Interim Head of Education Law
The deadline for phase transfer is 15th February 2022 (31st March for children over 16-years-old). By this time, your Local Authority should have put together a final Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) naming a school or college for your child to attend from the following September.
Meeting the phase transfer deadline means that if there are any issues with your child’s EHCP, you should have sufficient time to resolve these before your child starts their new setting.
Our Education and SEND Lawyers have years of experience in assisting families where Local Authorities have missed phase transfer deadlines and helping people who’ve disagreed with the decisions or actions of their Local Authority when decisions have been issued.
Get in touch with one of the team for initial advice.
We're rated‘Excellent’The deadline for Local Authorities to issue an amended EHCP in advance of a primary or secondary transfer is 15th February and 31st March 2022 for children over 16.
If your Local Authority is moving too slowly, you’ll understandably be concerned about ensuring that they meet the phase transfer deadline.
It’s important that the Local Authority work within the set out timeframes so that any amends can be made before your child enters the next stage of their education.
If your Local Authority has failed to send you a final amended EHCP before 15th February and your child is due to start primary or secondary school in September, you should contact the Local Authority immediately.
If you’re unhappy with the response from the Local Authority, or if they fail to reply, our Education Lawyers can help you. They will discuss with you whether Judicial Review proceedings may be appropriate.
Unfortunately, there will be times when the Local Authority may need to be challenged. The most common reasons for this include:
If you raise a complaint with the Local Authority, you need to be cautious as to how long it will take to resolve. Seeking advice early can make sure you're challenging a failure appropriately. For example, challenges to delays in issuing an EHCP can be dealt with through judicial review proceedings.
In our experience, these cases don’t need to go all the way to Court. We can usually resolve the issue with the Local Authority by sending what’s called ‘a letter before claim’ which gives them a chance to settle the matter before taking things further.
If there are concerns over the contents of an EHCP, including the school named, this often requires an appeal to the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal. Time limits are tight and appeals should be lodged within 2 months of the date of the covering letter sent with the EHCP.
When deciding how to allocate places at schools, the Admissions Authority is allowed to use a system called banding. This is where children sit a test at the school, but they don’t have to pass it, as is the case with Grammar Schools. Read More.
The reality of the end of Year 12 for all students normally includes a set of internal exams. This helps the school or college to have a better understand of how well pupils have coped with the transition from GCSE to A Level work, and helps inform the process of providing predicted grades to universities.
The transition from primary school to secondary school can be daunting for both parents and their children. But this can be made worse when your child has Special Educational Needs (SEN), as there’s the added worry of whether those needs can be met at a new school.
Fill in the form below to get in touch with one of our education law team, or call our team today on: 0808 239 9764
