SEN & EHCP Solicitors

What is the process for securing SEN support?

Our SEN lawyers can intervene at any stage to provide crucial legal assistance.

• School SEN Support: Initially, the school should meet the child’s needs through SEN Support from its own resources, following the ‘Assess, Plan, Do, Review’ cycle.
• Request for an EHC Needs Assessment: If the school-based support is insufficient, a request for an assessment is made to the Local Authority (LA). This is the first formal step towards obtaining an EHCP.
• The Assessment Phase: If the LA agrees to assess, professional advice from education, health, and care professionals is gathered over 16 weeks.
• Drafting the EHCP: If the evidence shows a plan is necessary, the LA issues a draft, allowing parents to propose amendments and request a specific placement.
• Final EHCP and Appeals: The LA issues the final EHCP. If you disagree with the decision or the content, you have the right to appeal to the SEND Tribunal.
• Representation at Key Meetings: We can attend and support you at important meetings throughout the process, including mediation meetings, annual reviews, and multi-agency meetings such as Child in Need (CIN) meetings, Multi-Disciplinary Meeting (MDT), meetings with the school, ensuring your child’s needs are clearly presented and effectively advocated for.

Obtaining an EHCP

Obtaining an EHCP can be challenging, as LAs often refuse requests based on budget or perceived sufficiency of school-based support. Our EHCP solicitors can help from the very first step, ensuring you get right educational provision for your child. This is a legal document setting out their special educational needs, health needs, social care needs and educational provision, enabling you to hold your LA accountable for providing the correct educational package.

Without an EHCP, it is difficult to be clear about what your child’s special needs are and what provision they need.

Our special educational needs solicitors assist in obtaining an EHCP for your child by:

• Reviewing all existing evidence and advice.
• Identifying weaknesses in the LA’s decision-making.
• Helping you secure independent reports from Educational Psychologists and other specialists to overwhelmingly support the necessity of the EHCP.

What if my child has an EHCP already?

Our SEN Solicitors will scrutinise it and help you to ask key questions. Is the provision clear, specific and quantified? Does it fully describe your child’s needs? Does it contain all the provisions they need to progress? If not, you may find it challenging to ensure that your child receives the education they truly need.

We can check your plan, advise on its effectiveness and provide you with advice on how to get changes made to the EHCP or appeal an EHCP on your behalf if necessary.

What should schools have in place to support my child’s SEN?

Before an EHCP is issued, schools are legally obligated to provide adequate support through SEN Support, utilising their existing budget. This involves a continuous ‘Assess, Plan, Do, Review’ cycle in which schools identify needs, implement targeted interventions, and regularly evaluate their effectiveness. This support must be thoroughly documented and monitored.

If your child is not making progress despite school interventions, our SEN support solicitors can help you bridge the gap between school-based support and a formal statutory assessment.

How can I find out about the support my child or young person is entitled to?

• If your child has a final EHCP, the legally entitled support is detailed and quantified in Section F (Special Educational Provision).
• If your child is on SEN Support, the entitlement is detailed in their school-based support plan. If the LA or school refuses to provide this documentation, our SEN lawyers can help formally request all relevant professional advice and records.
• Many parents overlook Section G (Health) and Section H (Social Care). Through the Extended Appeals process (the National Trial), our EHCP lawyers can now challenge the health and social care elements of a plan at the same time as the educational sections, ensuring holistic support.
• You are also entitled to know the Personal Budget (Section J) allocated to deliver the provision in the plan. This can include Personal Transport Budgets, which are often a point of major dispute with Local Authorities.

What if my child starts mainstream school but may need a special school and has no SEN statement or EHCP?

You can move your child to a special school, but the process needs to start now. You must immediately request an EHC Needs Assessment from the LA.

The mainstream school is legally required to put in place the highest level of SEN Support possible to meet the child’s needs in the interim. Once a draft EHCP is issued, you will have the right to request that a specific special school be named in Section I (Placement).

If the LA refuses your preferred placement, we can immediately lodge an EHCP appeal to the SEND Tribunal to secure the special school placement. Our SEN solicitors are always ready to help you with the case.

What to do if my child has a refused EHCP

You have a legal right to appeal the LA’s decision (whether it was a refusal to assess, or a refusal to issue a final plan) to the SEND Tribunal. You must typically lodge your appeal within two months of the LA’s decision letter or 30 days from the date of a mediation certificate (whichever date is the latter). We strongly recommend seeking specialist legal advice immediately, like our SEN solicitors, who can help you prepare for the mandatory mediation stage and build a strong, evidence-based case for the Tribunal hearing.