Central Bedfordshire SENDIASS can help in a number of ways including:

• Listening to your concerns and explaining what options are available. 
• Explaining how education settings can support children and young people with special educational needs/a disability.
• Giving you information about what the law is and what your choices are, to help you make your own decisions.
• Supporting you where capacity allows at meetings and helping you to get your views across.
  Signpost to other agencies and services with the help of the  Central Bedfordshire SEND Local Offer
• Guiding you through the education, health, and care needs assessment process.
• Supporting you in discussions with education settings and the local authority where a child or young person is at risk of exclusion or has been excluded.
• Provide advice on processes for resolving disagreements, appeals processes and means of redress.
• Working in partnership with schools and the local authority to develop positive relationships.

We are unable to:

• Contact other people on your behalf without your prior consent.
• Pass your information on to other organisations without your agreement.
• Make decisions on your behalf.
• Provide support with referrals or diagnosis for Health or Medical Conditions. Including ASD / ADHD or Specific Learning Difficulties.
• Offer advice or support on financial issues e.g. relating to benefits or allowances.
• Deliver emergency support or interventions for parents / young people.
• Complete paperwork on behalf of parents. We use our discretion on support around form completion based on the individual needs of the parent, on a case-by-case basis.
• Complete forms or support parents or young people to complete forms that are not related to SEND in education.
• Spend a disproportionate amount of time re-addressing an enquiry that has already been addressed by another member of the IAS team.
• Act as an intermediary between parents and other professionals unless we are supporting a parent with their own access arrangements (disabilities, learning difficulties, health needs).

Please let us know if you are in receipt of information, support or advice from another SEND advocate or legal professional such as a solicitor. If you are then regrettably, we are unable to support you.

CB SENDIASS Attendance at meetings.

We can only attend meetings where there is an active open case and the young person, or their parent/guardian directly requests our attendance and is present.  Our attendance is dependent on the needs and circumstances and the supporting officer’s availability.  

We support discussions but cannot make decisions or influence outcomes. 

Our goal is to provide you with the information you need to raise questions and make informed decisions. This could include offering advice before and after meeting, looking through EHCP’s, SEN Support plans, documents, and reports so that you feel confident about the questions to ask, what is reasonable to expect and what you would like to achieve. 

We cannot instruct decisions to be made. 

WE REQUIRE AT LEAST 2 WEEKS' NOTICE FOR ANY MEETING REQUESTS.  

IAS services area statutory (legal) responsibility of every Local Authority as per the Children and Families Act 2014- (section 32) 

CAFA 2014 s32

SEND CODE of PRACTICE 2015 2.4-2.5

All SENDIAS staff MUST have IPSEA SEN Advisor Legal training (IASSN) in SEND Law and Legislation information and guidance.

Every SENDIASS have minimum standards that we MUST provide as set by the Council of Disabled Children.

CDC Minimum Standards