Skip over main navigation
  • Sign up
  • Log in
  • Basket: (0 items)
(IPSEA) Independent Provider of Special Education Advice
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
Donate
Menu
  • Home
  • About us
    • Who we are
    • Our impact
    • Our vision and goals
    • Work for us
    • Annual report
  • How we help
    • Get support
    • Our services
    • Policy work
    • Services for professionals
    • Case studies
  • Training
    • Learn about and book training
    • Upcoming training events
    • Online training
    • Face to face training
    • Bespoke training
    • Training FAQs
    • Webinars
    • Legal updates
    • Testimonials
  • Get involved
    • Why funds are necessary
    • Donate
    • Fundraising
    • Other ways to give
      • Online shopping
      • Gifts in your will
      • Gifts in memory
      • Gifts in celebration
    • Volunteer
    • Corporate support
    • Trusts and foundations
  • Latest
    • News
    • IPSEA Blogs
  • Contact
    • Contact us
    • Press enquiries
  • IPSEA Legal Resources Portal
  • Admin
    • Log in
  • Basket: (0 items)
  • Policy work
  1. How we help
  2. Policy work

Policy work

An important part of IPSEA’s governing objectives is our policy work. We respond to consultations connected to the law around special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), as well as assessing and evaluating issues brought to our attention by volunteers and parents. 

Interventions by our legal team can include corresponding with local authorities regarding potentially illegal policies and inaccurate guidance, and we have also sent letters before action to local authorities pursuant to the pre-action protocol for judicial review. IPSEA’s legal team can also support applications for judicial review or Upper Tribunal cases where there is a wider public interest.

We develop and maintain working relationships with key government departments, ensuring that all legislation and guidance on SEND and related matters has had significant input from IPSEA. The policy and special interest groups that we are members of include:

  • The Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Information Organisations Group (SENDIOG)
  • The National SEND Forum
  • The Special Educational Consortium
  • The regional SEND Tribunal User Group meetings, which are chaired by the Lead SEND Tribunal judge and provide us with a forum to feedback on issues facing parents and carers in the tribunal process 

Examples of our policy work

We can’t always publicise our policy work, but some recent examples of successful interventions are below: 

  • We threatened judicial review against a local authority when they unreasonably refused to provide home-to-school transport for a disabled child. The child was getting to school by bus, but his medical condition had worsened over recent years and he now found the bus journey so exhausting that he was often sick by the time he got to school. The local authority said that the boy should move to attend a school closer to his home, even though he was attending the nearest school which was wheelchair accessible. After the threat of legal action, the LA reversed their decision and agreed to provide a taxi to transport him to school. 
  • A local authority had issued guidance to schools suggesting that it was acceptable to place a child on a ‘part-time timetable’ to deal with challenging behaviour. This is not lawful, and would in fact amount to an informal exclusion from school. It feeds into a culture where children with SEN are 6 times more likely to be excluded from school than their non-SEN peers. IPSEA challenged the legality of this guidance, and after correspondence with our legal team, the local authority withdrew the guidance and acknowledged it had not been a correct reflection of the law. 
  • For children or young people with SEN to access support through an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan, they must first undergo an EHC needs assessment. One local authority had put in place a policy imposing criteria for qualifying for an EHC needs assessment which were far above those set out in the law, meaning that children and young people legitimately entitled to such an assessment were being denied it. Following correspondence with IPSEA’s legal team, the unlawful policy was withdrawn.

Published: 17th April, 2018

Author: Emma Brock

Share this page
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Latest

  • Support IPSEA

    Any donation you make is hugely appreciated, and helps to keep our vital advice and support services running

  • IPSEA SEND Law for Local Authorities - 25 March

    IPSEA SEND Law for Local Authorities - 25 March

    This one-day training is designed specifically for local authority staff, providing an overview of the special educational needs and disability (SEND) legal framework, as well as other related areas of the law.

  • SEND Tribunal hints and tips

    SEND Tribunal hints and tips

    Split into two half-day training courses, this training covers 'refusal to assess' and 'refusal to issue a plan' appeals, or 'appeals against the contents of a plan' and 'appeals against the name of a school'.

  • SEND Tribunal hints and tips 16/02/2021

    SEND Tribunal hints and tips 16/02/2021

    This training day is suitable for those currently going through the following appeals processes: appeals against the contents of an EHC plan and appeals against the school named in the plan

Most read

  • EHC needs assessments

    EHC needs assessments

    An EHC needs assessment is an assessment of a child or young person’s education, health and care needs

  • Asking for an EHC needs assessment

    Asking for an EHC needs assessment

  • Advice Line

    Advice Line

    Our Advice Line provides legally based information and next step advice on any educational issue that is the result of a child’s special educational needs or disability

  • Model letters

    Model letters

    IPSEA model letters are available to download and amend for your own purposes

  • Making a request for an EHC needs assessment: Model letter 1

    Making a request for an EHC needs assessment: Model letter 1

  • Contact us

    Contact us

  • What happens in an EHC needs assessment

    What happens in an EHC needs assessment

  • Appealing to the SEND Tribunal

    Appealing to the SEND Tribunal

    The SEND Tribunal is an independent national tribunal which hears parents’ and young people’s appeals against LA decisions about the special educational needs of children and young people

  • IPSEA update on COVID-19 and SEN provision

    IPSEA update on COVID-19 and SEN provision

    Read our guidance on the how the COVID-19 measures affect children and young people with special educational needs (SEN)

  • What an EHC plan contains

    What an EHC plan contains

    An EHC plan should be written in a way that makes it clear, to parents, young people, schools, colleges and LAs, who is required to do what, when it has to happen and how often it should be reviewed

How you can help IPSEA

How you can help IPSEA

Have you found the information on our website helpful today? If so, please consider donating! At IPSEA, we rely on your donations and fundraising efforts to help keep our vital services running. Read more

Donate Fundraise

Published: 19th March, 2014

Updated: 11th March, 2020

Author:

Sign up to receive regular email updates from IPSEA

* indicates required
The Queen's Award for Voluntary Service
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Contact us
  • Accessibility
  • Sitemap
  • Privacy policy
  • Login
  • My details
  • Log out

IPSEA is registered charity number 327691
Limited company 2198066

Registered office: IPSEA, 24-26 Gold Street, Saffron Walden, CB10 1EJ