There has been a dramatic increase in parents of children with autism battling for the right education for their child. And the majority are winning their cases.
A report by the UK’s Ministry of Justice about the activity of the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal, found here (third in the list), claims that children with autism are the subject of the most appeals.
Autism accounts for nearly half of education appeals
In fact, the report includes the shocking statistic that children with autism represent nearly half of all education appeals.
The number of education appeals have increased five-fold since 1998.
Parents have been going to tribunal for reasons including a refusal to assess a child’s needs. Another reason has been that they are unhappy with the content of a Statement of Special Educational Needs.
The report reveals that battling for a child’s rights in tribunal can be worth the trouble. In fact, 85 per cent of appeals concerning children with autism decided in favour of the parents in 2014. The figure does not include cases where local authorities concede to the appeal before a hearing.
No other special educational need dealt with at tribunal matches the dramatic increase in the number of children with autism who are the focus of appeals.
Ed Duff, solicitor at Boyes Turner, which represents parents at tribunal, said there was no way to establish why there has been such a dramatic growth in autism-centred appeals. Neither could he say why there is an increasing success rate for parents. However, he said that the “proactivity of parents” may well be a factor.
Getting legal advice and representation may be influencing the success rate in appeals. While in 2010 only one in 25 parental cases (4 per cent) had some form of representation, Duff said that in his experience a far greater proportion of parents were represented these days.
Despite government claims to understand the need to improve the lot of families impacted by autism, the message does not appear to have filtered through to many local authorities. Kent faced the most appeals, followed by Surrey and Hampshire. Other ‘worst offenders’ were Sutton, Lewisham and Medway.
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Published: 15 January 2015
