SENTAS workshop via Zoom: Thursday 18th May 2023, 12.30pm
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83476126679?pwd=QmJwSzZTUExCRDY4enhna3hXRFF6UT09
UPDATE: SENTAS don't believe disclaimers are binding as they are not part of the EHCP, and it is the EHCP which is a legal document. They advise parents that they can sign the disclaimer but put next to their signature that they are signing under duress and by signing they are not removing their rights to appeal contents of the EHCP. As well as this they recommend to ask the LA for the total costs of both placements, as there is case law that states that anything less than £4000 cost difference per year is not an inefficient use of resources. This case law is in the SENTAS parental preference template appeal letter that is available via the link buttons above (in either Word or pdf versions).
https://www.lgo.org.uk/decisions/education/special-educational-needs/21-016-894
SIGNAL is aware that the Local Authority have been issuing parents with an “Acceptance of Transport Responsibility Form”.
We are seeking legal advice and will update the membership with this advice as soon as possible. In the meantime, we recommend that members who receive this form seek advice. SENDIASS (0203 319 2163, lewisham@kids.org.uk). And SENTAS (Special Educational Needs Transport Advocacy Services) info@sentas.co.uk may be able to help.
This guidance is on the SENTAS website:
Are you currently going through the EHCP assessment process and your LA are saying that they will only name your choice of school if you are prepared to pay the transport costs?
There should be some questions that need to be answered: have the LA told you the difference in transport costs? If so, does that difference seem relatively low? Could you source a cheaper transport option yourself and ask for a personal budget?
To challenge this at first tier tribunal you would have to ask for only your choice of school to be named in the EHCP, if the LA want to name both their and your choice of school, with your choice being named if you will pay the transport cost.
Have you just gone through the EHCP assessment process and the LA have refused to only name your choice of school due to transport costs?
You have two months to appeal the school placement to first tier tribunal, asking for only your choice of school to be named in the EHCP, there is no need to consider mediation for this issue. The same questions need to be asked as in the paragraph above.
Have you already signed a form saying you will pay the transport costs to your choice of school?
If so, was a comparison of transport costs ever completed by the LA? Would the difference have been incompatible with an efficient use of resources? This would appear to be the most difficult of the three situations listed to challenge.
It could be argued that if the LA hadn’t completed the transport cost comparison (and after investigation that the extra transport costs were not incompatible with an efficient use of resources) that the LA were failing to do their duty in allowing a parent to access their preferential school as stated by the Children and Families Act.
The next question in this situation would be how can this decision be challenged by parents and young adults?
If your EHCP was finalized within the last two months you could appeal to the first tier tribunal as stated in “Have you just gone through the EHCP assessment process and the LA have refused to only name your choice of school due to transport costs?”
Other possibilities would be asking for your EHCP to be re-assessed or amended, giving you the chance to rename the school of your choice in the EHCP and then ask the LA to do a comparison of transport costs. You could write a letter to appeal refusal of transport to the LA directly and follow their appeals process, and ultimately write a complaint to the Local Government Ombudsman if this does not succeed.
Lots more information and detail is available here: