The parent at the heart of a barrister-led review into how applications for Education Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) are dealt with by Hertfordshire County Council is determined that the voices of parents will be heard.

The man – who has to remain anonymous for legal reasons, but is known as Z – suggested there were “systemic failings” in the assessment process as part of a High Court hearing last year.

And it’s as a result of those allegations that leading barrister Leon Glenister has been brought-in to lead a six-week independent review.

Education officials have already been clear that the review will not include an “open invite” to anyone – including parents – to contact Mr Glenister.

But Z – who WILL meet with Mr Glenister – says he has gathered evidence from almost 200 parents of children with special needs.

And he says he has already shared the findings of his survey with the barrister, in advance of meeting with him later this week.

He says 88.89 per cent of parents who responded said the conduct of the local authority had harmed their child.

And, he says, 75 per cent of parents – who responded anonymously – said they would be willing to speak to the independent review.

He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service he feels “outraged” that there will not be an opportunity for parents – as well as schools, other organisations and young people – to contribute to the review.

And he says he has already emailed every county councillor to highlight what he sees as the limited scope and focus of the review – including the lack of opportunity for parents to be involved.

Nevertheless he hopes the impact of the review will be far-reaching.

“I hope it’s going to get to the truth,” he said. “And I hope that the local authority will be held to account.

“I hope there will be changes in the local authority.”

The review is expected to focus on the initial stage of the EHCP process, referred to as the EHCNA – including decisions not to progress applications through to the assessment stage.

As well as parent Z,  Mr Glenister is expected to hear from a representative from HCPI (Herts Parents and Carers Forum) and Dame Christine Lenehan, independent chair overseeing the county’s SEND delivery plan.

The LDRS also understands that the barrister will be permitted to include others in the review that he deems relevant.

The terms of the review have been agreed by legal representatives acting for the county council and the parent.

Solicitor Dan Rosenberg, from Simpson Millar – who has been acting for the parent – acknowledges that the difficulties parents experience as part of the EHCNA process are “not isolated to Hertfordshire”.

He hopes the review will identify the problems faced by parents and identify potential ways forward.

“The agreement by Hertfordshire County Council to conduct an Independent Review of its EHCNA progress is very positive,” said Mr Rosenberg.

“We have agreed the terms of the Review with Hertfordshire and are hopeful that the report will highlight where improvements are needed and suggest ways to correct any deficiencies in the council’s EHCNA process.

“We also note that the difficulties that parents and young people are experiencing relating to the EHCNA process are not isolated to Hertfordshire, and there are significant problems across England caused by a lack of funding from central government.

“However, the hope is that this review will be able to identify at a granular level the problems faced by parents when they first seek to get help for their children from the council and identify potential ways forwards.”

In response to the calls for greater involvement of parents, a spokesperson for the county council has pointed to the nature and scope of the review.

“There has been some confusion relating to the nature and scope of the independent review commissioned by the county council,” said the spokesperson.

“We know from parents and from our recent Ofsted inspection that our SEND services need to improve.

“That is why, alongside our extensive SEND Improvement Plan, we have commissioned a barrister to review a limited part of our own internal processes and decision making when a request to assess a child’s need is first received.

“The scope of this work includes but is not limited to how we deal with initial requests for an assessment, how decisions to refuse to assess are taken, and how decisions are reviewed when an appeal is lodged.

“The county council is committed to transparency and we will publish the findings of this independent review so that a constructive dialogue with parents can continue around the delivery of our improvement plans.”

EHCPs are legally binding documents that set out the special education health and care needs of a child or young person – as well as the extra help and support they will need to overcome barriers to learning.

The launch of the review comes less than a year after an inspection by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission found ‘systemic failings’ in the provision of SEND services in the county.