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SEND Family Guidance

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A Simple Guide to SEND Mediation

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If your local authority refuses to help your child, you might feel completely stuck. You do not always have to go straight to a stressful legal appeal. Mediation offers a safe space to talk and find a fair solution. At SEND Family Guidance, we help you understand exactly how this works so you can get the best result.

What is Mediation?

Mediation is a free and completely independent meeting. It helps families resolve disputes with the local authority about a child or young person. You sit down with council staff and a trained mediator. The mediator does not take sides. They just help everyone listen to each other properly. Every good mediation service should be registered with the civil mediation council. This ensures they meet very high national standards.

You can use mediation for several reasons. You might disagree when the council refuses an ehc needs assessment. You might be unhappy with the final support written into finalized ehc plans. You can also discuss concerns about the health and social care sections of a plan. It is a brilliant way to address all your worries at once.

Do I Have to Mediate?

You do not have to attend a full mediation meeting if you do not want to. However, the law says you must at least consider it before you can appeal to a tribunal. You must call the independent mediation service listed on your decision letter.

If you decide that a meeting will not help, you tell the advisor. They will then issue a certificate to prove you made contact. They must send this certificate within 3 working days. You absolutely need this document to start your legal appeal. The only time you do not need this certificate is if your appeal is strictly about the specific school college named in the plan.

What Happens if I Choose to Mediate?

If you decide to go ahead, the local authority must attend the meeting. They must organize the mediation session within 30 days of your request. This strict timeline stops the council from delaying your case unfairly.

During the meeting, you can explain exactly why your child needs more special educational support. You can bring expert reports and school tracking data to prove your points. If you reach an agreement, the mediator writes it all down. The council must then follow these new agreed steps. If you cannot agree, the mediator will issue the required certificate within 3 working days of the meeting finishing. You can then use this paper to launch your tribunal appeal.

Disagreement Resolution Services

You might also hear the term disagreement resolution. This is slightly different from standard mediation. Disagreement resolution is a voluntary process that can be used at any time. It helps solve issues between parents, schools, and the council before relationships break down completely. Unlike mediation, it is not a required legal step before a tribunal.

Mediation gives you a powerful chance to fix issues quickly. If you are preparing for a meeting, contact SEND Family Guidance today. We can help you gather the right evidence and plan your arguments with total confidence.

Why Northants SEND Family Guidance?

been through the EHCP process and I have battled the system.

let me help, support, listen and offer guidance in anyway I can.

over 20 years of experience and a special interest in neurodivergence.

A highly rated and qualified Children's Nurse

Seeking assistance in navigating the EHCP process? Share your details, and we'll reach out promptly. Your tailored guidance awaits - we are here to support you!

Upload professional reports. eg One Page Profile, Educational Psychologist, Occcupational Therapy

services offered

EHCP Support

Support with all stages of the EHCP process including:

  • Requests for an Education, Health and Care Needs Assessment
  • Understanding professional reports
  • Responding to draft EHCPs
  • Ensuring provision is specific, quantified and legally enforceable
  • Advice on suitable educational placements

This service helps ensure your child’s EHCP accurately reflects their needs and protects their support long-term.

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Critical Review of Draft EHCP

A detailed professional review of your child’s Draft EHCP. This is usually time critical as you only have 15 days to submit your request for amendments.
You will receive a document outlining recommended amendments to ensure:

  • Needs are fully reflected
  • Provision is clearly specified
  • Language is legally enforceable
  • Important support is not missing

This can make a significant difference to whether provision is properly delivered.

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School Meeting Support

School meetings can sometimes feel intimidating, particularly when important decisions are being made about your child’s education and support. I offer support to parents by helping you prepare for meetings, understand your child’s rights and ensure that the provision outlined in their EHCP is being properly discussed and implemented.

I can also attend meetings alongside you where appropriate, helping to ask the right questions, challenge unclear information and ensure that conversations remain focused on your child’s needs. My role is to help parents feel confident, informed and heard, so that decisions are made in the best interests of the child.

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DLA and PIP Application Support

Completing forms for Disability Living Allowance (DLA) or Personal Independence Payment (PIP) can feel overwhelming, especially when you are already managing the day-to-day needs of your child or family member.
These forms require detailed information about how a condition impacts everyday life, and many families struggle to know how to present this clearly.

I offer support with completing these applications, helping you explain your child’s needs in a way that accurately reflects the level of support required. This can include working through the form with you, helping to word responses appropriately, and ensuring the full impact of your child’s needs is recognised.

My aim is to make the process less stressful while giving your application the best possible chance of success.

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Child Needs Assessment

I offer a comprehensive assessment of your child’s needs, designed to build a clear picture of their strengths, challenges and the support they require to thrive both at home and in education. This assessment considers areas such as emotional regulation, sensory needs, learning profile, behaviour, communication, and how demands in everyday environments may be impacting your child.

The process includes gathering information from parents, discussing your child’s experiences at home and school, and observing patterns in behaviour, regulation and engagement. Following the assessment, you will receive a written report outlining key areas of need alongside practical recommendations and supportive strategies that can be implemented at home or within school.

This assessment can also help parents better understand their child’s profile, support conversations with schools, and provide useful information when considering additional support or future EHCP applications.

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More from Northamptonshire Send Family Guidance & Advocacy Service

What does everyone Say?

Vikki put together a comprehensive report which will be incredibly useful going forwards including links to evidence and helpful suggestions for strategies to help both at home and at school. We will definitely be calling on her again for future support. Most importantly she put my son at ease straight away and also made sure to include his positive attributes and strengths in the report - something which is so often left out of the endless forms that can feel so negative.
Heather Smith
Rated 5 out of 5
At first I was very nervous about using this service but I’m very glad I did. My son was on DLA and I needed to apply for PIP, I find the process can be very difficult so really needed help filling in the form and sending the right evidence for his claim. Vikki was amazing, understood my child’s needs and really listened to everything, I feel so much more at ease now it is all complete and would most certainly use her again if needed. Thank You Vikki.
Sarah Aughey
Rated 5 out of 5
Vikki’s knowledge and calm support has been invaluable in both the EHCP process and in face to face meetings with the school. Her background professionally and personally means she has a depth of understanding in both the practical and emotional side of this whole process. If you are unsure if you require Vikki’s services then just drop her a message to enquire, it took a lot of the stress and paperwork time out of the EHCP process for me and I would fully recommend her.
Zoe Ruth
Rated 5 out of 5
I'm so grateful. Vikki is helping me through the process, had meetings with me with staff and SENCO's. She has formulated emails for me, completed so much paperwork and trawled through so much evidence to support the requests for support and ultimately a special school setting. She is so calm and has helped me feel more confident about navigating this process which I feel is a minefield. She is highly professional - I couldn't have got as far as we have without her support. Thank you Vikki.
Victoria B
Rated 5 out of 5
Such an amazing service to find, when running on empty and not knowing what to do for your send child you need all the help and support you can get and that's exactly what Vikki gave me, helped me understand my daughters ehcp, helped me with secondary schools, , helped me get a response for my case worker. Very responsive and professional. Will definitely recommend to other parents.
Cara Tate
Rated 5 out of 5
Having struggled to get any communication or assistance from West Northants Council or the Local Authority for my Autistic Son, I called this service today and was met with the most understanding information and assistance I have received in a LONG time. Huge thanks to Vikki who was incredibly helpful and gave me contact information for departments and places I had no idea even existed, despite having had to fight for the rights and needs of my Autistic Son for years now. This is an excellent service and I highly recommend it to anyone who is struggling to get what their SEND child or family member needs.
Viktoria Brice
Rated 5 out of 5
I'd highly recommend Vikki. She recently did a consultation with our child to help us better understand how we can support them. Vikki quickly built a connection with our child that helped them to relax and she let the meeting run as long as was needed so we didn't feel rushed.
Natalie Breslin
Rated 5 out of 5
Vikki is an absolute gem. I'm so glad I came across her. I was feeling completely overwhelmed and stressed about my child's EHCP amendment, off site schooling situation, and to secure a specialist provision for my Autistic child with a complex needs. I was struggling to get my voice heard by the school and local authority.
Mercy Ozim
Rated 5 out of 5