General SEN Advice & Support

The SEN system has long been considered by some to be akin to a “maze” or “minefield”. The successful navigation depending on your knowledge of the system and your ability to challenge the decisions of local authorities.

At SEN4You you no longer have to navigate a maze or minefield when dealing educational settings or your local authority. We can help you to avoid getting into such a situation by providing you with pro-active advice and support.

Our approach is to seek the early identification and resolution of disputes without you incurring unnecessary legal fees and the prospects of an appeal to the SEN Tribunal or progressing a complaint.

We deal with a wide range of education matters including:

Disputes with Local Authorities

Increasing numbers of parents and carers are entering into disputes with local authorities about a range of SEN related matters. We provide general advice to parents and carers and on a wide range of areas including, but not limited to the following:

Advice on when to seek an Education, Health and Care Needs Assessment;
The timescales by which local authorities must make decisions and what to do when they fail to do so;
Advice on the contents of Education, Health and Care Plans;
Changing schools or the educational setting;
Non-implementation of a child or young person’s EHC Plan;
Education Otherwise than at School for a child or young person;
Challenging the support provided by health and social care services;
How to approach and manage the Annual review process where your son/daughter has an Education, Health and Care Plan;
Your entitlement to receive a personal budget for children and young people with Education, Health and Care Plans;
Complaints to the Local Government Ombudsman where the local authority has failed to properly administer your son/daughter’s Education, Health and Care Plan; and
Using disagreement resolution services to resolve disputes with schools or the local authority.

If you have concerns about your child’s education and would like advice and support you can arrange an initial consultation with us and we are able to talk through the issue with you and what options you may have open to resolve. To arrange an initial consultation contact us directly.

Disputes with Educational Settings

We provide general advice to parents and carers and on a wide range of areas including, but not limited to the following:

Management of special educational needs by the setting;
Exclusions from schools;
Admissions disputes;
Disability discrimination;
Managed moves;
School Attendance difficulties; and
Complaints.

Education, Health and Care Plan CONSULTATION

An Education, Health and Care Plan is a legal document and should be drafted “like a prescription” clearly setting out the support that your child should receive. This may cover things like:

The number of hours of support specified.
The interventions that are to be used.
The therapeutic provision that is to be provided.

If you cannot “add up” the number of hours of support provided, then the EHC Plan is probably not a lawful document and will not be much use for your child.

If you have concerns about the quality of your child’s Education, Health and Care Plan we offer a 1 hour consultation where we go through it with you and provide advice on areas where it could be improved and challenged further.

What we do during the ehc plan consultation

We will arrange a virtual meeting with you to discuss the EHC Plan.
This can take place at a time convenient for you and we regularly hold consultations on weekends or after normal working hours.
We will consider all relevant paperwork in advance, which are usually the appendices to the EHC Plan.
We will consider what changes should be made to the EHC Plan and identify areas you may wish to challenge.

COST of our ehc plan consultation

The initial consultation costs £100 (+ VAT).
A typical consultation lasts for an hour.
Once the consultation is complete we will advise you on your legal options.
We can provide ongoing advice and support should you require it.