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What to do if you're unhappy with a decision

What to do if you're unhappy with a decision

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If you are unhappy with a decision made about an Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan or EHC needs assessment, please contact your Senior Officer to discuss your concerns. The contact number for the officer will usually be listed in the letters you receive from us.

Other disagreements related to special educational provision usually can be resolved by speaking with your child's class teacher, the school SENCo or Head of year. You can also speak with the Special Educational Needs and Disability Information Advice and Support Service (SENDIASS).

The Special Educational Needs and Disability Information Advice and Support Service (SENDIASS)

Provide free, confidential, impartial advice, guidance and support to:    

  • Parents of children and young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities   
  • Young people up to the age of 25 with special educational needs and/or disabilities
  

SENDIASS are the best place to start if you're unhappy with a decision. They can: 

  • Help resolve disagreements
  • Support you in meetings with professionals 
  • Explain how mediation works   
  • Explain your right of appeal through the tribunal system
  

Contact them by:   


SENDIASS hold a drop in service once a month on education related matters, for further details please visit the SEN drop in surgeries directory listing.

For further information on how SENDIASS can support you and to read their guide what if I do not agree with decisions about SEN provision visit the SENDIASS directory listing.

The disagreement resolution service is for parents or young people with special educational needs, not just those who are being assessed for or have an Education Health and Care Plan. It aims to help resolve disagreements around special educational need provision through discussion. The service is free to use and independent from the Local Authority.

The disagreement resolution service for Wokingham is provided by Global Medication. 

Contact them by:    

For further information visit the Global Mediation website.

Mediation is free and brings together the parents or young person, and us (the Council) to work towards a solution which both parties are satisfied with. 

Trained mediators who are independent of the local authority provide the mediation service. Their role is to facilitate looking at new ways of solving the dispute.

Medication is only available when we (the Council) decides:    

  • not to carry out an Education, Health and Care (EHC) needs assessment or re-assessment   
  • not to draw up an EHC Plan after making an assessment or reassessment    
  • not to amend sections B, F and I of an existing EHC Plan which are about education    
  • to cease to maintain an EHC Plan
       

The medication service for Wokingham is provided by Global Medication.

Contact them by:

For further information and a guide to the SEND medication process visit the Global Mediation website.

In most case before you appeal to the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal you must have had mediation advice. Visit the Global Mediation website for a guide to when you must seek mediation advice before registering an appeal with the tribunal. 

For information on the appeals process and how to appeal go to the UK Goverments website 

On the 3 April 2018 a 2-year national trial begun extending the power of the special educational needs and disability (SEND) tribunal. The tribunal can now make recommendations about health and social care aspects in Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plans issued from 3 April 2018. 

The national trail will end on the 31 August 2020. The trial has been extended until 31 August 2021, as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

For further information read our changes to the special educational needs and disability (SEND) tribunal web page.

If you are a young person with special educational needs and/or disabilities(SEND) you will be involved in decisions which affect the support you get.

Watch the Council for Disabled Children video on making decisions about the SEND support you need:

The Department for Education has produced a guide that provides advice for young people aged 16 to 25 who are unhappy with their special educational needs (SEN) provision or support at school or college and need help and guidance to sort those problems out. 

Read the young people's guide when people can't agree (PDF document)

Contact the Special Educational Needs (SEN) Team by:    

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