Case law

Case law is developed by the tribunals and courts. It is important for clarifying points of law which are unclear. When a case is heard by one of the higher tribunals or courts, they will give a judgement which explains how they consider the law applies and will often give more detail about what exactly a local authority (LA) has to do to meet its legal obligations and how it must make decisions. These judgements are binding on LAs as well as lower tribunals (such as the SEND Tribunal) which means that LAs and tribunals must follow them when applying the law.

Case law can be very helpful for finding examples of what LAs and the SEND Tribunal should and should not do. You can find lots of helpful case summaries on our website.