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... Chambers, and Leon Glenister, Landmark Chambers, talk to Ali Fiddy, Chief Executive of IPSEA / with online Q&A.
... identified at birth or in their early years, that would find mainstream education challenging or impossible.
... the first time, during the meeting.)
... school have a right to object and if so can they exclude the child if X insists the child wears it?
... requested school completely? The LA is claiming the family will have to go to appeal to secure their preferred school.
To provide some additional context, the parent has provided the LA with a list of schools they wish for the LA to consult with. It is not clear what type/s of school the parent has listed.
The LA have responded to say they will be listing their own schools for consultation. It is not clear if this is in addition to or instead of the schools the parent listed. The LA re relying on paragraph 9.84 of the SEND COP, which concerns non-maintained / independent education providers.
The parent has been told by the LA:
1. You have the right to list the schools that you want for the consultation process
2. During this consultation process of 15 days, we are going to consult our schools in the borough which are not the ones you have listed because of paragraph 9.84
3. If our schools say yes to accepting your child or there are no spaces, we can go over the limit from 15 to 17, or even if it’s not the best school for your child as long as the setting can meet your child’s needs we will consult them, your permission is not required at this stage
4. We will take this to panel and present our schools, you can appeal after we have listed a school for your child
Is the LA correct? Can you explain the law around the right to name a parental preference and the consultation process, as found in sections 33 and 39 CFA 2014, and from section 9.78 – 9.84 SEND COP?
This is a question we hear often from parents. Parents can feel that their child is being unfairly treated or who 'act up' because their needs aren't being met.
We hear of parents, who believe their child is SEND, waiting many months to get their child's mental health assessed by CAMHs. Because the EHCNA (EHC needs assessment) has a legal time limit, if an LA agreed to a needs assessment, then is it possible/likely the child could be seen sooner than on the general waiting list.
Many parents, when presented with their draft EHCP, are unsure whether the Outcomes in Section E are 'good enough'. What should or shouldn't be included. What does a 'good' Section E look like. Parents only have 15 days in which to respond to the Local Authority. Guidance from our community would be much appreciated.
When children turn 16 there can be changes to their support.
s44 CFA2014 requires an EHCp to be reviewed within 12 months of being issued and then within 12 months of the date the EHCp was last reviewed.
The last review of my 9 yo daughters EHCp was/was completed on the 1st July 2022. We appealed to the FTT who ordered amendments to the EHCp, and the amended document was issued on 30th April 2023. The LA now claims that the next s44 review must be completed by 30th April 2024 and not 1st July 2023 as s44 requires.
This question relates to a case we were told about recently: my 8 year old son was recently given a fixed term exclusion for ‘non-complaint behaviour’, the worst of which seems to have been using the calming fiddle toy we had given him during lessons. He does not have an EHCp but we are looking at that. He has been diagnosed with ADHD but we believe he also has a number of difficulties outside the ADHD diagnostic criteria. We believe this exclusion amounts to disability discrimination. Our first response was to complain to the Academy and eventually a meeting was held which was chaired by the Chair of Governors who claims to have decades of SEND experience. At the start of the meeting, she questioned the legitimacy of our concerns as, as far as she was aware, ADHD was now not considered a disability as far as The Equality Act 2010 is concerned as this is what she had read in a local newspaper.
Just spoken to the officer at the LGO who made the decision referred to in this question: https://supportsendkids.org/question/1681234603118
He said one of the reasons the LGO doesn't have jurisdiction is because the SEND Tribunal has the power to award costs. He said he doesn't recognise my assertion that the general rule in the SEND Tribunal is not to award costs. He said this would surprise him if it was indeed the case.
Does anyone know what the legal position is in relation to costs in the SEND Tribunal? Has the SEND Tribunal issued any guidance on this point? I was advised by our solicitors when appealing our child's EHCP that the general rule in the SEND Tribunal is that there should be no order for costs. We therefore made no such application. The officer from the LGO said he believed the SEND Tribunal did make orders for costs and that therefore the LGO couldn't look into recompense of legal fees because it would involve stepping on the toes of another body. My point is that if the other body - i.e. the SEND Tribunal - isn't using its powers and is in fact actively encouraging claimants not to - then where does that leave claimants - other than in debt if they've had to instruct a solicitor to try and obtain justice?
I asked the LGO officer if he knew what proportion of cases that came before the SEND Tribunal resulted in a costs order being made. He said he had no idea. Obviously, it his not for him to know this but I just left wondering if this information is readily available or if it's worth me making a FOI request? The officer did say there is lacuna in the law in relation the LGO's jurisdiction ending when appeal rights become available, but he assured me the LGO had fully and properly considered R (ER) v Commissioner for Local Administration & Anor [2014] EWCA Civ 1407 (Hillingdon) and applied it correctly in my case. Have I reached a dead end with this or are there cases pending that might make me making an application for judical review (to be put on hold pending such a decision) worth while? Many thanks.
Support SEND Kids has been contacted by many parents who are frustrated that their child's EHCP contains inaccuracies or includes out of date behaviours. Despite requesting the EHCP be updated at review, the school and/or local authority ignore these requests and continue to submit inaccurate EHCPs to families. At the point of phase transfer (11+/16+) these inaccuracies, in Sections B & E, have a detrimental impact on which schools will consider the child. Can a tribunal insist that a local authority revise/re-draft an EHCP?
I have been speaking to a parent who has 50/50 custody with her ex-husband. He lives in Camden and she lives in Hertfordshire. Her son has an EHCP with Camden who are objecting to their choice of school in Section I (in fact, in August Camden pushed the whole EHCP onto Hertfordshire Council despite knowing the Mother is about to move out of Hertfordshire).
Because the Mother has to move house (her lease comes to an end in 3 weeks) the children will live with the ex-husband full time for the next few weeks. On 12 Sept, they go to Tribunal to appeal section B, F and I. Will the Tribunal take into account the child is living in Camden at that point? Or does the Mother need to find a place in Camden before the Tribunal date? The outcome they want is for Camden to stop pushing the EHCP onto Hertfordshire and deal with it in borough.
The Council have missed the deadline for submitting their evidence to Tribunal, and missed all subsequent deadlines. The Tribunal have responded by saying: "It is ordered: The LA is bared from taking part in any proceedings pursuant to Rule 8(2)." (however it goes on to say: "the LA may apply within 28 days of this Order, for its participation to be re-instated pursuant to Rule 8(6)".) The date of the letter is 13/08/25 + 28 days = 10/09/25. The appeal is held on 12/09/25.
The parents are going to Tribunal because they object to the school listed in Section I. Because the Council have been bared from proceedings, and if they do not respond by 10/09/25, does this mean the parents automatically get the school they requested for their child?