| SPOTLIGHT |
Law firm MG Law has said it has won tribunal cases against Surrey County Council over the education of children with type 1 diabetes.
The firm represented three sets of parents, two of which went to the Special Educational Needs Tribunal.
Imogen Jolley, the firm’s partner who brought the cases to the tribunal, said: “This is a serious condition which needs constant management, particularly for a child.
“The children's diabetes was having an effect on their ability to access education with their parents either having to home educate, or pay for private tuition in order to manage their condition safely.”
She said that fact that the cases had to go to the tribunal showed Surrey “does not have a strategy in place to manage [this]”.
In one example, which Surrey has said did not reach the tribunal, parents of six-year-old Imogen Dodson wanted her to attend a conventional school but with a teaching assistant to provide one-on-one care in the event of the onset of symptoms of the condition, which require rapid treatment.
Surrey has now agreed to provide a special educational needs statement to enable the child to receive this support, but Jolley said there was still uncertainty as to when this would happen.
The child’s mother Teresa Dodson said Surrey’s educational psychologist “finally made a home visit and accepted Imogen qualified for the SEN statement but they stalled the process,” says Teresa.
A Surrey spokesman said “We're determined to give every pupil the best possible start in life, and are disappointed by the factual inaccuracies on the Maxwell Gillott website.
“We have many children with type 1 diabetes in our mainstream schools who are fully supported by the schools with the help of local diabetes specialist nurses.
“Diabetes has historically been considered a health rather than an educational need, and the suggestion by some specialists that type 1 diabetes can affect a child’s cognitive ability is not accepted by all.
“The tribunal recognised our position but decided a statement was needed in these particular cases, and as a result we are working with parents to provide extra support where appropriate. Not every child with diabetes will need or want this level of support. “
Maxwell Gillott had said that the situation was complicated by any school that accepted Imogen having to pay for the first £6,000 towards the cost of a teaching assistant out of its own budget.
The Surrey spokesman said: “All maintained schools receive funding for pupils with special educational needs which is intended to meet the first £6,000 per year of support required, then the local authority provides funding.
“In relation to the Imogen Dodson case, which did not go to tribunal, we sent a proposed statement to the parents on 22 July, eight days before Maxwell Gillott stated on its website that we had not done so.”
Mark Smulian
