EHCP disagreements

This page tells you what to do if you disagree with a decision that has been made about your / your child’s Education, Health and Care (EHC) needs, assessment or issue of an EHC plan.

Disagreements usually relate to the following:

decision not to carry out an EHC needs assessment
decision not to issue an EHC plan after a needs assessment has been completed
content in the final EHC plan, including the educational placement
decision not to amend a plan after a review
content of amended EHC plan
decision to cease an EHC plan

Rutland County Council will write to you about any decisions that have been made, and explain the reasons for these decisions. The council will explain the actions you can take if you disagree with any decisions, including:

Arranging a SEND way forward meeting

These meetings are meant to be a quick and effective way to get the support a child or young person needs. Read more about a SEND way forward meeting.

Using mediation and dispute resolution services

The aim of mediation is to reach agreement, where possible, on a way forward that is acceptable to all.

Mediation is an opportunity for a face to face meeting with an independent trained facilitator and a representative from Rutland County Council.

Your views and the views of the council and health services can be shared and explained, making sure that the focus remains on the needs of your child or young person.

Engagement with mediation is not mandatory. You can choose not to use the service or withdraw from the mediation process at any time.

You can also take part in disagreement resolution which operates in a similar way to mediation. This can be in addition to any mediation or appeal.

Rutland’s current provider for mediation and dispute resolution is Global Mediation, contact details and more information about this service can be found in or by visiting the Global Mediation website.

Appeal the decision to the SEND tribunal service

You can challenge a decision through your right to appeal to the Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) tribunal service.

If you want to appeal, you must provide evidence that you have contacted a mediation service first.

This is a simple process - a mediator issues a certificate to confirm that either:

you made contact with the mediation service and were given information about what the service could provide
the mediation process has been completed

Appeals to the SEND tribunal can include recommendations regarding the health and social care sections in the EHC as part of a two-year trial running until April 2020.

Before this trial, only the educational aspects of the EHC plans could be appealed through this process. The trial gives new rights to raise all concerns about the content of an EHC plan in one place. Recommendations for health and social care sections can only be made if an appeal is being made in relation to education aspects of the EHC plan.

If the tribunal does agree to make recommendations for health and social care sections these are non-binding.

If Rutland County Council or health commissioners decide not to follow these recommendations, they will give written notification of this and explain the reasons for not doing so within 5 weeks of the tribunal decision.

The documents you need to make an appeal can be found on the gov.uk First Tier Tribunals website, or you can ask for information by email.