Refusal to assess appeals

If you are rejected for an EHC needs assessment, you can appeal to the Tribunal.

Refusal to assess appeals are generally decided “on the papers”, so no hearing is held. It is therefore very important that your appeal documentation presents your case persuasively.

We offer a capped fee for refusal to assess appeals, which is generally £1,000 plus VAT.

Refusal to issue appeals

Once an EHC assessment has been carried out, the local authority will review all the evidence and decide whether to issue an EHC Plan. If the local authority refuses to issue the Plan, you can appeal to the Tribunal.

The local authority should issue the plan if it is “necessary” for provision  to be carried out under an EHC Plan. This is different from the test for an assessment, where you merely have to show that it “may” be necessary. By this point, the evidence has been gathered so the local authority should be able to say definitively what the child needs and how it will be provided.

It would be “necessary” to make provision under an EHC Plan if provision is needed that the school cannot (or will not) carry out with their own resources. Whilst it is helpful if the school agrees, these cases can still succeed when a school claims it can carry out provision.

If the local authority refuses to issue the Plan, you can appeal to the Tribunal.

 We offer a capped fee for refusal to issue appeals, which is generally £2,500 plus VAT. This includes preparing the appeal, advising on evidence, commenting on the LA’s response, all additional casework and attending the hearing. If your case settles before hearing, the fee will likely be less than this

Contents and placement appeals

If you are unhappy with the EHC Plan, you can appeal against the contents. These appeals can take place when a final EHC is issued for the first time, or following an annual review.  You can appeal most parts of an EHC Plan, although not Part A (views, wishes and aspirations) or Part E (outcomes). However, the Tribunal can make “incidental” changes to these sections if you are appealing something else (for example, if the Tribunal orders new provision, it may also insert a new outcome for that provision), and sometimes changes can be agreed with the LA as part of negotiations. You can also ask the Tribunal to make recommendations about health and social care provision.

 You can also appeal your child’s school place. This is often needed when your child is moving from one phase of education to another, but you can request a new school at any review and appeal if this is refused.

Contents appeals typically involve a lot of negotiating during the course of the case, and often it is possible to get a lot of amendments agreed with the local authority before the hearing.

We offer a capped fee for contents appeals. The fee would depend upon what you are appealing, but is generally £6,000- £9,000 plus VAT. This includes drafting the appeal, advising on evidence, drafting and amending the working document, negotiating with the local authority and all other casework, as well as attending the hearing.

Letters before Action and Judicial Review

If a Local Authority is not complying with its legal duties, you can force it to do so by way of judicial review. The first step to bringing a judicial review is to send a formal Letter Before Action. Often, Local Authorities will sort out the problem at this point without the need for further action.

For most education matters, we can offer a fixed fee for the letter before action, which will generally be around £500 - £750 plus VAT (depending on complexity).

If the matter proceeds to judicial review, you may be able to get legal aid to cover your costs. In most cases, children are eligible for legal aid. 

Disability discrimination

If your child’s school has treated them less favourably than other children because they have a disability, you may be able to bring a claim for disability discrimination. This treatment could include enforcing a rule that is very difficult or impossible for them to follow, denying them opportunities (for example not allowing them to go on school trips), failing to make reasonable adjustments (for example forbidding them to use equipment like a fiddle toy in a classroom, or wear a different uniform), or even unfairly excluding them. 

 If you wish to bring a claim, please contact me for a no-obligation chat. I will give you some preliminary advice about possible grounds for a claim, advice on whether your child has a disability under the Equality Act, and advice about possible remedies that might be available to you.

 Remedies could include reinstating a child that has been excluded, changes to policy, ordering a school to make a reasonable adjustment and an apology.  I can also discuss alternative ways of getting the outcome you want (for example, it might be easier to get a reasonable adjustment by appealing the contents of an EHC Plan and getting it included in Part F). 

Other services

I also advise on a wide range of other issues such as school transport, exclusions, annual reviews and complaints against schools. If you need advice on any other aspect of education law, please get in touch for a no-obligation chat and we can give you a quote.