New right of appeal announced - UPDATE

[Kathryn]

Heartening news: parents will now get the right to appeal if the LEA refuse to change statement after annual review. About time too - this has been a major flaw in the process and hugely unjust.

 

Well done IPSEA and all organisations who have campaigned for this change! It should make a big difference.

 

Not up on the IPSEA website yet but see press release below:

 

 

 

PRESS RELEASE Monday 3 August 2009

Parents get new right of appeal over special needs

IPSEA, the national charity for parents of children with special educational needs, welcomes Ed Balls’s speedy response to the Lamb Inquiry’s recommendations announced today.

IPSEA especially welcomes the new right of appeal over statements of special educational needs (a legal document setting out the help the child must receive), which will fill a gap in the current law. The new right of appeal will mean that parents can get the help their children require when they need it, instead of having to go through an updating process that can take at least six months, and much longer if councils drag their feet. Jane McConnell, IPSEA’s chief executive, said today:

“The new appeal right means councils will have to ensure the statement stays live, that it describes the child’s current difficulties in learning and sets out what support the child must receive. The statement must be updated to fit the child not merely when it is first written, which can be when the child was three or four years old, but throughout their school career.

Parents have had huge difficulties getting statements changed even when their child’s school and other education experts are recommending changes. LEAs have avoided changes when the child needs more help because it means more expense, but now parents can challenge this refusal.”

IPSEA has been campaigning for this right to be included in law over the last year, and is pleased to see the Lamb Inquiry taking it forward in their latest report.

Notes for editors

1 IPSEA (the Independent Panel for Special Education Advice) is the largest national charity advising parents of children with special educational needs. It is IPSEA’s experience of advising on the real problems parents face that motivates our campaigning work.

2 The new right will allow parents to appeal if the council refuses to change their child’s statement of special educational needs following an annual review. Statements must be reviewed formally at least annually. At the moment, parents have a right of appeal when the Local Education Authority (LEA) changes the statement following the review, but no right if the council makes no changes. Instead, they have to request statutory reassessment of the child’s special needs, a process which takes six months. But during this process the LEA can refuse reassessment and can refuse to amend the statement at the end of it – if the LEA does both, the parent may not be able to appeal against a refusal to amend the statement until a year after the annual review revealed a need for the change.

3 The Lamb Inquiry recommendations and the letter from the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and families are at:

http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/lambinquiry/

[call me jaded]

Good innit?

 

They're also putting SEN into OFSTED inspection criteria (and a whole load of strings tied onto it).

[Kathryn]

Here's the text of Balls's speech - I've split it up myself into bits which I hope make coherent sense:

 

Being a parent of a child with special education needs or a disability can be hugely frustrating. Over the past two years I've met many headteachers and teachers who are passionate about making sure these children progress. But too often parents tell me they still have to fight the "system" to get the high-quality provision their kids need and deserve. That's why, last year, I asked Brian Lamb to lead an independent inquiry into how we improve parental confidence in the assessment system for children with Special Educational Needs (SEN). His interim report today sets out two key recommendations which we will implement.

 

First, in response to concerns raised by all too many frustrated parents, we will strengthen their appeal rights if they are unhappy with their child's statement of SEN. Parents will now have a new right of appeal if their child's statement has been reviewed but not amended by the local authority. So if parents feel their children's needs have changed but have not been picked up, they will be able to demand that it is looked at again.

 

And second, following campaigning by John Bercow in his last months as a Conservative backbencher, we will now change the law so that all schools are inspected on how they support children with SEN and disabilities. Making the achievements of these children a top priority for Ofsted inspectors, alongside the extra funding and guidance we are giving to schools, will help to ensure that children with SEN and disabilities realise their full potential. I am determined to move support for children with SEN to the centre of education policy. Getting pupils with SEN the help they need is a moral imperative: by working together we can remove the barriers which hold some children back and stop them succeeding. And when you consider that 70 per cent of young offenders and two-thirds of excluded children have a special educational need, this is vital to any vision of a fair and cohesive society. But as we will see when the primary school results are published tomorrow, making sure children with SEN get a better deal is not just an add-on: it's also core to the school standards agenda.

 

We should celebrate the fact that extra investment in schools, more teachers and teaching assistants has delivered real progress over the last 12 years. Over 100,000 more 11 year olds are reaching the expected level in English and in maths than in 1997, with standards now rigorously monitored by the new independent watchdog Ofqual. Children with SEN have made faster progress in recent years: from just one in three getting to the expected level in English six years ago to around 45 per cent today. But while we are all impatient to go further and faster, as the number of children not getting to the expected level becomes smaller it becomes harder to make progress. Despite the big improvements in outcomes for children with SEN, it's a stark fact that of those 20 per cent of children not getting to the expected standard – level 4 – in English over two-thirds have a special educational need. Of course, for some children with very severe learning disabilities, getting to level 4 by the age of 11 is too high a threshold for success. And not getting to this level does not mean, as some commentators will claim, that these children "cannot read or write". Most of them absolutely can – but not at the level we'd like them to reach by the end of primary school. Raising standards and ensuring all children succeed means we must intervene early, not wait until it's too late. We need to identify children's additional needs early on and act quickly to give them extra support. That's why we are training 4,000 new specialist dyslexia teachers. And all children falling behind at primary school in any of the 3Rs will be able to get one-to-one and small group tuition.

 

We also need to ensure that how a school delivers for its most disadvantaged children is a crucial part of how a school's performance is judged. It's no good having great average results when some children are left behind and not given the support they need to fulfil their potential. So our new School Report Card will give parents a fuller picture than the traditional and rather narrow league tables printed in the newspapers. National curriculum tests at 11 – whether in their current form or the new "stage not age" tests currently being piloted – are the only reliable and objective measure of how individual primary schools are performing and provide vital information to parents. But the Report Card is being introduced because we want schools to be recognised for more than just the overall test and exam results, the average result of the average child. I know these tests are controversial with some headteachers. But I do hope this week that the debate will not simply be about the testing system itself. What really counts is that we act to make sure every child can succeed and ensure schools are accountable for the progress of every child. Today's Lamb Inquiry report is an important step forward for thousands of parents and children. But we will need to go even further in the coming months if we are to really give every child with a special educational need or a disability the best start in life. Ed Balls is the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families

[daniels-mum]

I am determined to move support for children with SEN to the centre of education policy. Getting pupils with SEN the help they need is a moral imperative

 

I love that part of the speech, I will be quoting it left, right and centre, and from a government minister aswell!

 

Thanks Kathryn for posting this for us to read xx

 

[Gavin]

Fantastic news / About time too!

 

My son used to attend a school that scored 'Outstanding' on all OFSTED measures. The Head Teacher and other staff were capable, well intentioned and highly motivated. Yet there was a marked lack of understanding of SEN and associated responsibilities and procedures. HTs' priorities are driven at least in part by the desire to achieve well in OFSTED inspections. Making SEN provision part of this is sure to raise standards and improve understanding.

 

The additional right to appeal following annual review is also very welcome, although doesn't apply to us quite yet as we are still in the Statutory Assessment period, awaiting a draft statement.

 

Thanks for posting this information.

 

All the best

 

Gavin

[Daisydot]

Thanks Kathryn, thats excellent news. Our LA have refused two years running to amend our son's statement, where his current school have made one small recommendation to do with him having access to ICT. Lets hope that some more recommendations The Lamb Enquiry will make (hopefully) get as quick a response. I certainly gave evidence.

Edited August 23, 2009 by Daisydot

[dana]

Thanks, Kathryn. It is indeed a very good news.

I just wonder, is this only about primary schools or they refer it to secondary schools as well? I am not sure since most of the time they mention only primary school SEN children.

 

Danaxxx

[Kathryn]

Hi Dana,

 

The new appeal rights and inspection of SEN apply to both primary and secondary schools. The statementing system and appeals process is the same at both stages of education.

 

K x

 

 

[Daisydot]

Well, would you believe it, I think Mr Lamb's interim recommendations are working already ......

 

I received correspondence from the LA this morning agreeing to amend my son's statment (as previously posted), at Annual Review the school had recommended one small change to the statement two years running and the LA had refused to amend the statement. AND I hadnt even written to badger them since the recommendations came out.

 

Am I dreaming or is this a result?

 

Roll on the rest of the Lamb Enquiry recommendations ......

[Kathryn]

The bill has just been given its first reading in parliament. Let's hope it becomes law before the next election.

 

See clauses 7 and 8:

 

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/c...8.8-14.html#o01

 

K x

[Sally44]

Is it not law yet??

I've got an AR coming up next year and feared the statement will not be amended. This gives me hope.

Hope it gets through parliament.

[Kathryn]

No, not law yet. I'm not exactly sure of the process but it takes a while to get it on the statute books, does anyone know how long? I think the bill has a second reading and then it goes to the Lords and then back to the Commons - is that right?

 

K x