We are in the final stages of EHCP. We have requested EOTAS (to pay for online school) and a personal budget. The LA have said "County Independent panel have reviewed your request for EOTAS and personal budget to fund Kings Inter High, further information is required before EOTAS can be considered. We will be contacting F...... high school to establish if they are able to support funding Kings Inter High as E. remains on their school roll. We will also be issuing consultations to independent settings to establish suitability; these consultations will be shared with you before they are issued." My question is does the LA pay for EOTAS - why are they asking the school? The LA tried to unroll her from mainstream but we said they could not do this until they have provided alternative provision - and we request EOTAS - were we wrong to do so?

My daughter is happy at online school. She has tried two mainstream schools and cannot manage. She will not attend school in person and the EP report is fairly conclusive with this regard.

Is there a legal list of what can and cannot be included in an EOTAS package? The LA want to include maths and English tutors which my son can’t engage with due to school trauma. The LA’s EP has said maths and English needs to be embedded within activities.

I am suggesting activities such as building a remote control vehicle, theatre and museum visits and learning about tractors from an agricultural engineer (rather than a tutor). The EP said subjects should help his future career. He wants to be a farmer. The last time my son accessed a tutor he ripped up the exercise book and ate the pages. It was not because of the tutor (who was patient and listened) but because of the school trauma and the trigger of work he was being asked to do. They are also looking at science tutors. It’s appears to be their section 19 offer rather than based on the EP’s report.

My daughter has a draft EHCP. She has been learning online since January 2023 and we want her to continue and for it to be paid out of a personal budget. What do we need to have in Section F and I ? Is there any precedence for this?

Has any Local Authority ever funded the building of a classroom at home for EOTAS?

Evidence for tribunal

Legally, can the LA name a special school on the current EHCP, specifying a start date for next September (2024), and stating that they agree EOTAS until then?

We suspect that the school is unsuitable for our daughter aged 12. The LA have offered EOTAS in the interrim, until the school place becomes available in a year's time. We do not know whether know whether our daughter will be in a condition to be able to go back to school at that point, but suspect not, so would prefer the EOTAS to be unlimited.

As the parent of a child with an EOTIS package, where the provider is not meeting need, and it has broken down, do I have the right to source other tutoring services?

My LA are refusing to consult with another tutoring service, which I have found, and incidentally are on their tenured list of providers. My daughter has no education right now, is nearly 16 and has not even started her GCSEs. They are ignoring my urgent request for an annual review too.

Should an LA go out for consultation to schools to see if they can meet a need with a draft EHCP which has not been agreed by parents and excludes much of the expert evidence?

We are applying for an EOTAS package for my autistic daughter who is in burnout and cannot access school. We have an EP report, specialist OT report and CAMHS letter to confirm that EOTAS is the most suitable education for her and we have carefully put together a detailed (and reasonable) package mapped against the needs, outcomes and provision detailed in the expert reports. The draft EHCP we were sent in response to this excluded a lot of the evidence from the expert reports which indicated EOTAS and that specialist support was needed and then sent this draft to panel and out to consultation to schools before we had returned our comments (on time within the 15 days) which highlighted the evidence which was missing. Is this right, as any consultation will be based on inaccurate information/plan? The LA are consulting schools as they need to be satisfied that educating her in a school is inappropriate - even though all the expert evidence clearly shows this?
Also we are being told that we cannot include any details in the EHCP about the skills and attributes the person providing the provision must have e.g. trauma informed, SEMH experience. Is this correct?
Any advice would be very much appreciated.

Is there a law which prohibits a parent from being the paid key adult under EOTAS?

The child is suffering school trauma and will not engage with any adult in educational activities without the mother being present

Our chosen Eotas provider not on council approved suppliers

We have two daughters who have EHCPs with EOTAS agreed. Good news.

We are wanting to use an online school for both girls. The council say the online provider is not on their supplier list and would have to go through their procurement processes. The council state we cannot request personal budget to use it for the school fees. And that we need to wait for the school to apply to the council and for the council to approve the provider.

The council's recommended provider for our eldest who is due to start a levels is a private tutoring firm who do not do A levels.

Both girls have been out of school since October and we are keen to start with the online provider by the start of the new academic year in September.

Any suggestions advice warmly appreciated!

EOTAS on health grounds - CVI & epilepsy

My child has an EHCP in place. He understands alot but has huge barriers in communication so cannot tell me how he is feeling.

His vision fluctuates from being not great to being completely blind depending on how cluttered the environment is and how much visual or auditory clutter there is(clutter includes humans of course). He is in an SEN provision, class of 10 and each school evening he gets home and has a huge meltdown due to the stress on his vision and each school night he is having an average of 5 epileptic seizures as a result of this same stress.

We are in between a 2 day tribunal and a further 1 day adjournment hearing. I obviously dont want to get in trouble with LA but i cant watch my child health being continually impacted upon as a result of complying with sending him to school. If i take my child out of school for a month or so prior to the next hearing for these health reasons what, if any bearing will it, or is it likely to have on EOTAS and being able to implement provision at home in a distraction free environment?

Thank you in advance