Councils are supposed to gather professional advice to understand a child’s needs. Hertfordshire skipped key steps, ignored requests, and somehow decided a ten-minute video call was good enough.
Continue reading to see how a flawed assessment set the tone for everything that followed.The Assessment Stage Done Wrong
When the council finally agreed to assess Oliver for an EHCP, after a six week wait. This should have been the stage where they started gathering information from the right professionals to understand what support he would need at school.
The council will have a standard “list” of people to contact, such as an educational psychologist (more on this later) as well as NHS services such as speech and language and occupational therapy. Essentially, anything their panel has requested.
You can find out more about who should be asked for advice at IPSEA.
Failing to Seek Advice
Prior to applying for an EHCP we arranged for an early years support teacher from the council to visit Oliver at home, who then wrote a report which we could use as evidence of his needs when applying. This report highlighted lots of things we already knew, including the fact Oliver was far behind on his gross motor skills and fine motor skills.
As there was a clear need for some form of occupational therapy input, the council themselves said at the assessment stage:
“The panel had requested advice from Occupational Therapy.”
However, that advice never came. According to the council, Oliver was “not known” to the occupational therapy service. That was wrong, since we had already attended workshops with them. As a result, the council decided not to seek any occupational therapy advice at all. This meant Oliver would have nothing in the final plan, despite clearly needing it.
We of course replied to the council straight away and explained that we clearly need some form of input from occupational therapy, and requested an update. The council’s response…
silence
The council just ignored the request, one of the many times they ignored us because basic communication seems to be too hard for the council.
The council should have sought advice as our request was reasonable given what was in Oliver's report from the early years support teacher. "It must not apply blanket rules, for example that it will not seek advice from a particular service unless the child or young person is already known to them." - IPSEA
The Educational Psychologist Assessment
The educational psychologist’s assessment is one of the more important parts of the EHCP process. It plays a big role in shaping the final plan and deciding what support a child will need in school.
In Oliver’s case, the assessment never actually happened in person. It was carried out over a 10 minute WhatsApp video call, and a phone call with parents. This was the only contact they ever had with him.
Oliver is completely non-verbal and communicates mainly through gestures and limited use of his AAC device. He functions at a much lower developmental level than other children his age, and after everything that happened with his previous pre-school, he clearly has high needs. These are things that can only be understood properly when you spend time with him in person. You cannot assess a child like that through a phone screen.
This was yet another example of the council carrying out a box-ticking exercise, doing the bare minimum instead of properly planning the support he will need in school. The WhatsApp video call was treated as valid evidence for his EHCP, and that single report went on to influence the entire plan.
An EHCP Built on Weak Evidence
When the draft EHCP finally arrived, it was clear things were missing. Entire areas were ignored thanks to the failure of the council to seek advice from all relevant professionals. The sections that did exist were in places vague and meaningless.
Because the council failed to gather all the proper evidence or involve the right professionals, the plan ended up being built on weak evidence from people who never met him. The draft plan, which would be sent to mainstream schools to see if they could meet his needs, was clearly not a full reflection.
The fact the council tries to send a draft plan to schools without parents being given the chance to respond shows once again how the council likes to tick boxes, rather than focus on the needs of a child.
Next Up – How Hertfordshire’s Draft EHCP Process Undermines Parents
