Reply To: Query about a student with EHCP changing provision

[Catherine]

Yes, hold an emergency annual review and invite the caseworker from the LA. Also invite specialists involved eg. Educational Psychologist, speech and language therapist and ensure you’ve spoken with them before so as far as possible they are supporting the view that a change of placement is needed. It will also be much smoother if a change of placement is the parental preference too. Don’t accept the LA saying that all suitable provisions are full, this isn’t a reason not to give a child suitable provision, if a child meets the criteria eg. for special school placement the LA need to look for this even if it involves looking out of borough. If the Local Authority does not change the named placement after the emergency annual review I would check if it is possible to go to mediation / Tribunal. I know this is possible at the time an EHCP is first issued if parents do not agree with the named placement and also if parents don’t agree with the secondary school named for transfer at the end of Year 6 there is a window where mediation / Tribunal can be applied for. I am not sure about the position on this following the re-issue of a plan after an annual review. Worth checking the position as I have found LAs more inclined to move their position through mediation or once a Tribunal date is in place, I’ve gone to mediation more than once and always got the outcome we wanted and have also put in for quite a few Tribunals and never actually got as far as the hearing as the LA has always conceded beforehand.