..I have tried so hard to find mainstream provision but it does not exist and I have all the evidence to prove it,,It is More House I am appealing for and they are the only School I have found that can meet his needs and have responded positively to the ehcp consultation..everyone else has said no. Can they find another option do you think at this late stage..the Schools break up soon..Are they allowed to consult other options without telling me

Unfortunately, even though the law doesn't allow them to consult for ages and ages, LAs do consult well past the 20 week period to save money. They will keep looking for somewhere cheaper. If they can hold of finalising til mid August they will save a terms fees.

If they haven't named the school you want, just insist they finalise so you can start your appeal. Even if they finalise without a named school you can appeal. In my case despite having a draft in early July and two yes consults with the 15 days, they consulted all the way through the holidays finally naming somewhere inappropriate but cheaper on 4th September. I wish I had kept insisting they finalise, even without a named school as my tribunal date would have been in December and not February.

Your situation sounds a nightmare. Fortunately having been through two tribunals to get the ehcp I was on to their games and got the plan finalised with no School straight away.

It was finalised in March and I immediately appealed. I got a sendist date for October but managed to get it brought forward to August which they were not happy with but they were overuled as it is a transition appeal.

I am just so worried what they are going to come up with in the next two weeks, There is now a new and much earlier evidence deadline they have to meet, I assume once they have submitted their final case to the tribunal they can not consult further. At least there should be some resolution in the next two weeks but I am so stressed and worried about what they are up to. It amazes me that they go to so many tribunals but don;t seem to bother to put together a good case they can win

I have got some great independent reports..Even the LAa own reports don't back their case and the consultation responses all say he needs a specialist placement.

A poster last year was in a similar situation and her LA EP did back their case and the parent still won. Hopefully you should be ok.

I am not sure why they are taking such a weak case all the way to tribunal

LAs do this all the time. It is a delaying tactic that wastes time to avoid having to pay out straight away.

In our last appeal the LA had a barrister lined up to fight a case that didn't hold water. They were trying to remove our son from a specialist autism placement where he was halfway through a number of courses. They didn't have a viable alternative locally.

They had three pieces of "evidence" from other providers saying they couldn't meet needs. They conceded a week before the appeal. Hopefully yours will do the same.

I know it is incredibly stressful. And even though you can see your evidence points to the school you want, you constantly think, "What if... what if..."

It is disgraceful what LAs put parents through.

But it is good that you have an August hearing, instead of having to wait until October, which means a lot less time for the LA to consult! Who cares if the LA is not happy?

Yes we had that @Ellie56, our LA presented "evidence" consisted of an EP report saying that their named school couldn't meet needs and an independent report they commissioned (and conveniently told me the week before that it never was commissioned in the hope they could lose it I'm sure) that said all the needs I was asserting were real, oh and yes she still had ASD and Anxiety!

They also had a barrister lined up but rang to offer a deal the day after the EP report came in and conceded a few days later.