There have been some cases of former pupils winning damages where their education suffered because a professional has given poor advice, for example. However, legal aid is not available for educational negligence cases, and so the cost of bringing such a case would be considerable, and in the recorded cases damages were generally modest when set against the cost of taking a case.

IPSEA does not advise on educational negligence so you would need to seek advice from a solicitor. However we set out in brief detail below how such a claim could work.

Negligence arises where it can be proven on a balance of probabilities that a legal duty of care exists and:

• the standard of care reasonably expected is breached (i.e. they acted in a way that no other professional would have acted at the time) and
• damage (injury or loss) is suffered as a direct result which was reasonably foreseeable. You would need strong evidence from professional witnesses to show that potential earnings have been affected.

The time limit for bringing a claim would be:

• 3 years from a young person’s eighteenth birthday, or
• 3 years from the time the person injured knew about the negligence or breach of duty and the harm or loss it caused if that is later.