Latest News - February 2011

Important new appeal rights for parents

The Children, Schools and Families Act 2010 introduced an important new right for parents of children with statement of special educational needs. Every year the local authority has to ask the school to look at the way the child has progressed and provide a report for the local authority which then reviews the statement and decides whether or not amendments should be made. This is known as the Annual Review. Regardless of what the school or parents might recommend, the local authority is under no obligation to amend the statement and parents had no right of appeal if they refused to do so. This caused great problems for many parents who were left with limited scope for getting rapid changes if the local authority did not agree.

From September 1st, parents now have the right to appeal if a local authority decides not to amend the statement following an annual review. The letter from the local authority following the Annual Review should set out details of the right to appeal, which should be lodged with the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal within 2 months of the date of the letter.

If you would like more information on how to get the benefit from this new right as well as prepare for the Annual Review itself then get in touch with us today on 01524 596080.