SEND to reimburse expenses

[Sally44]

As some may know, we had our Appeal date cancelled twice, and it actually took place on the third date set.

 

However the significant delays meant that reports were over 20 months old, and the Judge had Ordered that no reports over 18 months could be included in the Core Bundle.

 

So we had to get independent reports again, at great expense.

 

Anyway I complained about it afterwards and SEND told me they do not reimburse costs.

 

So I lodged an appeal to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, who guided me through the complaints procedure.

 

SEND agreed to reimburse me for part of the costs, but I turned down that offer.

 

They've come back and agreed to pay all reimbursements, which I have agreed.

 

So nice to see you can win sometimes. All costs paid - which is a significant sum. Looking forward to receiving the cheque and paying off some debts.

 

So don't be put off if you think you have a case for them to answer. I found the PHSO much better than the LGO.

Edited June 22, 2012 by Sally44

[bjkmummy]

thats good news sally - such a shame though its taken you a while to get it but good you got there in the end

[Sally44]

TBH, I wasn't going to complain, because everyone said I would not get reimbursed. But it was such alot of money, and additional money on top of what we had already paid out. It is over £6K. So not a small figure.

 

They initially refused, and told me to take my complaint to the PHSO, which I did, and they said I had a case, but that I needed to write to a certain person first, so that I had exhausted all the channels within SEND to reimburse me. And then they would take up my case.

 

They intially offered me around £2K, but I refused to accept that, and detailed/explained exactly why I should be reimbursed for each and every item I had listed. And they replied and said they agreed.

 

So, if you have a good case, it is worth asking for reimbursement.

 

I think our case was quite unique because we had 3 appeal dates. And after the 1st appeal date was cancelled we had a Telephone Case Management Hearing, where a Judge ruled that no documentation should be in the Core Bundle if it was over 18 months old, and they also ordered that I carried out alot of work regarding the Bundle of papers. I had to take it all apart [about 4000 pages], I had to separate it into a Core and Supplementary Bundle [and the SEND Bundle is double sided copied, so we had to photocopy each page separately as some pages contained documents that went into the Core Bundle on one side and the Supplementary Bundle on the other. We had to produce an Index that cross referenced each page from the orignal Bundle to their new page numbers in either the Core or Supplementary Bundle and we had to repaginate all the new Bundle, and photocopy it to the LA/SEND/and my expert witnesses [ie. 10 copies of 4000 pages]. That in itself took 3 people working 24 hours straight through the day and night to sort out and cost about £2K.

 

I argued that the taking apart, photocoping and distribution of the Bundle was SEND's remit, and that it was completely impossible for a parent to have sorted that out themselves with a home computer and printer. And that it was a cost I should not have had to bear.

 

At this Case Management Hearing the Judge set the 2nd Appeal date. This was cancelled with less than 24 hours notice and caused me to bear the cancellation fees of the Occupational therapist.

 

And that when the 2nd Appeal was cancelled, that meant that the new 3rd Appeal Date caused all my independent reports to become over 18 months old and had to be moved into the Supplementary Bundle [as per SEND's Order], and therefore I had to have new reports commissioned for those reports to be in the Core Bundle. Which SEND accepted I had to do and that it was their fault I had to shoulder these additional expenses.

 

So now waiting for the cheque.

Edited June 22, 2012 by Sally44

[mousytrap]

And too right too... Well done for being persistent about that. Sounds like it was a complete and utter shambles this time last year.

[Sally44]

I cannot even begin to explain the pressure. Son out of school and self harming. No money for solicitor, so having to prepare Appeal myself. Appeal cancelled twice. Having to pay for independent reports, and some additional ones twice [and had to borrow money to do that].

 

I really could not believe it when they cancelled for the second time. They gave me less than 24 hours. Some of my attendees had already booked hotels and travelled there. Many did not pass on the costs to me, because they knew I could not pay them anyway.

 

It was an absolute farce, and I was so worried that all this would prejudice my son's case. In the end, the appeal taking place at the beginning of year 6 actually helped our case because by then we could prove that he would not go back to his primary placement, and that they could not meet his needs, so we could seek an immediate move to an independent ASD specific school.

 

I suppose the story behind this story is that whoever you are dealing with, the first response is usually being refused or ignored. But if you are persistent, and thorough, and you do have a case, then you are often successful in the end.

 

So from SEND saying they don't reimburse at all, to agreeing to a part reimbursement, to finally agreeing the total reimbursement, is a huge difference. And I nearly gave up when they simply refused to reimburse. I was just so tired of it all. So from this point of view most organisations are he same, using refusal to weed out those people that are not prepared to take it further.

 

Anyway, if I can do it, other parents can too. But it will depend on the merits of your case.

Edited June 24, 2012 by Sally44

[Athena]

Sally, that's great news! Well done to you for persevering and what a nightmare you have been through!

[Grace]

Sally, have not been on for a while, but so glad I did to read this!

 

Good for you and just a shame that you can't claim really for the additional stress.

 

I always like to read about justice being done, but it really should not be that hard.

 

Not heard of that ombudsman before - will definitely take a look for future reference!

 

Hope the cheque is swift and you take a least a small amount out to celebrate!