Mediation

You have a right to try mediation where a decision is made which you could appeal to the Special Education Needs and Disability (SEND) Tribunal, or where an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP)is made, amended or replaced.

The decisions made by your LA which you can appeal are decisions:

• Not to conduct an Education Health and Care (EHC) needs assessment.
• Following an EHC needs assessment, not to issue an EHCP.
• When first made, amended or replaced, in relation to Sections B, F and/or I of an EHCP.
• Not to conduct a re-assessment of needs under section 44 CFA 2014 following a request to do so.
• Not to secure the amendment or replacement of an EHCP following a review or re-assessment under section 44 CFA 2014, or 
• To cease to maintain (or stop) an EHCP under section 45 CFA 2014.

You can read more at Children and Families Act 2014

This means that you can mediate on and appeal a wide range of decisions, including in relation to the school, college or other educational setting (the placement named in section I of an EHCP) only.

We advise anyone wanting to appeal Section I (educational placement) to seriously consider also appealing sections B (special educational needs) and F (special educational provision) as the contents of these sections influence decisions relating to section I.  Please discuss this with your local SENDIASS Co-ordinator .

If you have a right to mediation, you can mediate about the following matters:

• education
• health, and/or social care.

There does not need to be an educational element to the mediation to discuss health care or social care. You can discuss just education, just health care or just social care, if that is what is relevant to your situation.

However, if you want to appeal to tribunal following mediation there will need to be an educational element to the appeal.  For further information, please read the Extended SEND Tribunal powers on health and social care  (IPSEA) Independent Provider of Special Education Advice and SEND tribunal: extended appeals - GOV.UK

Please contact your local SENDIASS Co-ordinator for further advice on appealing health and social care elements of an EHCP.

The first step is to call a mediation adviser to get information and advice on mediation.

The decision letter the LA sent to you, or the letter enclosing the final EHCP, must tell you of your right to mediation and give you contact details for a mediation adviser.

If you need a mediation certificate because you wish to appeal to the SEND Tribunal, and it is not just about placement (section I), then you must contact the mediation adviser within 2 months from the date of the LA’s decision letter/letter enclosing the final plan.

You have a right to mediation even if your dispute is only about placement. If this is the case and you want to consider mediation, you should call the mediation advisor well within the 2 months to get information on the process. They will talk you through the process to help you decide whether to try it or not.

When you speak to the mediation adviser you need to tell them that you wish to appeal, and whether you want to try mediation.

If you do not want to try mediation you do not have to. Simply tell the mediation adviser that and they will send to you a mediation certificate. You will need this certificate to send with your appeal paperwork, so keep hold of it.

They must send you the mediation certificate within 3 working days of you telling them you do not want mediation. 

If you decide you do want to try mediation, you need to tell the mediation adviser and the LA this and tell them what you want to discuss in the mediation.

If what you want to discuss includes the fact that no health care provision, or no health care provision of a particular kind, is set out in the EHCP, you need to also tell the LA what health care provision you would like to be set out in the plan. 

These are called the mediation issues. You can discuss these with  local Cumberland SEND IASS Co-ordinator .

Further information on the mediation process can be obtained from the mediation provider and/or your  local Cumberland SEND IASS Co-ordinator, more information can be found on at: Independent Provider of Special Education Advice (IPSEA) - The Mediation Process.