An appeal might be against a refusal to assess a child for a statement or about which school a child should go to.
The legal aid scheme currently provides free legal support to the poorest parents appealing to the tribunal. However, the government proposes to remove all legal aid where it relates to matters of special educational needs. It does not consider the parents and carers bringing these appeals to be particularly vulnerable and believes there are sufficient alternative sources of support.
The Special Educational Consortium (SEC) is asking the government to reconsider this proposal. Parents need to be able to enforce legal obligations if they are let down by the system and where they do not have the resources to do so they should be supported.
As well as being more likely to have a disability themselves, the parents of disabled children are also more likely to live in poverty.
SEC believes that these proposals will take support away from the most economically disadvantaged group within this already disadvantaged group of parents. Other sources of advice, such as parent partnership services or charities such as IPSEA, are already hard-pressed to meet demand and have little spare capacity to absorb this extra work.
Matthew Dodd, policy and development officer, SEC
THE WORK OF SEC
The Special Educational Consortium (SEC) is a broad consortium including representation from voluntary organisations, professional associations and local government organisations. It defines its policies by identifying areas of consensus that exist among the wide range of groups represented within it.
For more information, please visit www.ncb.org.uk/sec
