Broken SEND

 I have posted before about how the Local Authority's (LA) behaviour can be interpreted as 'playing games'.  Possibly a game of tennis with each side hitting the ball back over the net.   I put in two complaints about the Council relating to my son't special education. The first was in relation to last year's EHCP and their failure to secure education that was specified in the plan.  Some of this was because the plan was so badly written that nobody can understand that the provision actually is.  And some of this because their provider has failed to deliver it. The council responded with a very cursory response to my detailed complaint.  I therefore escalated it to a stage 2 complaint in the hope that it would be raised to a more senior level in the LA than the people I deal with and, essentially, who I was complaining about. Stage 2 takes me down the road towards being able to escalate outside of the LA to the Local Government Ombudsman.  Remembe...

 This is a more technical post than others and digs into legislation around Special Education Needs for children who are unable to access school or college.  The acronym is the somewhat unweildy EOTAS (Education Other Than At School). Section 61 of the Children and Families Act 2014 basically states that a LA is premitted to specify education provision outside of school or post-16 institution.  And states that before doing so, the LA has to consult the child's parent or the young person (without any need to take into consideration their views). If this were the end of the story it would pretty much give the LA unlimited powers in this area.  Thankfully, this broad section is modified by the SEND regulations also in 2014 and modified in 2018. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2014/1530/contents The SEND regulations is the basis for the SEND Code of Practice which is the framework within the LA must act in delivering SEND provision. Enough of the legal stuff!  F...