Send in the City – Bristol City Council ‘Loses’ EHCP Application
By Jen Smith
Bristol City Council EHCP Application Apparently Lost:
After a disastrous experience applying for an EHC needs assessment in 2016 for my oldest child, I was absolutely certain that Bristol City Council were not going to mess up the process for my younger daughter.
Anyone who has a child with dyslexia will know that it’s not simply about difficulties with reading. It’s a life-long learning difficulty which affects executive planning skills, organisation, attention, memory and processing ability.
And, anyone whose dyslexic child is in mainstream education will know how much the condition can hold them back academically, no matter how bright they are. So with some pretty extreme dyslexia and other related conditions meaning my child was lagging behind and not catching up, I felt an EHC Needs Assessment was in order.
I submitted the original request on Monday 06 August 2018, as can clearly be seen in the email header.
And shortly after, I had confirmation that Bristol City Council had received the email and the request would be processed in due course.
I knew things were about to go wrong when the first person told me she would have to call me back…
As I had made the request during the school summer holidays, I was aware that it would take longer than the necessary six week time frame as school staff would be on holiday.
I have no faith that Bristol City Council can run these things within the requirements of the law and I decided to call the Send team this afternoon just to make sure it was being processed.
I knew things were about to go wrong when the first person told me she would have to call me back. A few audible clicks and paper shuffling suggested that the information wasn’t readily available.
When a second person called me back a short while later, imagine my surprise when I was told there was no such email, no such request and my needs assessment didn’t exist. Apparently, this was ‘less than ideal’.
It is pointless trying to Newspeak a lie by writing it down in an effort to make it a truth…
I had emailed the council team directly because I felt it was safer than sending it by post. The email had clearly arrived at Bristol City Council and in the right inbox. So what happened to the email and request to make it no longer exist one month later?
As I stated on Twitter, I’m taking an Occam’s Razor stance on this and going to say it was deleted. The person taking my call went through the system. There was no email to be found and nothing under my daughter’s name.
I was asked to send the email to the Bristol Send team again, this time directly to the person on the phone. I was told that it would be processed and given to the panel who were meeting in a few days time. Bit strange as information should be submitted from the primary school. But then, the whole thing has a Bit Strange all over it.
But this is where it starts to get even more interesting.
I was sent the Parental Views form to fill in and return, but what caught my eye was the manipulation of language. It featured an apology that the request was not processed sooner. That’s not what happened. The request was lost. It was deleted. It no longer existed. It was a former request.
How else does digital information in an email inbox disappear? By hitting delete. It is pointless trying to Newspeak a lie by writing it down in an effort to make it a truth. The statement is still a lie, the request was still deleted, but now Bristol City Council has a new record of ‘truth’. It’s really quite alarming.
I wrote in another article that I would be keeping an extra close eye on my child’s EHCP application. Everybody should. There are no inches to give and every email must be kept in an effort to counteract lies. ‘Something is rotten in the state of Denmark’.
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