About Sos Sen
SOS! SEN is an independent charity helping parents /carers of children with SEN obtain the right education through advice centres /helplines & workshops.
Sos Sen Description
Led by Eleanor Wright - SEN Solicitor
We concentrate on helping parents /carers to find their way through the legal and procedural maze.
Our aim is to empower parents with information and knowledge to become confident to tackle the obstacles and difficulties that arise when seeking the right education for their children with special needs. That way, when the child's needs changes or new provision is necessary for them, parents will be confident enough to respond without consulting expensive solicitors.
We empower parents through:
1) workshops on different areas of the special needs procedures.
2) 1: 1 advice sessions.
3) term- time helpline
4) Advice Centres
***Helpline Information***
Telephone Number is 020 8538 3731
Open term time only.
9. 30am to 12: 30 and 2: 00pm to 5: 00 pm. Staffed by volunteers who have experience of the SEN system.
We also operate an evening helpline on Tuesday evenings from 8. 00pm to 10. 00pm.
***Advice Centre Information***
Free, walk in advice centres. No booking required - just turn up.
The first Monday of the month
Thornton Heath from 10-15am to 12. 15pm
The Salvation Army, 66 High Street, Thornton Heath, CR7 8LF
The second Tuesday of the month
Aldershot from 10: 15am to 12: 15pm
The Games Shop, 6 Wellington Street, Aldershot, Hampshire GU11 1DZ
The third Wednesday of the month
SOS! SEN office (opposite Hampton Court train station)
10. 15am-12. 15pm
11a Creek Road, East Molesey. KT8 9BE
The fourth Thursday of the month, an evening advice surgery in Waterloo from 17: 30pm to 19: 30pm
Chaplin Close Community Hall, Gray Street, London, SE1 8TU. 10 minute walk from Waterloo Train Station.
We also have advice centres in Kent, Oxford Manchester, Worcester Park and High Wycombe.
Please see our website for more information. www. sossen.org. uk
Reviews
If this report is correct, the proposals are illegal. Whilst transport for young people who are 16-18 is discretionary, councils cannot have blanket policies that they will never provide transport to the age group. A number of councils are going down this route and we can help challenging such decisions.
This happens far too often
Workshop on appeals on Saturday 2 March is fully booked.
Do contact admin@sossen.org.uk if you would like to be added to a waiting list or notified when the next appeals workshops will be run at the SOS!SEN office.
New SOS!SEN advice centre for SEN and disability advice in Hertfordshire. Please see details below.
For details all of the SOS!SEN advice centres, please see our website - www.sossen.org.uk
Busy season for issuing Upper Tribunal decisions: https://www.gov.uk/…/essex-county-counc il-v-fa-and-another-…
The case arose from a procession of mistakes by the FtT and LA. The FtT made an order for a residential placement in April 2018 although the school had no places till September, and declined a request to clarify the order. The LA agreed with the parents to issue an EHCP naming the school currently attended by the child till July, and the residential school from Se...ptember. It applied for permission to appeal against the original decision and applied for a stay, arguing that it would be undesirable for the child to move to the new school only to move back if its appeal succeeded. It did not mention in its application the issue of the amended EHCP or that it had arranged the new placement from September. The court granted the stay but the LA did not tell the relevant officials who carried on with the residential school placement, and the child duly started there in September.
The parents accepted that the original FtT decision was defective for other reasons but argued that the Upper Tribunal should exercise its discretion not to order a new hearing. The Upper Tribunal agreed that issuing a new EHCP which did not directly follow the original order meant that there was no longer anything on which the appeal could bite: it was akin to an EHCP amended after annual review and created new appeal rights. Further, in allowing the child to begin at the new school the LA had created the situation which it had argued was undesirable as, if it succeeded, the child would have to move twice anyway. An annual review was due shortly and there was little to be gained by having a rehearing. The UT agreed that the problem could and should have been sorted out by the FtT when asked.
Question: what happens if, following the annual review, the LA amends the EHCP to name the original day school?
See More
Another new Upper Tribunal decision: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/ …/HS_1237_2018-00.…
Essentially parents won an appeal against the decision of the First-tier Tribunal naming a school placement where they contended that their child could not cope with school and needed a home education package. In essence the FtT was found not to have taken into account, or not to have given adequate reasons for discounting, the effects of the child's severe school-based anxiet...y.
The decision helpfully discredits the argument which is frequently produced by LAs that medical opinions are not reliable where they are primarily based on parental reports. As the judge pointed out, experienced medical professionals can be taken to be capable of assessing whether parental accounts are accurate and consistent with other aspects of the child's presentation, so their views on that must be given proper weight.
See More
New Upper Tribunal decision out on (1) Effect of tribunal order debarring local authority for failure to supply tribunal bundle and (2) Whether a school is unsuitable if it is unable to offer a place immediately -
https://www.gov.uk/…/lb-enfield-v-nh-an d-another-sen-2019-u…
Useful up to date Ombudsman decision reminding councils (yet again) of their responsibility to secure full advice and information when carrying out EHC needs assessments - https://www.lgo.org.uk/…/special-educat ional-nee…/17-009-157
Friday 15 February - Kent advice centre from 10am. See post for more details or our website for details of all our term time advice centres
https://www.sossen.org.uk/advice_centres. php
Want to volunteer with SOS!SEN? Our next open morning is on Wed 13 March 2019 for ALL volunteering opportunities.Want to volunteer with SOS!SEN? Our next open morning is on Wed 13 March 2019 for ALL volunteering opportunities.
Credit where it's due to Richmond for putting their heads just a bit above the parapet - let's encourage other councils to do the same.
It would of course be good if they would join parents in taking legal action to challenge the government's decisions on SEN spending. https://www.richmond.gov.uk/…/make_your _voice_heard_tell_th…