Education, health and care (EHC) plans
7. Disagreements and complaints
If you are unhappy with the plan, please contact your SENDO in the first instance. If you cannot find a resolution, you can also contact impartial services, for advice or support to help you resolve any disagreements.
Information advice and support
The Information, Advice and Support (IAS) Team can provide information and support, including when you may disagree with a decision.
Mediation
The special educational needs mediation service in Lancashire is provided by Global Mediation. You can contact a mediation adviser on 0800 064 4488.
This service is free of charge and your conversation will be confidential.
The mediation adviser will provide you with factual information about mediation.
Once you have listened to their advice you can decide whether you think mediation will be helpful. Global Mediation will make all the arrangements for you.
If you want to know more about mediation or the arrangements for resolving disagreements you can visit the Global Mediation website.
Appeal to the SEND Tribunal
The Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Tribunal handles appeals against local authority decisions about special educational needs.
If you are unhappy about the content of an EHC plan you have the right of appeal within two months of the final EHC Plan being issued.
If you disagree with a decision not to make an EHC needs assessment, reassessment or changes to a plan, or to end an EHC plan you also have the right to appeal.
Before you register an appeal, you must contact the independent mediation adviser.
If you decide not to try to resolve the disagreement through mediation, the mediation adviser will provide a certificate so that you can register an appeal. Your right to appeal is not affected by the mediation process.
The Single Route of Redress – SEND tribunal extended powers gives you new rights to request recommendations about the health and social care needs and provision specified in EHC plans, in addition to the educational aspects, when making a SEND appeal. This follows a national trial which commenced from April 2018 to August 2021 testing the extended powers for the SEND tribunal.
Complaints
The council can investigate complaints that we have failed to properly support a child’s special educational needs (SEN).
This includes:
- delay in assessing a child and issuing an education health and care (EHC) plan
- failing to implement an EHC plan
- failing to carry out a timely annual review
- failing to arrange and maintain the specified provision including arranging a school placement.
We follow the corporate complaints process for these complaints:
Lancashire County Council cannot investigate complaints about issues covered by the SEND Tribunal.