Phelps (A.P.) v. Mayor etc. of London Borough of Hillingdon, Anderton (A.P.) (By Her Mother and Next Friend) v. Clwyd County Council, In Re G (A.P.) (A Minor) (By His Next Friend), Jarvis (A.P.) v. Hampshire County Council (2000)

Ms Phelps, as an adult, sued her LEA (Hillingdon) for failing to diagnose her dyslexia. The High Court judge ruled in 1997 that an educational psychologist had been negligent in failing to detect dyslexia and awarded damages.

Hillingdon appealed against the judgement above and the court of appeal overturned the original ruling, on the grounds that failing to ameliorate the effects of dyslexia is not ‘an injury ’ and that the educational psychologist did not owe a duty of care directly to the child.

In summary, the House of Lords reversed the decision of the Court of Appeal in Phelps and has made it more possible for individuals to bring claims for compensation. The judgement is long but it is possible to extract key principles:

  1. The law does not, at the moment, allow actions for compensation for straightforward breaches of statutory duty. In other words, duties given to LEAs by legislation which are not carried out may not allow for compensation.
  2. However, there is what is known as a common law duty of care (in other words, separate from duties given to LEAs by legislation) to undertake duties correctly. If they fail in this duty so that there is negligence resulting in loss, then compensation may be sought.
  3. If, however, a LEA makes a decision on grounds of a policy, it may not be possible to bring a claim for compensation, even if that policy is found to have been wrong. Alternatively, if the negligent action was not directly as a result of a policy decision, a claim may be brought.
  4. Local authorities and schools can be held vicariously liable for the negligent actions of staff members including educational psychologists, teachers, education officers etc.
  5. In establishing negligence, it must be shown that the professional concerned went beyond the alternatives available to a competent person exercising that professional skill. A person will not be guilty of negligence if he has acted in accordance with a practice accepted as proper by a responsible body of that profession, skilled in that particular art. Negligence will not arise simply because somebody else disagrees with the steps taken, even if those steps are found to have been the wrong ones.
  6. Claims in education negligence are likely to be considered as personal injury claims.

An educational psychologist had been negligent in failing to detect dyslexia. Local authorities and schools can be held vicariously liable for the negligent actions of staff members including educational psychologists, teachers, education officers etc.

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