22 Jan Gold Jennings secures school places for children following moves to new areas

Director and Head of Education & Children’s Rights, Dan Rosenberg, represented two families who had both moved in the spring, but whose children had been out of school and not receiving education as Christmas approached.  Following judicial review threats, all of the children were swiftly placed in school.  Two siblings started at their new school just before the holidays, and the other child at the start of the new term.

If a family moves from one local authority to another so that a child with an EHCP can no longer attend their previous school, the new local authority “must arrange for the child or young person’s attendance at another school or other institution appropriate for him or her until such time as it is possible to amend the EHC plan” (Regulation 15(6) SEND Regulations 2014).  It sounds so simple…

Unfortunately, as is the case with many issues relating to children with special needs, not every move to a new area goes smoothly, and results in a swift transfer to a new school.

There really should not be situations where children with EHCPs are out of school following a move to a new local authority area.  However, if it happens, and normal communication from the family to the local authority has not resolved the situation quicky, there is a simple way to enforce.  A judicial review threat (based on Regulation 15(6)) almost always resolves the matter swiftly.  Gold Jennings has a legal aid contract for education law which means that it has the ability to follow through and issue judicial review proceedings if that initial letter doesn’t work.

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