When School Refers You To The EWO (Education Welfare Officer) Due To EBSA.

When the School Refers You to the EWO: What Every Parent Must Know

So, your child’s absence has just been referred to the Education Welfare Officer (EWO). The school has marked those absences as unauthorised. You’re staring down the barrel of potential fines, threats of prosecution, and a system that seems to have forgotten its own statutory duties. We hear you!

Let’s be clear: this isn’t just about missed days. It’s about missed understanding. Missed compassion. Missed lawful processes by the School in question!

The Register Is a Legal Document – Not a Weapon

Schools are bound by the Department for Education’s statutory guidance, including Working Together to Improve School Attendance and the School Attendance Guidance 2022. These documents don’t just suggest collaboration they require it.

The register isn’t a teacher’s opinion. It’s a legal record. And if your child is experiencing EBSA (Emotionally Based School Avoidance), neurodivergent distress, or unmet SEN needs, then those absences may be lawfully authorised under the right code -IF the school follows the guidance!

But here’s the kicker: many don’t.

Instead, they refer to the EWO without:

• Holding an Attendance Support Meeting
• Offering reasonable adjustments
• Consulting the SENCO
• Considering medical evidence or EHCP status
• Following the APDR cycle

That’s not just poor practice. It’s potentially unlawful.

EBSA Is Not Truancy – It’s Trauma – FACT!

If your child is masking, melting down, or emotionally shutting down due to unmet needs, they are not “refusing” school. They are surviving it.

This is where your EBSA/SEN Journal becomes your shield. Document everything:

• Dates of absence and symptoms
• Communications with school (emails, calls, meetings)
• Requests for support or reasonable adjustments
• GP referrals, CAMHS involvement, EHCP applications
• Any refusal by school to engage collaboratively

Use a timeline of events. It’s not just helpful it’s crucial. Because when the EWO comes knocking, you need to show:

• That you’ve asked for help
• That the school has failed to act
• That the absence is linked to unmet need

This can be the difference between a fine and a turnaround.

If You Haven’t Started Documenting – Start TODAY

Every day you wait is a day the register fills with unauthorised codes. And every unauthorised code is a step closer to penalty.

Start your EBSA journal now. Use the SEN Parent Support Group templates. Watch the vlog on communicating with your SENCO and attendance officer. Ask for an Attendance Support Meeting. Put it in writing. Push for the right code. Push for the right support.

Because when you show that you’ve done everything you can and the school hasn’t – you shift the narrative. You shift the power.

This system wasn’t built for neurodivergent children. But we are rebuilding it one documented truth at a time.

So document. Communicate. Advocate. And never let the register become a weapon against your child’s wellbeing.

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NAVIGATING THE SEND EDUCATIONAL PROCESSES FOR BETTER OUTCOMES – TOGETHER™