Draft Stage

Are your LA soooooo EXCITED and just can't wait to finalise your Draft EHCP?

I mean how annoying after you have waited around for them for way over the 20 week timeframe..

Well guess what the most annoying bit is....

They are actually allowed to ignore you at draft stage... and most often do..

If anyone tells you that a parent has to OK the draft EHCplan prior to the LA being allowed to finalise it.. They are wrong.. (See the rule at the bottom of this post)

What do you REALLY need to know about the Draft checking stage of your child's EHCP?

1- Don't waste your money if your plan is definitely not good enough.. Expensive draft checks are not worth it if you know the LA will not change what is needed. You are better off saving your hard earned cash..

2- Understand that the LA do not have to listen to what you ask or tell them about concerns with the EHCP draft.. They can and do just finalise and ignore.. The Draft stage is more like an admin process to make sure that you feel heard and show them you mean business!

3- Sometimes LAs will negotiate and improve a draft EHCP.. mostly if they are going to, you will have had a good feeling from them through the process and they will be telling you they want to get it right... If you do not get that sense from them.. then they will likely not make any changes. So just send an assertive email and get stuck into your appeal..

4- If the LA have ignored private reports- it is so they can save money.

5-If the LA have allowed the plan to be created and be unspcified in section F, it is to save money.

6-If the LA have not carried out assessments meaning section B doesn't contain all needs, you guessed it, it is to save money..

7 -The likelihood of them improving any of 4/5/6 above at draft stage is slim.. If they were going to do these things, they would have already.. as all of them MUST be done as stated in the SEND Code of practice. The LA know they are not following the rules..they just want to... yep.. save money and block your child from getting the help they desperately need.

So, What is best to do at draft stage?

1- If your plan is very bad and doesn't name the school you know is the only suitable option.. use our template and questionnaire in the membership at £20 to tell the LA the plan is crap and get it finalised ASAP so you can start your appeal without delay.

2- If your plan is not good enough, but you feel with some tweaks it may work.. ask for a Word document of the EHCP and go through your reports and add in what has been missed in bold. This is called a working document and by doing this, you have also already done most of the hard work if you do have to appeal. We can explain how to do this in our membership support inbox, or we can do it for you at £45 per report you want checking and adding.

3- Don't spend money at this point unless you feel pretty certain the LA want to work with you to make it better.. Our draft checks @£175 help parents to understand any lack of quality in their EHCP, but we make it clear that the LA do not have to listen and we always try to encourage those who feel able, to use our Membership template and questionnaire.

We have designed our Draft Check template and Questionnaire so that it tells the LA what is not good enough.. tells them what to do to improve it.. and then if they don't, you know you have ticked the box of having an admin trail.. and you can move on and appeal..

To use our Questionnaire Free here is the link - Once you have completed it, we will send it back to you with a link to sign up to the membership- and details of our draft check and working document support - https://form.123formbuilder.com/.../draft-check...

Draft checking - Please share into groups and with friends and family.. the whole purpose of our SEND and EHCP Memberships is to save parent/carers money and allow them to feel able to navigate this alone (with a bit of hand holding from our 24hr support email)..

Below are the rules..

If your LA are eager to finalise your EHCP when it is not good enough to get your child what they need.. It will always be about money.. Don't waste your money.. just give some feedback using our membership and then spend your money if you want to getting support to appeal.. (You can do this in our membership yourself too though.. so check that out before hiring anyone to do it for you...)

The SEND code states;

9.77 The local authority must send the draft EHC plan (including the appendices containing the advice and information gathered during the EHC needs assessment) to the child’s parent or to the young person and give them at least 15 days to give views and make representations on the content. During this period, the local authority must make its officers available for a meeting with the child’s parent or the young person on request if they wish to discuss the content of the draft EHC plan. When the local authority sends the draft EHC plan to the child’s parent or the young person the following apply:

• The local authority must notify the child’s parent or the young person that during this period they can request that a particular school or other institution, or type of school or other institution, be named in the plan. The draft plan must not contain the name of the school, maintained nursery school, post-16 institution or other institution or the type of school or other institution to be attended by the child or young person (see below)

• The local authority must advise the child’s parent or the young person where they can find information about the schools and colleges that are available for the child or young person to attend, for example through the Local Offer

• The local authority should also seek agreement of any Personal Budget specified in the draft plan (see paragraph 9.95 onwards for more information on Personal Budgets)

9.125 When changes are suggested to the draft EHC plan by the child’s parent or the young person and agreed by the local authority, the draft plan should be amended and issued as the final EHC plan as quickly as possible. The final EHC plan can differ from the draft EHC plan only as a result of any representations made by the child’s parent or the young person (including a request for a Personal Budget) and decisions made about the school or other institution (or type of school or other institution) to be named in the EHC plan. The local authority must not make any other changes – if the local authority wishes to make other changes it must re-issue the draft EHC plan to the child’s parent or the young person (see paragraph 9.77). The final EHC plan should be signed and dated by the local authority officer responsible for signing off the final plan.

9.126 Where changes suggested by the child’s parent or the young person are not agreed, the local authority may still proceed to issue the final EHC plan. In either case the local authority must notify the child’s parent or the young person of their right to appeal to the Tribunal and the time limit for doing so, of the requirement for them to consider mediation should they wish to appeal, and the availability of information, advice and support and disagreement resolution services. The local authority should also notify the child’s parent or the young person how they can appeal the health and social care provision in the EHC plan.

9.127 The child’s parent or the young person may appeal to the Tribunal against the description of SEN in the EHC plan, the special educational provision, and the school or other provider named, or the fact that no school or other provider is named.