Statement of special educational needs (SEN)

After the statutory assessment has been done, the authority will decide whether a statement of SEN is needed. The authority will only issue a statement if it decides that your child’s needs cannot be met through the normal resources available to schools. 

The statement of Special Educational Needs is a document that sets out your child’s needs and identifies provision to meet those needs. Statements should be clear and unambiguous, and will be set out in the following format.

The parts which identify the educational needs and provision (parts 2, 3 and 4) are legally binding. This means the authority must organise the provision that is described in the statement. Parts 5 and 6 of the statement describe non-educational needs (such as medical needs) and non-educational provision. These parts are not legally binding and you cannot appeal to the SEN and Disability Tribunal (SENDIST) about the content of parts 5 and 6. Any provision that directly affects your child’s education, such as speech and language therapy, should generally be regarded as educational provision and should be in part 3 of the statement, unless there are exceptional reasons.

Part 3 of a statement could include:

• Long term objectives for the education and development of your child, over the time of the statement.
• Educational provision made by the school, for example specialist teaching and learning methods.
• Educational provision made directly by the authority, for example time with a specialist or therapist.
• Educational provision made by other services, for example health and social services.
• Details of any elements of the National Curriculum that need to be modified or disapplied for your child.
• Changes to exams such as GCSEs (approval from the exam board is also needed).
• Short-term educational targets on the path to the long term objectives.
• Arrangements for monitoring your child’s progress.
• Any special arrangements for the annual review (for example, for some children, reviews will happen more frequently).

All provision in this section should be specific, detailed, and quantified. For example, the statement should specify how many hours of specialist support or therapy are needed and when these will be delivered. There may be a good reason for keeping the arrangements flexible if this helps your child. For example, when the support is given might depend on your child’s condition from day to day. If your child has several education needs with different levels of provision, and a statement is issued, all the educational provision should be included on the statement, whether or not each element would justify a statement on its own.

The authority will issue a proposed (draft) statement, and should give you instructions on what you should do next. All the reports from the statutory assessment must be sent as appendices with the proposed statement. This will include the advice you sent as parents, along with all the advice from other professionals and services. When you receive the proposed statement, you have a right to meet a representative of the authority to discuss the statement and the information gathered during the assessment. You can make written comments to the authority about the content of the statement. You must make these written comments, known as “parental representations”, within 15 days of receiving the proposed statement. If you meet with the representative from the authority, you have up to 15 days after the meeting to make further representations or request further meetings. You can appeal against the content of a proposed or final statement.

• More information about appeals
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