We acted for the parent of a 14 year old girl who had an Education, Health and Care Plan. Her daughter had Cerebral Palsy, learning difficulties, and a visual impairment, resulting from a brain injury suffered as a baby. She had attended an independent special school for over 10 years but was due to leave the school as it only took children up to the age of 14. Our client requested that she move to a different independent special school but her Local Authority refused this, and named instead a maintained special school which our client did not consider would be suitable. Our client therefore appealed to the First-Tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability) against Sections B, F and I of the EHC Plan to seek a placement at the independent special school, as well as greater detail of the provision that was needed for her daughter.
We assisted our client in preparing the appeal to the Tribunal, and in securing independent expert assessments of her daughter to demonstrate that she required additional provision. In the light of the reports, we were able to negotiate a settlement with the Local Authority without the need to attend a Tribunal hearing, which provided for our client’s daughter to attend the independent school that she wanted, and secured additional Speech and Language and Occupational Therapy provision in the EHC Plan as well.
