My child does not have a school place and my local authority has failed to arrange alternative education. I have complained to it about this. Does this mean now I cannot use the judicial review process? Expand Making a complaint may mean that you can no longer use the judicial review process. Judicial review involves a court looking at the decision of a public body and deciding whether it was made in a lawful, fair and reasonable manner. It is used when the matter is urgent and cannot be resolved any other way. Sometimes, following a local authority’s (LA) complaints procedure will not be a realistic and effective way of solving the issue. For example, when an LA is acting unlawfully, the issue is serious and urgent and the complaints process would take too long to resolve it. If you have made a complaint, this process will have started which suggests there is another way of resolving the matter and/or that the matter is not urgent. However, please get legal advice from a solicitor as soon as possible to see whether, in your situation, judicial review may still be available as a remedy. This might be because for example the situation was not urgent before but has become urgent since you made your complaint.
My child has an EHC plan which names a school. However, the school is refusing to admit them. Can schools refuse to admit children with EHC plans? What can I do? Expand You can take action. When a child or young person has an EHC plan which names: a maintained school or nursery school in England an Academy an institution within the further education sector in England a non-maintained special school in England, or a section 41 setting then that setting must admit them. This is set out in section 43 of the Children and Families Act (CFA) 2014. There is no duty here for an independent setting to admit your child or young person. Action you can take - school What action you can take against the school depends on whether the setting is a public body, and whether the matter is urgent and cannot be resolved any other way. It might be that a process called judicial review can be used. This involves a court looking at the decision of a public body and deciding whether it was made in a lawful, fair and reasonable manner. It is used as a last resort, when the matter is urgent and cannot be resolved any other way (such as by making a complaint because the process would take too long for such an urgent and serious matter). However, as a course of action judicial review is not always available. Here we explain what action may be appropriate, depending on the circumstances. Judicial review may be appropriate if: if and then your child or young person has named on their EHC plan: a maintained nursery or school an academy, or an institution in the further education sector the matter is urgent and cannot be resolved otherwise judicial review may be an appropriate course of action. Please see our page on judicial review for more information. your child or young person has named on their EHC plan: a maintained nursery or school an academy, or an institution in the further education sector the matter is not urgent and can be resolved otherwise, such as by making a complaint judicial review may not be an appropriate course of action. Please see our page on complaining to/about a setting for more information. However, judicial review will not be available if: if then your child or young person has named on their EHC plan: a non-maintained special school, or a section 41 setting judicial review will not be available. These settings are not public bodies and their decisions and acts cannot be reviewed in this way. You can however make a complaint about a breach of the section 43 CFA 2014 duty. Please see our page on complaining to/about a setting for more information. your child or young person has named on their EHC plan an independent setting. judicial review will not be available. These settings are not public bodies and their decisions and acts cannot be reviewed in this way. There is no duty to admit your child, so contact your local authority to see what action, if any, it can take against such a setting. You can also express your views to the school about its refusal to admit and ask it to reconsider. Action you can take - local authority Special educational provision If your child has an EHC plan, your local authority (LA) has the absolute duty to secure the special educational provision specified in Section F of their EHC plan. If the school’s actions (refusing to allow your child to attend school) mean your child is without this special educational provision, you should take action by alerting the LA to the matter. You can use our template letter to help you. If that does not resolve things, take legal advice on judicial review if the matter is urgent and cannot be resolved otherwise. Alternative education If your child is of compulsory school age and the school’s actions (refusing to allow your child to attend school) mean your child is without a suitable full-time education, then you should request that your LA puts in place suitable, alternative education. You can use our template letter and information to help you.