Education
We all need a The name might have changed, should be no vagueness.
but the underlying dynamics
remain the same. The provision of
special needs services in England
is still fuelled by conflict between
parents fighting for the best deal
for their children and councils
focused on controlling spending.
Statements of Special
Educational Needs went and in
their place came education, health
and care (EHC) plans through the
Children and Families Act 2014.
Under the new system, as well as
educational requirements, any health
services and social care needs
must be detailed for the child.
Under the old system, parents
complained that they and their
children felt ignored and sidelined.
EHC plans were to be person-
centred and signal a cultural shift
away from professionals leading
the way. But several years on is
this the reality?
Evelyn Ashford is the founder of
Educational Equality, an
organisation that offers legal
advice to families going through
the EHC system. She offers a
damning judgement on the EHC
scheme compared with the old
statementing regime. Its exactly
the same, she says.
Education, health and
Council tactics
care (EHC) plans were Council tactics to control spending
on children with learning disabilities
meant to usher in a and autism remain as prevalent
new era of special
under the new system as they were
under its predecessor, Ashford says.
needs services The use of woolly, generalised
phrases to avoid concrete
focused on children commitments has survived the
transition from statements to EHC
and their families. plans. For example, phrases such
as access to may be used for
But has the system, services speech therapy, for
instance rather than a
introduced three years commitment to a specified number
of hours per month.
ago, delivered any On its website, expert group
Independent Parental Special
improvements on the old Education Advice (IPSEA) makes it
PICTURE CREDIT
clear this ambiguity is wrong. It
statementing regime? says the law requires needs to be
specified and case law has
Darren Devine reports established this means there
8 Au t i s m | e y e I s s u e 2 7 2 0 1 7 www.autismeye.com www.autismeye.com
Asperger syndrome, says: Theres
EHC plans are issued after a
child has gone through a needs
assessment. Then the local authority
decides whether to issue a plan. If
they refuse the family must be
informed and there is a right to
Evelyn Ashford: she appeal to a special educational
says of councils needs and disability tribunal.
preparing EHC plans Where plans are issued the
that there needs to council must first send out a draft
be something to for parents to consider. Then
enforce them to parents are asked to detail the type
adhere to the law of school they want whether it be
mainstream or special and to name
the individual school.
Ashfords company, which has
more than 5,000 members in its
Facebook group and connections
to hundreds of other parents on the
social media platform, compiled a
Council tactics
to control
spending on children
with learning
disabilities and autism
remain as prevalent
under the new system
as they were under its
predecessor
report on the reforms of 2014. It
says parents report misinformation,
avoidance of duty and illegal
practice by councils, with tribunals
their only redress.
Ashford believes its not enough
to ensure the childs needs are met
when parents win tribunals.
Penalties are needed to persuade
councils that wilfully breaking the
law is not worth the risk.
There needs to be something
to enforce them to adhere to the
law, she says.
The one positive to emerge from
the introduction of EHC plans is the
move to extend the age at which
educational support is withdrawn
from 19 to 25. Ashford, whose
20-year-old son Jasper has
very, very little difference between
a statement and an EHCP. The
only benefit I would say is that
there is a positive reinforcement of
provision up to the age of 25.
Parent Alicia McColl, from
Surrey, produced a report on EHC
plans for the All Party Parliamentary
Group on Autism (APPGA). Her
13-year-old son Kian is currently
going through the EHC process.
McColl says she needed to sell her
home and has spent more than
38,000 to meet costs linked to
Kians support. The money went on
his diagnoses and several tribunals.
Artificial barriers
Kian has autism and ADHD. He
also has disorders in receptive and
expressive language, auditory and
sensory processing and social and
communication skills.In addition,
he has dyspraxia and
hypermobility syndrome. McColl
has also recently put her son on
medication for anxiety.
McColl has received feedback
from parents around the country
suggesting that councils are
erecting artificial barriers to
children being assessed for an
EHC plan. Based on these
messages, she believes that
parents are often told that the
school must have spent 6,000 on
special needs provision or that an
educational psychologist needs to
have produced a report.
Suggesting all the professionals
involved must believe an EHC plan
is necessary is another common
delaying tactic, she says.
The Children and Families Act
2014 states that councils must
identify all the children and young
people in their area who have or
may have special educational
needs and all those with a
disability. There is no mention of a
minimum spend on SEN provision,
agreement among professionals or
any of the other reasons McColl
says councils commonly fall back
on to stop a plan being drawn up.
McColl, a project management
officer, does not believe the EHC
Au t i s m | e y e I s s u e 2 7 2 0 1 7 9
 Education
Holida
ys
are all
inclusi
ve People who
can help
l Douglas Silas Solicitors:
www.speciaeducationalneeds.co.uk
l Ipsea: www.ipsea.org.uk
l My Business Counsel: consultant
solicitor Carolyn Osborne has
produced a document as a guide
to assist parents who are trying
to manoeuvre through the EHC
process. Email:
ceo.edlawadvice@gmail.com;
www.mybusinesscounsel.com
l National Autistic Society helpline:
www.autism.org.uk/helpline
l SOS!SEN:www.sossen.org.uk

receiving the right support and

reaching their potential. It is crucial
that EHC plans are quality assured
020 8980 7101 info@outward.org.uk by local authorities to ensure that
their wording is absolutely clear,
and that there is no risk that the
plan can be misinterpreted.
Without qualified and quantified
descriptions of the provision a
child is entitled to within EHC
plans, they are unable to provide
the legal protection they were
intended to give.

About PECS Are you Clear aspirations

n
trAined i
Autism Eye contacted the
Department for Education and a

?
the evidence-based Picture exchange

S
spokesperson provided a

E C
Communication System (PeCS) is used

P
to rapidly teach communication skills to
those with limited functional speech. the
PeCS Protocol is successfully utilised in
learning environments by hundreds of
thousands of professionals worldwide. Source of the system will result in better
confusion? outcomes. Only when parents go
The Palace of to tribunals is the system likely to
Westminster, work, she believes.
from which I see time and again where
came the parents have even got specificity in
significantly their statements and the local
underfunded authority transfer over to EHCP and
reforms to the chop it all out, she says.
Children and Richard Watts, who chairs the
Families Act Local Government Associations
Children and Young People Board,
says that reforms in the Children
and Families Act were
significantly underfunded by the
Government. He adds that the
Government must urgently
provide additional funding.
Contact +44 (0)1273 609555
Register online at pecs-unitedkingdom.com
Charity Ambitious about Autism
Ground Floor, Lion Building Crowhurst Rd Brighton, BN1 8AF UK
says:Education, Health and Care
Fax: +44 (0)1273 609556 pyramiduk@pecs.com plans should describe what
support a child is entitled to clearly
Parents report
misinformation,
avoidance of duty and
illegal practice by
councils, with tribunals
their only redress
and in detail. Unfortunately, the
quality of writing in EHC plans can
vary, and in some cases this can
lead to dispute between parents,
schools and local authorities
about what support children have
a right to.
This can create a relationship
of mistrust between parents and
professionals and, more
importantly, to children not
statement: Local authorities are
responsible for making sure
Education Health and Care (EHC)
plans set out clear aspirations and
outcomes for each young person
with special educational needs or
disabilities.
Where this is not the case,
parents can ask the local authority
to improve the plans when they are
drafted, and, if parents are not
satisfied with the final plan, they
have the right to appeal about this
to the First-Tier SEN Tribunal.
The Department also said it
had introduced a new inspection
framework for SEN across all
local areas, which is undertaken
jointly by Ofsted and the Care
Quality Commission.
It added that these inspections
include analysis of the local
areas EHC plans, and they
reinforce the requirement to state
the provision a child will receive
from each agency.

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