JohnDL Report post Posted March 4, 2011 Hi, Many thanks to all those people who gave me advice in the run up to our Appeal to Tribunal against the LEA's Wording of the Statement. Even without the support of a Lawyer at the Tribunal, we were able to get the wording we had originally requested. The two-hours per term SALT support from the LEA was replaced by a one-week per week support from an ASD-Specialist SALT. So after the 5 weeks allowed the Amended Statement did not turn up. After making a Complaint to the Council's Monitoring Officer the Statement was arrived on the 43rd day after the Tribunal. Everything that we had complained about in the LEA's original Statement was corrected in our favour in the Amended Text Ordered by the Tribunal Judge. When the LEA's amended Statement finally arrived, whilst the provision that we were after was included in the Statement, it does not match the Text that was ordered by the Judge and many things in the wording that we had complained about and had had removed have crept back into the LEA's version. Other specific text that we asked to be added that was agreed by the Tribunal has been taken out again. I quoted the Tribunal text to them "The Order of the Appeal Tribunal is binding on the LEA. The Authority has a duty to do what has been ordered." What do I do now? It seems to me that if I do not lodge an appeal against the wording within 15 days again, then I will have no right of appeal. If I do complain about the wording, then the LEA may refuse to provide the support. If I complain to the Ombudsman then this could take a year. I guess I could apply for an Injunction, but this is probably going to be very expensive. It seems to me that the LEA believe that they can flout the order of the Tribunal with impunity and adapt the wording to suit their own purposes to the detriment of my son's education. Has anyone else been through this situation? The LEA are really be unreasoable and probably acting illegally. Is there any chance I could recover my original costs (of the order of £5k including lost income) since at the moment we appear to have not got the what this expensive legal process was supposed to resolve? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sally44 Report post Posted March 4, 2011 This sounds like a clear case of Judicial Review. That would entail you appointing a solicitor (an SEN one). They usually require an up front fee of around £300-400 for them to put in the application for Judicial Review and as they are doing it for a minor there are no costs after that. So you would not have to pay anything else. The court would look at the Tribunal decision and order the LEA to comply. I'm sure others will give more advice. Make sure you keep to deadlines and don't lose that right by not putting in a complaint within the timescales. You can also speak with SEND and IPSEA about this, they should also advise you on what to do next, which I think will be the above. If the LEA are saying they do not have the SALT in house to carry this out, that is no excuse. The LEA HAVE TO PROVIDE the provison, and if they don't have it in-house or via the NHS, then they have to buy it in from a private SALT working in independent practice. Or the alternative is they name a placement that can meet that need, which would be an independent ASD school with fees of around £40,000+ per year. Compared to that cost, they will provide the SALT input. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JohnDL Report post Posted March 6, 2011 Very many thanks for the advice. How certain are you on the issue of there being no costs because it is on behalf of a minor? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Grace Report post Posted March 6, 2011 It is also my understanding that if you go for Judicial Review on behalf of a child, then legal aid is based on the child's income and not yours. Good starting point might be to either ring someone like SOS!SEN to see if they have a list of solicitors who do that kind of work or google special educational solicitors and see which ones cover this. From what I have read of other's experience, I would not be surprised that just a letter from a solicitor might do the trick, because they are on very dodgy ground. I understand your anger and frustration - get ringing on Monday; if you can get hold of someone, they might even advise you, in the first instance to threaten them with judicial review - I've even hinted at this before and got action as a result. Best Of luck! Grace Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kathryn Report post Posted March 6, 2011 Hi John So sorry to hear that after all your battles you're still having touble getting the LEA to comply. Makes a mockery of the whole system, doesn't it? However don't give up. As others have suggested, if it's a clear case of the LEA ignoring a Tribunal order, Judicial Review may be the best and quickest way to get this resolved. We started JR proceedings against our LEA on a different issue (transport to college) and they backed down very swiftly. See here for the details of what happened to us: http://www.asd-forum.org.uk/forum/Index.php?/topic/15250-k-vs-lea-the-rematch-begins/page__p__183945__hl__%2Bjudicial+%2Breview+%2Btransport__fromsearch__1#entry183945 You may not need to go all the way. What happens is a solicitor issues a pre- action protocol letter and this is sometimes enough. As others have said, a solicitor may charge for this (abou £500) before Legal Aid kicks in. We didn't actually have to pay anything. My daughter was technically an adult and it was based on her means. Depends on the law firm whether they will take it on or not. A solicitor will usually tell you over the phone for free whether they can do it, and whether you have a case. Check www.communitylegaladvice.org.uk for a guide to eligibility for legal aid, and advice on where/how to find a solicitor. If you pm me I can tell you who we used (they were brilliant!) and offer a couple of other suggestions. You need SEN specialists. K x Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sally44 Report post Posted March 6, 2011 Let us know what happens. AND DON'T MISS THE TIMESCALES. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JohnDL Report post Posted March 19, 2011 (edited) Ok, It's now sorted, although it has taken a further two weeks. I made a 2nd Complaint to the LA's Monitoring Officer on the fact that the Wording was not as ordered by the Tribunal and sent a copy to my Local Elected Councillor. The Monitoring Officer (typically the Council's Solicitor) has a legal duty to investigate any allegations that the Council has acted illegally. If the Council has acted illegally then a written Report must be circulated to all Elected Members of the Council. As a result of this, I got a grovelling e-mail from the LEA official involved (although I would not make any presumptions on the sincerity). I was then approached by someone else in Education Department regarding the wording. I made it plain that I wanted the exact wording as ordered by the Tribunal and that I would be scanning, OCR'ing and comparing any documents that they sent to me. It took a further three drafts of the Statement exchanged by e-mail to get it right, but finally on Thursday of this week they delivered the correct wording. I still had to twice request that they send me a signed hardcopy - otherwise arguably the previous version would still stand. It took a week for it to arrive. My advice on others after this experience is that, even after a Tribunal decision, the LEA may change the wording that has been ordered. If caught out they may put this down to Mistake, but if you don't catch it, then they get away with it - whether it's intentional or just plain incompetence on their part. Subtle changes to the wording may affect the (continuing) provision to your child. In my case the wording changes were pretty blatant. To anyone who trying to get an LEA to amend a Statement, I recommend the following: 1)Get some OCR software - it doesn't have to be the most recent - e.g. ScanSoft Omnipage version 15 is 5 years old and can be readily obtained on eBay for a few pounds. 2) Scan any documents into your computer as bitmaps, run the OCR on them, save them as Microsoft Word documents and then compare them in Microsoft Word. Edited March 19, 2011 by JohnDL Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sally44 Report post Posted March 19, 2011 Well done you for following through. There are many parents who do not know the legal requirements on the LEA, and LEAs often use this to their advantage. Some advice I would give you from my own experience of preparing my case for Tribunal, is (if and when needed), write to every single department and ask them what their staffing levels, qualifications, training are and ask for details of their input with your child - Data Protect Act etc too. I have discovered that within my LEA, OT provison is ceasing end March for children with Autism and NHS funding for Autism/Sensory issues is non-existent and the OT service is not putting forward a Business Plan to deliver services to this specific group of children. SpLD teacher input is ceasing from end March for children with literacy difficulties so there will be no-one at all. No teachers within the specialist teaching service or within the enhanced resource school have any ASD qualifications as it is not compulsory (whereas a qualification if you are teaching a blind child is compulsory). Because my sons school is classed as 'enhanced resource' the EP/Specialist Teaching service does not have any input into my sons' school (eventhough it is detailed in his Statement). I could go on and on, but the picture is clear. These details are useful to know when at a Tribunal with the LEA/School saying that "we will do everything we need to do" to fulfill the Statement and meet the needs of the child. Often this is not even possible because they do not have the skills, training or resources to meet those same requirements. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bid Report post Posted March 19, 2011 Well done John! My Statementing experience convinced me that LAs hope a certain percentage of parents will give up at each stage, and operate accordingly. You have to be persistent and meticulous in your approach to get the appropriate support. Having said that, I did find that our LA Ed Psych and our LA Out of County Placements Officer were extremely helpful, but I think the system as a whole is hugely flawed. Bid Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kathryn Report post Posted March 19, 2011 (edited) Well done John! However you should not have had to do this. It's bad enough having to go through the Tribunal process and parents should at least be able to have the confidence that the Tribunal directions will be carried out. You were obviously up to the challenge but what happens to children who don't have confident and articulate parents to fight for their rights? Having said that, I did find that our LA Ed Psych and our LA Out of County Placements Officer were extremely helpful, but I think the system as a whole is hugely flawed. As a complete aside, our helpful out of county placements officer changed jobs and became a somewhat less helpful SEN team manager, allegedly. K x Edited March 19, 2011 by Kathryn Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bid Report post Posted March 20, 2011 As a complete aside, our helpful out of county placements officer changed jobs and became a somewhat less helpful SEN team manager, allegedly. K x Oo-er!! That's a real pity... Bid Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BusyLizzie100 Report post Posted March 20, 2011 (edited) As a complete aside, our helpful out of county placements officer changed jobs and became a somewhat less helpful SEN team manager, allegedly. K x And now she's deputy SEN manager for the entire LA. I'd love to say more but feel I may break too many forum rules... Let's just say I'm not happy... Lizzie x Sorry, gone a bit ! Edited March 20, 2011 by BusyLizzie100 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bid Report post Posted March 20, 2011 (edited) Blimey!! Are you sure it's the same person?? She was really supportive and listened to me wibble and panic for endless phone calls when we were looking for a residential school, and in fact she suggested my son's residential special school... Bid ETA: it is the same person!! Edited March 20, 2011 by bid Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kathryn Report post Posted March 20, 2011 Maybe she was too nice to be an LEA officer and they took her away to be reprogrammed. K x Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bid Report post Posted March 20, 2011 Maybe she was too nice to be an LEA officer and they took her away to be reprogrammed. K x Mwahahaha!! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
