Special Educational Needs help in London

We are education law solicitors in London who work with parents who have children with special educational needs across England and Wales. We have assisted many parents and young people in all of the London Boroughs.

We frequently provide tailored education law advice in London to secure specialist support for children and young people. This can require an appeal to the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal.

What are Special Educational Needs?

Special educational needs are any difficulty a child or young person has in accessing education.

Special educational needs (SEN) affect how a person learns. The needs entail a wide range of disabilities including:

• concentration levels
• ability to understand
• hearing and/or visual impairment
• physical ability
• behaviour
• writing
• reading
• social skills.

It is likely that a young person will have special educational needs if they have  difficulties in accessing education, school or facilities at school and require support beyond that normally made for young people of the same age.

If you are not sure whether your child or young person has special educational needs, you should seek specific legal advice.

All of the London Borough SEN teams must comply with the law set out in the Children and Families Act 2014 and the guidance detailed in the SEND Code of Practice 2015. However, they also stick to their own policies which in our experience can confuse the law.  Often this can lead to SEN teams making poor decisions which is why parents contact us to obtain specialist advice. 

We have a lot of experience in providing special educational needs advice in London. We have helped many families to successfully appeal via a Tribunal against decisions made by each and every one of the London Borough Local Authority’s.

The Process

Usually, the school will recognize that a young person has special educational needs. Following this the class teacher and Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCo) will put together a plan of additional support. This is delivered via a cycle called “Assess, Plan, Do, Review”.

If the school does not identify a pupil with special educational needs, it may be necessary to request an EHC needs assessment of the child’s needs from the local authority.

It is important for parents to know that schools receive a Delegated Budget to support children with special educational needs. This can often limit the amount of support that can be available for schools to deliver to children with SEN unless the local authority issues an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP).

If the child needs more support than the school can provide, an Education, Health and Care Plan may be needed. The first step to securing an EHCP is to ask the Local Authority to carry out an EHC needs assessment of the child or young person’s special educational needs.

If the local authority refuses to make an EHCP, you can appeal to the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal.

Where can I find SEN legal advice in London?

Our special education needs solicitors provide advice in London. To contact our specialist education lawyers, please call 02920 291 704

We are able to help in the following ways:

• securing an EHC needs assessment
• securing an EHCP
• Successful appeals to Tribunal against the Local Authority’s refusal to make an EHCP
• Successful appeals to Tribunal against the Local Authority’s refusal to make an EHC needs assessment
• Successfully appealing to Tribunal against Local Authority for additional support
• Successfully appealing to Tribunal against the Local Authority for specialist school places