I honestly can not put into words how frustrating the last 7 months have been. But we have finally been given some headway. I honestly can’t believe it’s true. I requested EOTAS (Education other than at school) back in October 2021. Charlie had not attended his independent specialist school since June 2021 and despite a great effort from all the staff that work with Charlie, unfortunately he is not able to access education or learning in a school setting. We’ve tried 5 settings and frankly, that is enough. I can’t keep putting him through this. So, armed with my decision I told our caseworker that I wanted to apply for EOTAS. It started well, we had some positive communication and it seemed promising. But it wasn’t to be. It was months before we heard from the LA and that was only because I issued a formal complaint.

It is highly unreasonable to expect us, as parents and carers to communicate with the LA through a complaints procedure. But that is exactly what has happened. It took 4 unanswered emails and one official complaint for a response. I got an apology, but that is not good enough. It has been almost 12 months now that Charlie has had zero input from education and none of the provision in his EHCP has been provided. It is absolutely shocking, and what is worse is there is a team of people that think this is acceptable.

The result of the formal complaint has meant we have been sent a personal budget request form. I have filled it out the best I can and with everything I feel Charlie will benefit from that will deliver the provision as outlined in the EHCP. Again, I must stress, this is not my job! There are members of staff earning £30k a year to design these plans and keep them updated. And the managers on significantly more.

So, how does a personal budget work? The link below gives you more information.

Personal Budgets in the EHCP | Education Advocacy

Personal budgets and direct payments | (IPSEA) Independent Provider of Special Education Advice

EOTAS: Education Otherwise Than At School. What is it, and can I get it? - Special Needs Jungle

The formal complaint was only made possible from some amazing knowledge passed to me via IPSEA. They are an independent charity that offer a free helpline service on a Friday. I simply booked a slot and used that free one hour advice line to get some information on what I needed to move this along. We had been waiting too long for the LA to act and enough is enough. The link to the advice line is below:

Advice Line | (IPSEA) Independent Provider of Special Education Advice

IPSEA do incredible work and do incredible training also. I have been on their EHCP masterclass and I feel as though it has armed me with the knowledge I need to keep battling on to get Charlie the right level of education. It’s exhausting, of course it is. But I think it would be so much worse if I didn’t put so many valuable hours of my life into this. And those hours are free, I don’t get paid to do this for Charlie. I do it out of love for him and wanting him to have his best life.

We are currently 6 days into the personal budget request and the LA have 10 days to notify me of a decision. You bet I will be there Monday morning requesting information and making sure they are abiding by the law. I can’t begin to tell you how many educational laws they have broken by not responding to my emails and letting the EHCP lapse the way that they did.

I will keep you all posted. Fingers crossed for some better news on Monday.

Georgina x