SEN and disability case law

‘Case law’ is the law which is developed by the Courts and Tribunal system.

Where a parent or young person brings a case about special educational needs (SEN) to a tribunal, they are going to what is known as the First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability). On the rest of this site, this is referred to as the “SEND Tribunal”. You can read more about going to the SEND Tribunal on our appeals pages. In this section we will refer to it as the “First-tier Tribunal” so it isn’t confused with the Upper Tribunal, which is where an appeal against a decision by the First-tier Tribunal would be heard. You can find more information about appealing First-tier Tribunal decisions on our page about challenging decisions.

What happens in the First-tier Tribunal does not create case law – in legal terms we say that its decisions are not binding on later cases. What makes case law (or what lawyers call “precedent”) is where cases go to a higher court, usually the Upper Tribunal or the High Court. Sometimes cases will go even further up to the Court of Appeal or the Supreme Court.

Some of the cases linked below are relatively old, and were decided under the previous law (the Education Act 1996) before the Children and Families Act (CFA) 2014 was introduced. However, these were the cases which established some of the key principles in SEN law and helped to define some key terms. Many of the statutory provisions under the Education Act 1996 are essentially the same as those under the CFA 2014. All of the cases below which refer to Statements continue to be relevant for children and young people with EHC plans.

Local authorities and the First-tier Tribunal must follow case law when making decisions.