Reaching an Agreement

When other people are involved in the process of making decisions about the future of your child, there may be times that you might disagree with some of the decisions. You might be unhappy about some of the choices that have been made on your child’s behalf.

The first step to resolving any disagreement is to talk to the other party. You should explain your concerns and see if you can come to an agreement that suits you better. If after a meeting your concerns have not been resolved, you may want to consider other ways forward to resolve the situation.

Methods include:

• making a formal complaint
• requesting disagreement resolution
• requesting mediation
• making an appeal to the SEND tribunal

Raising your concerns in writing

• Start with a positive. For example ‘Thank you for taking the time to talk to me yesterday, I really appreciated the opportunity. Unfortunately I still have some concerns and would be grateful if you could look into these for me…’
• Use bullet points where you have more than one issue (or many concerns about the same issue).
• Stick to the key points, sometimes a lot of background information can detract from your main concerns.
• Include your child’s views, what they have said to you or how they are feeling.
• It can be helpful to think about and include the outcome you are seeking. 
• Finish with another positive, for example ‘I really hope can work together to resolve these issues and look forward to hearing from you very soon.’ You could include a date by which, if possible, you would like to hear back.