January 2010

"IT NEVER RAINS, BUT IT SNOWS …"

As I always say at the beginning of my January update every year, may I firstly wish you a Happy New Year.  I hope that 2010 brings you everything that you are hoping for. 

The title of this update is a reflection of what has been happening in the UK during the past month or so.  It’s as though the whole country has come to a standstill because of the snow. The snow has played havoc with all of our work and domestic timetables. I am also sure that if, like me, you have children, they were oblivious to the chaos. Mine were just delighted by the regular snowfalls as this meant they may have time off school and could spend their time building snowmen, having snowball fights, sledging in the park or just curled up in their pyjamas on the sofa watching a film.

THIS UPDATE

As ever, I have a lot to get through in this update. If this is the first time you are reading an update like this, it is my attempt to bring you news or stories about SEN issues together with our latest news including about our website.   In this update you can read information under headings of The Lamb Inquiry, The Story I Promised You Last Time (Phase Transfers), Forthcoming Events, Results Of Our Survey, Another Great Year, Our Website, Welcome to Holland and This Brought A Smile To My Face.

THE LAMB INQUIRY

In my last full update of October 2009 entitled ‘This is getting to be a habit with me’ I explained a bit about the Lamb Inquiry which was about to finish imminently. The Lamb Inquiry, headed by Brian Lamb, the Chair of the Special Educational Consortium, was established as part of the Government’s response to the  House of Commons Education & Schools Committee Report entitled ‘Special Educational Needs Assessment and Funding’. The Lamb Inquiry’s remit was to investigate a range of ways in which parental confidence in the SEN assessment process might be improved.

In my October 2009 Update I provided information about some of the interim findings that Brian Lamb had submitted to the Government and details about the recommendations they had provisionally accepted. I also explained that we were hoping for the full report in the next few weeks.

In my further 'Update on the Lamb Inquiry on 29 November 2009 I said that the final report was still not going to be ready for a few weeks more but linked to a video of Brian Lamb delivering the annual TreeHouse lecture on 23 November 2009 and the Questions and Answers that he did for the Talk About Autism website later that week. 

The full Lamb Inquiry was not issued until 16 December 2009. I am afraid that, due to other commitments and the snow, I did not get a chance to properly consider it before the winter break so that I could send out another update. I have taken the decision to hold back this update until everyone has had a chance to get back to some degree of normality.

You may have already seen the report or read summaries but, if not,  I have set up a new page about the Lamb Inquiry on our website which summarises Brian Lamb’s recommendations. At the end, I have also included links to press releases from a number of education and/or disability organisations so you can see what other people have had to say.

THE STORY I PROMISED YOU LAST TIME (PHASE TRANSFERS)

In the introduction of my October 2009 Update I said that I had actually saved a story which I was going to tell you until my New Year Update in January 2010 and that you would see why when you read it. So here goes...

You may already know that appeals to the Special Educational Needs & Disability Tribunal always increase between February and July. This is because a law (known as the ‘Phase Transfer’ regulations) requires Statements for children with SEN to be amended every year by 15 February in the academic year before their transfer from infant to junior, primary to secondary schools and secondary to Post-16 placement. 

Unfortunately, many LEAs still do not issue final amended statements until close to the 15 February deadline. As parents then have two months to lodge an appeal if they dispute the contents of the Statement, including the school named for transfer, this usually only gives them until around the middle of April to get help, reports etc.

As an appeal to the Tribunal takes on average about 5½-6 months this means that only those parents who are already prepared or are quick off the mark and who can lodge an appeal quickly may be able to secure a hearing date of their appeal by the end of the academic year in July.  This should then allow the Tribunal to issue a decision by the summer holidays regarding which school their child should go to in September or if the special educational provision in the child’s Statement should be different. At least that’s the theory.

Unfortunately, July is a ‘bottle neck’ month at the Tribunal. Unless there has been specific agreement/application for ‘expedition’ between the parents and the LEA (i.e. having the appeal heard early) some appeals are not able to be heard until September or even October. The Tribunal does not normally hear appeals in August because so many people are away. 

So what is this story that you want to tell us, I hear you say. Well, last year, one local authority, East Sussex County Council, told one of my clients that, despite what the phase transfer regulations clearly say, the LEA did not have a legal duty to amend a statement ahead of primary to secondary transfer not just before 15 February but at all!  This led to an urgent successful judicial review in the High Court on 28 April 2009.  I previously sent out an email in May entitled ‘Important Judgment For Children With SEN’ about this with a summary of the case.

We are fast approaching the 15 February deadline again this year. Phase Transfer cases cause a lot of difficulties for both parents and LEAs with, as I understand it, nearly 80% of people contacting organisations like IPSEA asking for advice about phase transfer situations. 

I subsequently wrote a much longer and detailed article for the September issue of the Education Law Journal (ELJ) entitled ‘It Does What It Says On The Tin!’ (The Deadline for Amended Statements of Special Educational Needs in Phase Transfer Cases). If you are involved in any way whatsoever with Statements then this is required reading, whichever ‘side’ you may be representing. Even if you are not someone who is involved with the SEN system or appeal process, I think that you may still find it a very interesting story.

FORTHCOMING EVENTS

Once again this February, I will be providing a personal training day about Changes/Updates to the SEND Tribunal rules and processes for professionals or lay advocates/organisations involved in assisting parents of children with SEN in the Tribunal process on Monday 22 February 2010.  I am sending out emails this week to those people who have already expressed an interest in attending. If you have not yet done so and this is something of interest to you then can you quickly sign up by clicking here. Click here if you want to read What Delegates Say after attending training with me.

I will also be speaking again this year at the Jordans Annual SEN Law & Practice Conference  on Tuesday 2 March 2010 in London (this is their 15th one!)  With me are a couple of the usual suspects such as Simon Oliver, (until recently a Chair in SENDIST and part of the Judicial Management Team which oversaw the 2008 Tribunal changes) and David Wolfe, (a leading Barrister in the area of Education Law and himself a Chair of the Tribunal until July 2008). But I am delighted this year to also be sharing a platform with Brian Lamb, who will be delivering the Keynote speech and Judge John Aitken, the recently appointed Deputy Chamber President of the Health, Education & Social Care Chamber of the First Tier Tribunal, amongst others. 

My paper this year is entitled ‘Is the perfect statement just a myth?’  I hope to give lots of practical advice from a neutral point of view on avoiding the pitfalls and suggesting the best way to draft statements and working documents in the hope of avoiding, settling or winning appeals.

I have been specifically asked by Jordans to highlight this event in one of my emails.  If this is something that may interest you, you can find out more information and book a place on the Jordans website. 

Douglas Silas Solicitors will also be celebrating our 5th Anniversary in May this year having first opened our doors on 3 May 2005.  I am planning on holding a 5th Anniversary Reception on 6 May 2010. I will report back about what happens and about any new announcements that I make in my May/June update afterwards.

RESULTS OF OUR SURVEY

In my October 2009 Update I asked for your feedback about my updates/our website by way of a quick 9 question survey.  I am ever so grateful that so many people spared the time to take the survey (and are still doing so) particularly knowing how very busy everyone always is. 

I have found the results of the survey very informative and I thought that you may also be interested to see what other people are saying. You can see the summary results for yourself (as bar charts) on a dedicated page entitled Survey 2009 or you can link to a full and visual breakdown (with bar charts) by clicking here.

I was extremely touched by the responses to the question “What one thing would you like to tell us or other people about us or our website?”.  There were nearly 100 responses so it would not be right for me to set them out in full here so I have instead added most of them to our What The Public Say page (although you can see the responses separately by clicking here.)  However, I hope you do not mind if I share some of my favourites here:

• Informed parents are more likely to get good results and your site is the best for informing parents.  

• It is excellent because it is free.

• Really impressed about how the site explains concepts and gives information.  The language and overall tone are perfect. 

• Douglas Silas is simply the best SEN solicitor operating in the UK today.  His website is more than just a business window or source of information – it has become a National Resource for SEN parents.  His passion and commitment to helping SEN children is breathtaking.

• You’re brilliantly informative!  Thank you, thank you, thank you! 

• It's about Douglas, and there is no better!

• Your website is a very true representation of the people who work at Douglas Silas Solicitors – they are informative and very efficient. 

• Go here for honest, professional, direct and informed advice.

• To you, thanks for all the free stuff.  To others – Stop Press: Solicitor giving advice for free! 

• It’s the most accessible site I use.

• How generous you are with information you collate and share.  As a parent with an SEN/disabled child I don’t have so much time to find all that I need to know so your website really helps.  Thank you so much. 

• Clear factual legal information in accessible language.

• Non bias – does not favour either the parents or the educationalists – presents both views.  As parents we can become so focused and intense upon our child’s needs that we lose sight of the bigger picture.  Your site keeps things in perspective. 

• Advertise: parents need to know about the law and the hard times coming.

• You are doing a great job which is very much appreciated by the people you are helping.   

• There is no such thing as ‘too much information’ when it comes to our children, their education is just as important as ‘regular’ children, if not more.

• It gave excellent advice – wish I had found it sooner. 

• Easily accessible and non-threatening.

• I like the way you send to everyone therefore being transparent to all. 

• The best resource for parents with SEN children. 

• Thank you very much for creating it and making it freely available to parents of children with SEN.   

• I don’t know of anyone or any organisation working so tireless and unselfishly.  If it can be done you know who will do it.  Even when it seems impossible.  And it isn’t just moral support, it is practical and sensible and makes you feel you are not alone. 

• I always tell people how brilliant Douglas is, especially other lawyers. 

• You are very thorough with the cases you take on.

• Really useful website for parents confused by all the red tape associated with SEN which makes the whole process of being a parent of a child with SEN so confusing and challenging.   

• You are humans who in this current climate are unique, you care for our precious children.

And my favourite, for all the wrong reasons:

• IT’S A BIT IN YOUR FACE but packed full of very helpful information.  A great resource.

ANOTHER GREAT YEAR

2009 has been another great year for Douglas Silas Solicitors.  We have been fortunate to again keep up our good track record and help clients to successfully settle a very high percentage of cases. The few appeals that we lost last year were very deserving cases who I sincerely believe were unfairly treated by our very rigid SEN legal framework, which cannot always look at the associated social needs of the child particularly where parents are seeking residential placements for their children with SEN.

But although I have my name on the letterhead I am sure that you realise that I would not have enjoyed the success that we have experienced without the tireless hard work and dedication of my team.  I also want to acknowledge the ever-increasing input that we receive from our independent experts whose evidence is often crucial in a case.

Towards the end of my October 2009 Update I referred to the latest things that had been said about us by the Legal 500, our clients and the public.  Since then, the Chambers & Partners Guide to the Legal Profession 2010 has been published and I am delighted to be named again as joint number 1 Education Solicitor in the UK.  I hope that you will therefore not mind me sharing here what they have had to say:

"Over the course of the past year, this compact outfit has made a conscious decision to focus on cases involving SEN. Its workload is consequently dominated by the representation of children with SEN seeking placements within specialist schools or the specialist units of mainstream schools. It has also assisted parents in negotiating settlements with local authorities and is renowned for its capabilities in Special Educational Needs & Disability Tribunal (SENDIST) appeals.

Douglas Silas possesses an "astounding knowledge of the law," report sources. Other interviewees added: "He removes all the anxiety from stressful situations by taking control in a calm and reasonable manner." "

OUR WEBSITE

A year ago, in my January 2009 Update, I reported that, during 2008, our website had received over 125,000 visitors and served up over 290,000 web pages to people.  Unbelievably, 2009 has been an even better year with the website receiving over 150,000 unique visitors and serving up almost 360,000 web pages.  You can see the evidence and trends for yourself here – Website Statistics.

The great thing about website statistics is that you also get to find out information about where people are coming from and other (often trivial) information.  It was no surprise to me to see that most people find us through Google, Yahoo, Live, or Ask search engines and are mainly coming from the UK with a few from Ireland, the USA, Australia, and New Zealand. But I was amazed to find people visiting our website from countries such as the Czech Republic, Canada, Germany, India, Singapore, New Zealand, France, Brazil, Malaysia, Russia, Japan, Poland, Italy, the Netherlands, and Portugal, who all paid between 20 and 100 unique visits during last year. 

More amazing still was that we had a handful of visits from places as far away as Taiwan, Mexico, Indonesia, Thailand, the Maldives, Bulgaria, Trinidad & Tobago, Romania and Tanzania. It therefore appears that our SEN legal system may be of interest to people elsewhere in the world.

WELCOME TO HOLLAND

A client of mine recently sent me a piece called ‘Welcome to Holland’ written by Emily Perl Kingsley in 1987. I have seen it a number of times before but I enjoyed reading again as it articulately expresses what it is like to have a child with SEN.  I thought that I would share it with you here. Even if you have seen it before it is a good reminder of what a parent of a child with SEN can feel.

THIS BROUGHT A SMILE TO MY FACE

Finally, I am always conscious of the fact that my updates are very detailed and usually have a lot of serious information to digest.  If you have got this far on first reading then you are extremely dedicated! 

But, just in case you do not know me personally, I do have a lighter side to me as well.  I often say that although I take my clients’ cases very seriously I do not take myself too seriously.  On April Fools’ day last year somebody sent me a copy of The Dental Care (Children) Regulations 2009. Although it is not yet that time of the year again I thought I would share it with you here. Prepare to chuckle! 

Many thanks for taking the time to read this and, please again, accept my very best personal wishes to you and yours for 2010.

As always,

Douglas

P.S. I am finding it extremely helpful to find out what people are thinking in order to guide my future plans. I am therefore going to ask you to help me again by telling me what you think about this update, what I should try to be doing, SEN issues generally etc. Please also let me have any questions about SEN issues (general or particular) that you think would be helpful for you or other people as it will help me with another project I am working on for the website.

Just click here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/January2010Update - no tick-boxes this time to complete - just tell me what you are thinking or pose me questions to answer.. Many thanks in advance. I have set it up so that you can leave your thoughts/questions as many times as you want.