SCN0293

Written evidence from Agnieszka Hamling

1.                           The system is very heavily biased against the parents and in favour of the LAs. The LAs have possession of EHCPs and they use annual reviews as an excuse to change the EHCP as they wish. They can delete and alter things as fancy takes them, with a stroke of a pen, and they do not seem to be accountable for that. If parents do not agree to the changes… tough luck. It costs LAs nothing to just remove things from EHCPs. It costs a parent a legal battle and a lot of money to attempt to reinstate one sentence in an EHCP which the LA 'just deleted'. The only way a parent can get that sentence written back into the EHCP is to go through the tribunal process. Complaint procedures and mediation are just a gimmick. I believe that in this outrageously unfair system, if both sides cannot agree to a change in EHCP, the burden of proof should be with the side who proposes to make a change. LAs should not be allowed to just remove or reduce provision without providing supporting evidence and ‘strong’ medical evidence at that.

June 2018