Annual review called by LA

[Athena]

The LA have arranged an Annual Review of DD's Statement, which is an amended Statement after winning our SENDIST Tribunal two months ago.

 

What a waste of time and effort then, to now have an AR, especially as some of the provision in the Statement hasn't been provided.

 

I really don't know how to approach it, in terms of writing our parental views. From my experience of the LA, I believe that they will be using the AR to reduce or remove the very good provision that we won at the Tribunal.

 

Has anyone else experience of an Annual Review so soon after winning their Tribunal? Any advice on the approach to take?

[Grace]

Hi Athena,

 

Could it simply be that you are due an Annual Review?

 

9.2 'When a statement is amended following an annual review, the date of the next annual review should continue to be determined according to the date on which the statement was made or reviewed rather than the date on which it was amended' i.e. Is it coming up to 12 months since your last AR? If so they are legally obliged to have an AR.They might not be up to anything.

 

Also if they should 'try anything' you would have the right of appeal and they would be hard pushed to be able to demonstrate that in two months there had been a significant change or development which is what they need to be able to show, in order to amend it again.

 

I understand your concern, but hope they are just having it because they have to.

 

Best Wishes

 

Grace/x

[Athena]

Thanks Grace, yes that does make sense, the Annual Review is within 12 months of the original Statement that we appealed against, so I guess that legally they have to have an AR.

 

It is just that my experience of the LEA has been less than positive and it has made me very cynical about their motives.

[Sally44]

I would phone IPSEA for their advice on the fact that the school/LEA have not provided the provision in the Statement, and the fact that you now have an AR coming up.

 

You need to get the provision in the Statement asap, afterall the provision detailed in the Statement is only really guaranteed for one years duration because it could be taken away or reduced at any Annual Review. If an emergency review or a re-assessment is called then it might not even last that long.

 

Although any amendment does mean you have the right of appeal, it will mean that your reports are now older than the AR reports. If those AR reports contradict your reports they may amend and just say you have the right of appeal, which you do. But it is a cynical way for an LEA/school to manage a Statement. Equally they may not make any amendments.

 

I think the main question is whether you wait until the AR for provision to be put in place. How old is the Statement now, what provision has not been put in place and how it that provision 'worded' in the Statement?

 

I don't know if the LEA could/would use the AR as a way of getting out of non-compliance. Ethically it is too soon for them to try to amend or remove provision they have not currently provided. However I am sure they could do it if they wanted to.

 

If they do amend you do have the right of appeal, but it would leave you in a position where the most up to date reports were from the LEA/NHS and not your independent reports, if you have any.

 

As it is relatively close to the first tribunal your previous reports around probably about a year old? SEND told me that they DO consider reports that are over a year old to be relevent. The woman at SEND said "children with complex needs tend not to change overnight". She also added "we frequently see children who have not had any reports carried out for more than 4 years".

 

So if you did have to go to tribunal again you could still use your old reports. SEND also told me that you can submit your previous Statement as part of your appeal to demonstrate the provision it used to contain compared with the Statement you are appealing about. Which is useful to know.

 

In my experience the LEA is often unaware of what school is doing and professionals are unaware of what the LEA has agreed in Statements. So it is only when you complain about non-compliance that the LEA becomes involved and has to respond. So amendments may not be on the cards.

 

You need to go into school now and sit down with the Head or SENCO and go through the Statement item by item (with someone with you) and get the school to tell you how and when they will put it all in place. You need to do this to get a good idea of how the school INTERPRETS the Statement and what they think they need to do to fulfill it.

 

If the school says something like "although the Statement says your daughter will receive specialist teaching, the LEA does not have a SPLD teacher that goes into the schools - we can phone her for advice" etc - then the Alarm bells should start to ring. The provision in the Statement is legally binding. So if your daughter's Statement says she "will be seen by a SPLD teacher", or that "the SPLD will go into school", then that is what has to happen. And the LEA has to fund that. So look carefully at the wording and check it with IPSEA for their opinion on the legal interpretation of the wording.

 

School may have to apply for additional funding over delegated funding to support the Statement. Whether your child has to wait for provision until this extra funding is agreed - I don't know - but IPSEA will. In my experience apply for extra funding takes months.

 

What you don't want to do is to keep giving them time.

 

So I would go into school and go through the Statement to see what the school says. Have someone with you who can go through the Statement with you and also make notes. My solicitor said that I should do that immediately after it was finalised. I did go into school and the SENCO did tell me how they would fulfill it. And then the school simply did not do it. So even after you have their interpretation of it, you need to see physical evidence that it is happening in school.

 

If you are trying to keep tabs of if and when professionals are going into school then ask each professional for a list of termly dates that they will be seeing your daughter. So if the Statement says weekly 1:1 sessions with the SPLD, it is not unreasonable to ask the SPLD for those termly dates. If you feel awkward, say you want them so that you don't arrange any other appointments, such as dentist visits, on the dates she intends to go into school.

 

In our area we have an independent service provider for the more severely disabled children called "The Lighthouse". Through that organisation there is an independent parent supporter who has agreed to help me and will come to meetings with the school/LEA and she has said she will come to tribunal with me. So see if there is an organisation in your area that has someone who can do that and who is more independent that the Parent Partnership and who is experience in dealing with children with complex SEN and their Educational Provision.

 

The only other option that is available now, before the AR, is judicial review. Again ask IPSEA about this as an option and also what procedures you need to have gone through before you apply for Judicial Review ie. I believe you have to notify the LEA of non-compliance issues. What happened in my case was I notified them of those issues and a week later I received a letter saying they wanted to re-assess from the beginning.

 

It isn't easy is it! And although the SEN system is supposed to work for our children, there are just too many ways that the LEAs legal department can find of getting out of producing a Statement or providing the provision in a Statement.

 

I am sure you are worried. That is how it makes you feel. But TBH, if the LEA wants to behave badly there is little you can do to stop them. So try not to worry too much until something happens.

 

Concentrate on the non-compliance issues so far.

Edited October 1, 2010 by Sally44