26th March 2025 • My Family Our Needs

Ed Duff, Director and Solicitor at HCB Solicitors, answers a parent’s question about her child’s EHCP review, information being withheld from the family and unwanted changes to her daughter’s school placement.

Q:

I am writing to seek clarification on a matter that has arisen at my daughter’s school regarding an urgent EHCP review. Following a complaint I raised concerning safeguarding failures, bullying, and a lack of duty of care, the school called for an emergency annual review of my daughter’s Education, Health and Care Plan. I believe it is crucial to address this issue promptly and ensure that my daughter’s educational and support needs are appropriately met.

A summary of the events leading up to the emergency annual review highlights several concerns. The SENCO informed me that my daughter had been placed in the Additional Resource Provision (ARP) for the entire day and requested my consent for her to be placed there on a full-time basis, Monday to Friday. I expressed my confusion regarding the rationale behind removing my child from the mainstream setting. Subsequently, during the annual review, my daughter’s caseworker failed to attend the meeting, which the SENCO claimed was standard practice, causing dissatisfaction on my part. Furthermore, the SENCO referenced my child’s provision map during the meeting, but when requested, they denied my access to a copy of the document, including details of the associated costs, insisting that it was unnecessary for me to review this information.

My primary concern is whether the school has the right to withhold this crucial information from me. I am apprehensive that the school may have requested additional funding and failed to fulfil all the essential requirements outlined in my daughter’s EHCP, potentially compromising her wellbeing and educational progress.

My daughter’s school have conducted their annual EHCP review without the send case officer and the SENCO is pushing for the LA to place my daughter in a special needs school which is not what I want for my daughter. If you have any other support that you might be able to offer such as signposting me to organisations that offer free support and advice, I would greatly appreciate it.

A:

The information that you have requested should not be withheld by the school. It would be available to you/your daughter (subject to her age) as a Subject Access Request. Depending on the type of school, this information may also constitute part of your daughter’s academic record and can be obtained by making the request under The Education (Pupil Information) (England) Regulations 2005.

We would suggest making the request for disclosure in writing, directly to the Headteacher and the SENCO. Make clear that the request is a Subject Access Request and that if disclosure is refused you will raise the matter with the Information Commissioner’s Officer (https://ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint/)

The decision to place your daughter in the Additional Resource Provision (ARP) should be discussed with you. Depending on how the school and the ARP operate, the decision to educate in the ARP might be seen as an internal arrangement, rather than a specific change of placement. As such, we would need to look more closely at the placement and the current EHCP to be able to provide specific advice. Generally though, the approach described seems to go against the core principles within the Children and Families Act 2014 (set out at section 19), and the school’s responsibility to cooperate with that (under section 29 Children and Families Act 2014) which require that children, young people and their families are at the centre of all decision-making.

It is not unusual for case officers to not attend at annual reviews (or urgent reviews). The only obligation is that the school invites the local authority. What is important to remember is that after the annual review the local authority must make a decision about what to do with the EHCP. That decision must be issued within 4 weeks of the meeting. The decision will be either to make no change, amend the EHCP or to cease it. Ultimately, an appeal can also be triggered following the annual review if you are not happy with what the local authority does with the EHCP.

We would strongly suggest taking specific legal advice to establish what your desired outcome is and to plan a strategy around how to achieve that.

– Answered by Ed Duff, Director and Solicitor, HCB Solicitors, Education Law Department

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