Advocacy for Education Service in England and Wales

Advice on educational provision for parents and carers whose children have autism or Asperger syndrome

0845 070 4002

For the Education Advice Line press option 1
For the Tribunal Support Scheme press option 2

or contact us using our online enquiry form

The Advocacy for Education Service provides advice and advocacy on special educational needs provision and entitlements for families of children with an autism spectrum disorder.

For many parents, understanding their entitlements and the processes involved in getting their child's special educational needs met is confusing and complex. Parents can struggle to get the right kind of educational provision for their child.

"As you will be only too aware it is very difficult for parents such as myself who are not experienced or well versed in matters of education, to build up an appropriate and convincing case for a tribunal... thanks to your organisation, parents of autistic children now at least have a fighting chance of success."

Our service is provided by volunteers who offer telephone-based advice from their own homes.

We aim to:

• provide accurate information, support and advice on special educational needs provision and entitlements through our education advice line; advisers endeavour to help parents obtain appropriate educational provision for their child and give advice on issues including getting extra help at school, statutory assessments, statementing, annual reviews, exclusions and admissions
• offer telephone support and advice on preparing for Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunals, and representation at Tribunal where appropriate through our tribunal support scheme
• encourage parents to be confident partners in their child's education, and assist them to make informed choices and decisions
• identify special educational needs issues faced by parents to feed into our campaigning and policy work.

Support from Clifford Chance and Addleshaw Goddard

Our tribunal support scheme gives telephone advice and information to parents who wish to challenge decisions made by their local authority about their child's educational needs and provision at the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal (SENDIST).

We aim to help families to represent themselves at tribunal. However, there are always some situations where families are unable to represent themselves.

As part of their pro bono and community affairs programme both Clifford Chance and Addleshaw Goddard provide free legal representation, where appropriate, for parents of children with an autism spectrum disorder who are challenging decisions at SENDIST. Clifford Chance also host all our volunteer training.

Continuous improvement

We aim to provide good quality legal advice and support. We welcome feedback from users of the service. If you have any comments, suggestions or complaints please contact us:

Advocacy for Education Service
The National Autistic Society
393 City Road
London EC1V 1NG

We are a member of the Telephone Helplines Association.

Related resources

• Changes to the SEN and Disability Tribunal (SENDIST)
  
• Advocacy for Education Service in Northern Ireland
  
• Advocacy for Education Service in Scotland