Judge issues guidance for where parents cannot agree on school in SEN statement

The Upper Tribunal has issued guidance to tribunals about dealing with cases where parents cannot agree on the maintained school to be specified in their child’s statement of special educational needs (SEN).

In S-G v Denbighshire County Council and B (SEN) (Special educational needs : Special educational provision - naming school) [2016] UKUT 460 (AAC) (06 October 2016) Judge Mitchell said he was sure “this was an especially challenging case for the Special Educational Needs Tribunal for Wales (SENTW)”. The parents had disagreed over which secondary school their son should go to.

The SENTW decided that, in selecting a school, the question whether one would provide a better education than the other was not relevant.

Following an appeal by the father, Judge Mitchell concluded that the SENTW’s decision was an error of law. He remitted the appeal to the SEN Tribunal for Wales for re-hearing before a differently-constituted tribunal panel.

In his reasons the judge gave some general guidance to tribunals about dealing with cases where parents cannot agree on the maintained school to be specified. “In particular, a type of school might appropriately be specified rather than a particular school,” he said.

The judge also considered what role concurrent family court proceedings might play in the resolution of these disputes. He identified certain considerations tribunals might usefully take into account if they are considering adjourning so that an underlying parental responsibility dispute may be put before the family court.

Judge Mitchell’s reasons can be found in the judgment here.