Decoding a proposed statement

[niminypiminy]

We've just got DS1's proposed statement through but now have to comment on it. I can see lots to say but the trickiest thing is that Cambridgeshire (where we are) don't put a number of hours support on until they issue the final statement.

I assume they write is some kind of code which does actually tell you how much support they propose to give (when I showed the EP report to the school's SENCO she said, oh, there are 9 points of SE needs there, that means two hours each). Obviously the LEA know the code but we don't .

Does anyone else have experience of this particular trick? What's the best way to frame our comments ? -- obviously we want to maximise his support but we just don't know the rules the LEA is playing by.

niminy,

Would suggest you run parts 2 and 3 (these are by far the most important parts) past an independent organisation like IPSEA www.ipsea.org.uk and or SOS;SEN and either will tell you what it really should say. Not PP as they can work far too closely with the LEA in question and are not fully independent of them.

re your comment:-
"Cambridgeshire (where we are) don't put a number of hours support on until they issue the final statement".

Yeah right, I do not think they are acting lawfully here if they do that. Once you agree the proposed statement it is damn nigh impossible to get anything added to it short of a rewrite. My guess is they will not put hours on it anyway so it has to be rejected.

Provision in statements has to be both specified and QUANTIFIED in a statement - if that is not there then reject it out of hand.

niminy, a proposed statement is exactly that. It is a chance for you to read and decide if it meets your child's needs. If they are withholding information, you can't assess whether you agree or not.

Start by simply phoning the case officer and say "I am a bit confused because I can't see how many hours support DS1 is allocated in the statement. Can you tell me, please?" Then go from there. If they won't tell you, or aren't planning to allocate any 1:1, then you know that you have to reject it regardless of anything else.

I phoned Ipsea and they said that witholding the no of hours is an increasingly common strategy. I did also talk to the case officer who simply said 'this is what we do' without any sense of it being up for negotiation.

Ipsea advised me to write my own proposed statement and send it back to them, so I guess that's the way forward.

Mind you, I had to laugh when DH said 'just one last push' as if when we've done this it'll all be sorted out