Legal Information – help and resources
Pinpoint has run legal seminars for parent carers on children and young people’s rights, with local solicitors Irwin Mitchell, looking at education, health and care issues.
You can also access a series of factsheets and template letters on various topics, prepared by Irwin Mitchell and partners especially for parents and young people who need more information about key aspects of the Children and Families Act 2014. All these resources can be found on the Irwin Mitchell website.
Factsheets include:
- Duties on Schools
- EHC needs assessments
- The EHC plan
- Health duties
- Social care assessments and duties for children
- Social care assessments and duties over 18
- Duties to carers and carers assessments
- The Local Offer
- Advocacy
- Consultation
- Information, advice and support
- Support for pupils with medical conditions
- SEN support – early years
- SEN support – schools
- SEN support – further education
- Personal Budgets
- Direct Payments
- Annual Reviews and Re-assessments
- Preparing for adulthood
- Mediation
- Tribunal appeals
- Complaints
- Judicial Review
- Legal Aid
Template letters
- Requesting an EHC needs assessment
- Chasing up on the outcome of an assessment request
- Requesting amendments to a draft plan (including requesting a school or placement)
- Chasing up on the outcome of a final plan
- Requesting a personal budget
- Requesting a direct payment
- Appealing a decision to refuse direct payments
- Requesting a social care assessment for a child or young person under 18
- Requesting a social care assessment for a young person over 18
- Requesting a carers assessment
- Requesting information regarding the Local Offer
IPSEA, Independent Parental Special Education Advice, has free and downloadable website resources to help families get the right education for children and young people with all kinds of special educational needs and/or disability.
You can access these resources via the IPSEA website. There are model letters, frequently asked questions, a jargon buster and lots more.
IPSEA’s trained volunteers give free, legally based independent advice and support in England.
You can book a 30 minute appointment via the website slot to speak to one of IPSEA’s volunteers on any educational issue that is the result of a child’s special educational needs or disability. An IPSEA Volunteer Adviser will give you up-to-date information on the law and what it allows you to do. They will also give you clear next-step advice.
If you’re caring for a disabled child, remaining in paid work can be quite challenging.
Knowing your rights can help you combine paid work and caring for your child.
Charity Working Families have a dedicated network and advice service for parents of disabled children who work or wish to work.
- Video overview here
- You can also read their advice for parents & carers
- Parents’ helpline for questions about work and caring: 0300 012 0312 (usually open weekdays 11am-2pm)
Family Rights Group is a charity working with parents whose children are in need, at risk or are in the care system, and with members of the wider family who are raising children unable to remain at home.
FRG advises parents, grandparents, other relatives and friends about their rights and options when social workers or courts make decisions
about their children’s welfare.
It’s free and confidential advice service has expert advisors with extensive experience in legal and social work practice. They help families understand the Family Law and Child Welfare processes, as well as better understand the concerns of social workers.
Free helpline: 0808 801 0366 (Monday to Friday 9.30am to 3pm)
This handbook aims to empower disabled children and their families through better understanding of rights and entitlements.
It costs £50 to buy but you can download a free PDF adaption of each chapter via the Council for Disabled Children’s website.
Douglas Silas Solicitors have a free App for Smartphone or Tablet for anyone (whether personally or professionally) involved with a child or young person with Special Educational Needs (SEN). The App sections include: News, FAQs, Law, Videos. The app also includes a copy ‘A Guide To The SEND Code of Practice (updated for 2020/21)’ which contains the Code itself with internal and external links to relevant parts of it and other guidance and legislation. http://www.specialeducationalneeds.co.uk/senfyi-app.html
The Law Clinic at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge offers free half hour appointments with a solicitor. There is an initial interview with a student to gather additional information ahead of this. The majority of meetings are held over Zoom.
The Law Clinic can help with family law matters including issues around the breakdown of relationships and arrangements for children. They can also support with employment issues such as unfair dismissal, discrimination, carer’s rights and returning to work, immigration law, personal injury and clinical negligence law.
The Law Clinic are currently open Tuesday, Wednesdays and Thursdays but do close for periods such as Christmas and some other times during university holidays.
Contact the Law Clinic on 01223 698498 or by emailing lawclinic@aru.ac.uk.
For more information see their webpage.
Planning for the future is essential for every parent, but it holds particular significance for parents of children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. Wills and trusts are an indispensable tool towards managing this and offer a structured approach to safeguarding the future of our children and young people.
Wills help to outline how property and assets will be distributed after a person’s death. They can also include information about your wishes regarding the care and inheritance of your child(ren). You can name a guardian, make special provisions tailored to the unique needs of your family and establish a trust.
Trusts enable a designated trustee to hold assets on behalf of a beneficiary. This can offer many advantages in terms of managing and protecting assets for the child’s benefit.
When you have a child with a special educational need and/or disability, planning for the future involves careful consideration of legal and financial strategies to ensure their child’s ongoing wellbeing and security.
It can be really difficult to know how to make sure your child or young person is provided for when you are no longer around. You can find free information about wills and trusts at the Mencap website.
POhWER are the advocacy service for SEND children and young people in Cambridgeshire.
POhWER deliver a range of statutory and non-statutory advocacy services to the residents of Cambridgeshire in partnership with Cambridgeshire Deaf Association.
They offer the following services in Cambridgeshire:
- Independent Mental Capacity Advocacy (IMCA), including Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) and Relevant Person’s Paid Representative Services (RPPR)
- Independent Mental Health Advocacy (IMHA)
- Independent Care Act Advocacy for residents of Cambridgeshire and people that reside at HMP Littlehey or HMP Whitemoor.
- NHS Complaints Advocacy
- Community Advocacy
- Community Advocacy for Adults with Learning Disability and/or Autism
To find out more and to make a referral please visit the POhWER website.
Helpful videos about advocacy
Advocacy explained for young children