The changes follow a High Court challenge to the Legal Aid Agency’s refusal to grant aid for the Independent Review Panel (IRP) hearing of an excluded black pupil with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), and who was receiving free school meals.
In response to the case - described as “groundbreaking” by Coram Children’s Legal Centre (CCLC), which brought the judicial review on behalf of the family - Lord Chancellor Shabana Mahmood amended her policy so that exceptional case funding can be provided “in cases concerning a disproportionate interference with the right to education under the ECHR”.
Although the boy did not win legal aid for his case, the judgment “provides clear guidance that practitioners can rely upon in future exceptional case funding applications where a school exclusion concerns substantive discrimination”, added Coram.
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