Parent Asks:

My daughter got EHCP in mainstream school. She got the provision of 5 hours weekly specialist teacher input. But the specialist teacher is not following any of section F in EHCP even after lots of meetings. Do we have the legal right to withdraw the consent for the teacher to work with my child?

ISPEA Answers:

If the special educational provision specified within section F of the EHC plan is not being provided, then the first step would be to complain to the local authority (LA). The LA has a duty under section 42(2) of the Children and Families Act 2014 (CAFA) to “secure the specified special educational provision for the child or young person” and therefore we would suggest complaining to the Director of Children’s Services at your LA if this is not being done. There is a model letter on the IPSEA website that you can use to do this, which can be found here: https://www.ipsea.org.uk/complaining-when-the-provision-in-an-ehc-plan-is-not-being-made-model-letter-6 You can find contact details of the person to send this letter to here: https://adcs.org.uk/contacts/directors-of-childrens-services

When considering your complaint, it may be useful to read through section F of your daughter’s EHC plan to ensure all special educational provision is fully specified and quantified. The LA has a duty under section 37(2) of the CAFA to “specify” the contents of the EHC plan. The following is taken from paragraph 9.69 of the SEND Code of Practice 2015 regarding the contents of section F:

“• Provision must be detailed and specific and should normally be quantified, for example, in terms of the type, hours and frequency of support and level of expertise, including where this support is secured through a Personal Budget
• Provision must be specified for each and every need specified in section B. It should be clear how the provision will support achievement of the outcomes”

But later clarifies:

“• In some cases, flexibility will be required to meet the changing needs of the child…”

If you are concerned that the provision isn’t being provided, consider whether it is adequately specified and quantified within the EHC plan and whether the wording of section F is legally enforceable.

If you have concerns over the contents of the EHC plan, you can request an early review to discuss these concerns. It would be useful to be able to review not only the provision which is written into the EHC plan but also how it is being delivered and your concerns over this. IPSEA has a model letter which you can use to request an early review here: https://www.ipsea.org.uk/asking-for-an-early-review-of-an-ehc-plan Again, this should be sent to the Director of Children’s Services at your LA.

It is difficult to advise further without knowing what the specialist teacher is or isn’t doing which is causing concern, and how much harm this behaviour could cause. You can not insist that a particular member of staff does not work with your child, unfortunately, and you should consider the long-term consequences of requesting that special educational provision is withdrawn altogether. However, if you have specific concerns about a member of staff or how they are dealing with your child, you should follow the school complaints procedure and request a meeting with the headteacher as soon as possible to discuss