Special educational needs

If your child has a learning difficulty or a disability which is holding them back at school, they may have special educational needs (SEN).

A pupil with SEN is entitled to receive full-time education that is appropriate to their needs. This applies to children and young people between the ages of two and 19. This education may be in a special school, mainstream school (see Choosing a school, under the heading Statement of needs), or somewhere else. You have the right to educate your child at home as long as the local education authority is satisfied that this meets your child's needs.

There are different rules for young people who go to further, sixth form or higher education colleges.

If you think your child might have special educational needs, you should ask for a meeting with your child's teacher or the school's head teacher. The school has a duty to listen to any concerns you have about your child. If they refuse to meet you or you are unhappy with the outcome of the meeting, you can complain or appeal against the school's decision – see under heading Complaints and appeals.

You, your child's teachers, or someone else, for example a doctor or social worker, may identify that your child has SEN. Once this happens, the school and local education authority must follow the government Code of Practice on Special Educational Needs, which, in England, you can see at: www.teachernet.gov.uk. In Wales, you can see it on the Welsh Assembly Government website at: http://new.wales.gov.uk.

Your local education authority must have a parent partnership service (PPS) for parents of all children with SEN. This service can provide you with advice and information on all aspects of your child's SEN.

The Code of Practice says that an individual education plan (IEP) should be produced for your child. This must include details of the help to be given to your child which is different or additional to children who do not have SEN.

It may be possible for the school to meet your child's special needs by providing extra support. This could be, for example, by providing different learning materials or special equipment, using different teaching approaches, providing advice for teachers or specialist teaching for your child.

If the school is a local educational authority maintained school, it must have a special needs co-ordinator (SENCO) who will be responsible for co-ordinating the extra support needed.

If your child needs more support than the school can normally provide, more investigation may be needed to decide whether they need additional or different help. This may mean that a formal assessment of your child's needs will be carried out.

Disability discrimination

It is against the law for providers of education to discriminate against your child because of a disability.

Some children with special educational needs are also covered by disability discrimination law and some children may be disabled under disability discrimination law but not have special educational needs. Schools are not required by law to provide aids and services such as sign language interpreters under disability discrimination law, but these must be provided if your child has been assessed as needing them under special educational needs law.

Assessment of your child's special educational needs

The decision whether to make a formal assessment of your child's needs is made by the local education authority.

The assessment must be carried out according to set procedures laid down by law. It is against the law for the assessment to discriminate against your child because of race, sex, sexuality, religion or disability.

You have a right to ask the local education authority to make a formal assessment of your child. Your child's school also has this right. Other agencies such as social services or health authorities may also ask the local education authority to consider making an assessment.

If you want to ask for an assessment, you should provide the local education authority with as much information as you can about why you think it is necessary. You should also include details of any talks you have had with the school. It can take a long time to an assessment to go through so it's usually best to start talking to the school about an assessment as soon as you have concerns about your child's special educational needs. You have the right to ask for an assessment before your child reaches the age of two.

If your child is two or over, the local education authority must agree to your request for an assessment unless:

When the school or other agency asks for an assessment, the local education authority must write to you to let you know that it is considering making an assessment of your child. They must also give you certain other information including:

The local education authority must decide whether to carry out an assessment within six weeks of a request being made by either you or the school.

You have the right to object to an assessment being made of your child. You also have the right to appeal if the local education authority refuses to make an assessment – see under the heading Complaints and appeals.

If you want to appeal against a decision by the local education authority whether to make a formal assessment of your child's needs, you may want to consult an experienced adviser, for example, at a Citizens Advice Bureau. To search for details of your nearest CAB, including those that can give advice by e-mail, click on nearest CAB.

During the assessment, the local education authority will decide whether to issue a statement of your child's needs for extra support. If they decide that a statement is not needed, you have the right to appeal– see under the heading Complaints and appeals.

If you want to appeal against a decision by the local education authority whether to issue a statement of your child's needs, you may want to consult an experienced adviser, for example, at a Citizens Advice Bureau. To search for details of your nearest CAB, including those that can give advice by e-mail, click on nearest CAB.

Statement of needs

If the LEA decides to issue a statement for your child, they will first send you a proposed statement.

You should check the proposed statement carefully to make sure you agree with it. If there is anything you are not happy about, you have 15 days from the date it arrives to let the local education authority know your concerns.

You can ask for a meeting with a local education authority officer to discuss your concerns. If you feel that the proposed statement is discriminating against your child because of race, sex, sexuality, religion or disability, make sure you mention your concerns at this stage. If you are still unhappy with the statement after the meeting, you can ask for further meetings.

The local education authority must issue a final statement within eight weeks of issuing the proposed statement (longer if you have arranged meetings with local education authority officers) and begin providing for the special educational needs of your child. If you have agreed changes to the proposed statement, these should be included in the final statement. You have the right to appeal if you are unhappy with anything in the final statement – see under the heading Complaints and appeals.

If you want to appeal against a final statement from the local education authority, you may want to consult an experienced adviser, for example, at a Citizens Advice Bureau. To search for details of your nearest CAB, including those that can give advice by e-mail, click on nearest CAB.

Choosing a school

When the local education authority send you the proposed statement, they will also send you a list of schools in your area, and ask if there is an local education authority maintained school that you would prefer your child to go to. Unless you want to object to the proposed statement, you will have 15 days from the day it arrives to reply.

Local education authorities have a duty to educate your child in a mainstream school – that is a local education authority maintained school which is not a special school. If you choose to send your child to a particular mainstream school, the local education authority must agree to your choice unless:

If the local education authority decides, for one of these reasons, not to agree to your choice of school, it will choose another maintained school instead.

However, if you ask for a non-maintained special school or an approved independent school, the local education authority does not have to agree to your request, and will only do so if you can show that no local education authority school is able to meet your child's needs.

The local education authority will make a final decision on which school, or type of school, your child should go to. The final statement, when you get it, will include details of this school (unless it is an independent school) which will either be the one you have asked for, or one which the local education authority considers the most suitable for your child's needs.

You have the right to appeal against local education authority's choice of school for your child. If you want to appeal, you should consult an experienced adviser, for example, at a Citizens Advice Bureau. To search for details of your nearest CAB, including those that can give advice by e-mail, click on nearest CAB.

Transport

Your local education authority should have a policy about transport to school for children who have special educational needs. The policy should include details of how entitlement to transport is assessed and decided.

Local education authorities may provide free school transport for children with statements whose parents have not made suitable arrangements. Transport will only be provided if your child has needs which make it necessary. If it is not considered necessary, the local education authority will only provide free transport if your child is eight or over and lives more than three miles away from school, or if they are under eight and live more than two miles away from school.

Local education authorities will also usually pay towards travel costs for you to visit your child if they are placed in a residential school some distance from where you live. There may be a limit to the number of visits the local education authority will pay for, and you may need to get a letter of support from a doctor, social worker or teacher.

Keeping a statement up-to-date

Your child's statement should be reviewed on a regular basis, and at the least every twelve months. You should be involved in the review and must be invited to a meeting organised by your child's school.

If a decision is taken to change your child's statement in any way, you should be sent details of the proposed changes and told about your right of appeal if you disagree with them.

You also have the right to appeal if there are changes you think should be made to the statement that the local education authority has not agreed to make – see under heading Complaints and appeals.

(Example box starts)

My son has special educational needs and his statement says he needs a support worker in his classroom for two days a week. His behaviour has been getting much more difficult over the last few months and I think he needs more support. The school has refused to look again at his statement, even though the last one was reviewed over two years ago. I think they don't take my concerns seriously because we are Kurdish refugees and my English isn't very good.

Your son's statement should be reviewed regularly, at least once a year. The school isn't allowed to discriminate against because of your lack of English or because of your nationality. Get advice from your local Citizens Advice Bureau about taking action about this problem.

(Example box ends)

The local education authority can decide not to maintain your child's statement if they think it is no longer necessary. They can only make this decision after close consultation with you.

If the local education authority decides that your child's statement is no longer necessary, it must write and tell you so, giving its reasons, and providing copies of any evidence it has used to support its decision.

You have the right to appeal against the local education authority's decision not to maintain your child's statement – see under the heading Complaints and appeals. If you want to appeal, the local education authority must maintain the statement until the appeal is heard and a decision given, or until the appeal is withdrawn.

If you want to appeal against a decision by the local education authority not to maintain your child's statement, or against changes made to the statement, you should consult an experienced adviser, for example, at a Citizens Advice Bureau. To search for details of your nearest CAB, including those that can give advice by e-mail, click on nearest CAB.

Complaints and appeals

Complaints to the school

If you have a complaint about the way your child's school is providing for the special needs of your child, you should first contact staff informally to try and sort the problem out. If this does not work, you should ask to see a copy of the school's complaints procedure.

If you have used the school's complaints procedure and still not been able to resolve the problem, you may want to consider using a disagreement resolution procedure.

Disagreement resolution

Disagreement resolution uses an independent third party to help sort out disputes between you and the school, or between you and local education authority. Local education authorities must tell you about this procedure when they issue a proposed or amended statement, or if they decide not to issue a statement. Disagreement resolution can be started by you, the school, or the local education authority.

Taking part in disagreement resolution does not affect your right to make a formal appeal against a local education authority's decision. You can take part in disagreement resolution and appeal at the same time. However, if you want to appeal you must remember not to miss the two-month time limit – see under the heading Appeals. The outcome of the appeal will not be affected by what happens during disagreement resolution, unless you want it to. Equally, if you refuse to take part in disagreement resolution, this will not count against you if you make an appeal.

Appeals

If you have been through the school's complaints procedure and/or a disagreement resolution and are not satisfied with the results, you may want to appeal. In England, you should appeal to The Special Educational Needs (and Disability) Tribunal. In Wales, you should appeal to The Special Educational Needs Tribunal for Wales. These are independent tribunals which hear parents' appeals against certain decisions of the local education authority about a child's special educational needs. The Tribunal's decision is final.

It can take a long time, usually four to five months, for an appeal to be heard, and this may delay getting your child the help they need. However, you can continue to talk to the local education authority while you are waiting for the appeal, and you may find that you are able to sort out your differences and withdraw your appeal before it takes place.

To make an appeal, you need to fill in the form at the back of the How to appeal booklet, issued by the Tribunal, and return this no later than two months from the date that the letter from the local education authority arrives telling you of its decision. For a copy of the booklet for England, telephone: 01325 392 555, and for Wales, telephone 01597 829 800.

Complaints about the local education authority

You may have a complaint about the way the local education authority has dealt with your child's special educational needs. This might be, for example, about delays in carrying out an assessment of your child, issuing a statement or putting agreed services in place. For this type of complaint, you can use your local authority's complaints procedure. If you are not satisfied with the outcome, you can complain to the Local Government Ombudsman (or Public Services Ombudsman for Wales). The ombudsman will not be able to look into a complaint about something which you could take to the appeal tribunal instead.

Further help

If your child has special educational needs because of a disability or other personal circumstances, you may qualify for other help, for example, from the social services department of your local authority. For example, you may be able to get direct payments to help pay for extra help for your child.

You may have the right to benefits to cover additional costs that are involved if your child is disabled.

Organisations

There are many organisations that can support you if your child has special educational needs. Some of them can give information in a range of community languages.

Education - In England