EHCPs again, Expansions, Good News & Bonfire Night 4th November 2017 Dear All Over the next five months, the remaining 900 (or so) Statements of SEND must be transferred to Education, Health & Care Plans (EHCPs). The deadline is March 31st 2018. 900… that’s a lot of families! Forgive us if major on this topic for a while…
EHCP Transfers (from Statements) – next workshops The first of three workshops for parents (run by Penny from SEND Family Voices, and Alex from Independent Support) was on Friday morning… and was very, very well attended. There is no doubt that this is a confusing process and families are pleased to have some guidance. Next dates are: Thursday 9th November - 7pm to 9pm at DoubleTree Hilton,1 Skerne Road, Kingston, KT2 5FJ Friday 17th November - 10:00am to 12:00noon * at MeToo&Co, The CrossWay Centre, Twickenham, TW1 2PD * creche available. Contact Fiona: info@metooandco.org.uk It was surprising how many different experiences families had had. Perhaps this is to be expected given the variety of needs and different schools.
The Trigger Letter The whole process of a Transfer from a Statement to an EHCP starts with a Trigger Letter to arrange the Transfer Review Meeting. The statutory transfer process allows 18 weeks to finalise the EHCP from the date of the Transfer Review Meeting – locally, this is a meeting between the SEN Team EHCP coordinator and the family. This meeting will be organised as a phone call but if you prefer a meeting, you can ask for a face to face meeting – this is your right. If the times offered for phone calls and meetings don’t suit – you can ask to change them.
Reports and information As a basis, the content of the Statement must be carried over, unless there is new advice that contradicts or supersedes it. So, if you already have an up to date statement - you may not feel there is a need for a great deal of new professional advice. There is a clearly defined list of advice that must be requested by the EHCP coordinator, which is defined in the Code of Practice and listed in the Golden Binder (pages 8-9 in the chapter or transfer reviews). Professionals must submit their reports within 6 weeks of receiving the request (usually sent at the time of the trigger letter or transfer review meeting).