Working document
If the parent/carer or young person is appealing Sections B and/or F they will be sent a Working Document. This is a Word version of the EHCP being appealed. The Local Authority (LA) will provide this once all evidence has been submitted.
A working document goes back and forth between the LA and parent/carer or young person with the aim of trying to reach agreement on as many areas as possible, leaving only the most difficult points for the tribunal to decide.
The changes made to the working document need to come from the professional reports listed in section K and from any new professional evidence that has been gathered after the plan was issued. Use the wording in the report and reference the report and page number for each amendment. The parent/carer or young person need to markup suggested amendments using the key below and send it back to the LA.
The LA will then come back to the parent/carer or young person accepting what they agree, and they may suggest other amendments. This can happen numerous times, the idea is to agree as many amendments as possible before the hearing.
The tribunal will ask for the latest version of the working document before the hearing. The document must not exceed 25 pages of A4, if it does then a SEND7 form must be completed to justify why.
Working document key –
- Normal type – original EHC plan
- Underlined type/ Underlined strikethrough – Amendments agreed by both parties
- Bold type – parents’ proposed amendments
- Bold strikethrough – Parents’ proposed deletions
- Italic type – LA’s proposed amendments
- Italic strikethrough – LA proposed deletions
If the parent/carer or young person finds this key difficult to work with, they should tell the LA and work with a list of issues instead. All the information will still need to make detailed, clear and backed by evidence. Please don’t use colour to indicate things as the tribunal does not use colour printers.