- Rewards 24
Questions [2]
Questions they have asked
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Do services funded by a personal budget need to be from an LA approved providers?
Hello,
I hope that you may be able to help; I have a query about personal budgets.
We currently have a PB for my son's independent OT. This service is delivered at my son's school by an outreach service run by a specialist school. He's had the same therapist for around 18 months.
This was approved by the LA, to be paid business-to-business during his EHCP AR process and I have panel decision documentation which supported the use of this specific outreach service, as my son has an established relationship with them and no other OT service could do the in-school visits.
We're currently in tribunal with the LA (section B and F) and now two months before our hearing date the LA have told me that the OT provider is not on their list of approved providers and that they want me to consent to my son being reassessed so that they can move him to an alternative service.
I think that the LA are trying to pressurise me into having LA assessments (as we've currently got independent reports). I'm aware that they can write to SENDIST and request access and that personal budgets are also outside the remit of the FTT.
The specialist school that provide the OT service do educate children from my son's LA, so I find it hard to believe that they are not an approved service. I am digging into this!
I've read the regulations around PBs and I can't see that there is actual a requirement for the provider to be on an LAs approved list? Is this correct?
Sorry, that was a bit long winded.
Thanks so much, Verity -
Removing references to evidence in the working document
Hello, we have our Tribunal hearing in a few weeks for our appeal of Section B and F and an extended appeal for Section C and G. We have managed to agree a large amount of the working document with the LA and they have asked me to now remove the references to professional reports against each statement that has been agreed.
I'm not keen to do this in case they change their mind about what has been agreed and adjust the working document before the hearing and my references then wont be included.
Is it standard practice to remove references from the working document before a hearing on agreed statements?
Thanks, Verity
Answers [0]
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