This is a statutory service commissioned by local authorities to provide a quick and non-adversarial way of resolving disagreements between parents or young people and bodies responsible for providing education, whether the child or young person has an Education Health and Care plan or not, or health and social care in relation to EHC assessments and plans.
What is the aim of disagreement resolution?
The aim of disagreement resolution in relation to special educational needs and disability (SEND) should be to resolve all disputes promptly and at an early stage, so that support can be put in place with minimum delay for the child or young person concerned.
Disagreement resolution is not the same as mediation.
Under the Children and Families Act 2014, ‘disagreement resolution’ and ‘mediation’ refer to two different processes.
Local authorities must make disagreement resolution services available to parents and young people.
Use of the disagreement resolution services is voluntary and must be with the agreement of all parties.
The service, while commissioned by it, must be independent of the local authority – no-one who is directly employed by a local authority can provide disagreement resolution services.
Disagreement resolution arrangements cover all children and young people with special educational needs (SEN), not just those who are being assessed for or have an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP). They also cover a range of issues causing disagreements.
These arrangements are available to parents and young people to resolve disagreements about any aspect of SEN provision, and health and social care disagreements during the processes related to education health care needs assessments and EHC plans.
Principles for Resolving Disagreements
- Decisions about provision for children and young people with SEN or disabilities should be made jointly by providers, parents, and children and young people themselves, taking a person-centred approach, with the views of children, young people and parents taken into account when those decisions are made.
- Relations between education, health and social care services and parents and young people should be marked by open communication so that parents and young people know where they are in the decision-making process, their knowledge and experience can be used to support good decision-making, and they know the reasons why decisions have been made.
- Parents and young people should be given information and, where necessary, support so that they can take part in decision-making and complaints processes. Support can be provided by statutory or voluntary organisations.
- Local authorities must make known to parents and young people the possibility of resolving disagreements across education, health and social care through disagreement resolution and mediation procedures and education, health and social care providers should have complaints procedures which, along with details about appealing to the Tribunal, should be made known to parents and young people through the local authority’s Information, Advice and Support Service.
Further Information
DfE Fact Sheet#1; Routes for Disagreement Resolution – DfE-Mediation-factsheet1_routes-final.pdf (kids.org.uk) (external link)
DfE Fact Sheet #2; SEND Disagreement Resolution Services – DfE-Mediation-factsheet2_drs-final.pdf (kids.org.uk) (external link)
Collis Mediation Ltd have a little more information on their webpage about mediation – SEND Mediation (collismediationltd.com) (external link)
Legislation
- The Children and Families Act 2014 Sections 51 – 57 and 60
- The Children Act 1989, section 26
- The Education Act 1996, Section 496 and 497
- The Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007
- The Equality Act 2010
- The Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012
Regulations
- The Special Educational Needs Regulations 2014
- The Children Act 1989 Representations Procedure Regulations 2006
- The Tribunal Procedure (First-tier Tribunal) (Health, Education and Social Care Chamber) Rules 2008
- The Local Authority Social Services and National Health Service Complaints Regulations 2009
- The Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2010