What’s the law when a council says it can’t comply because of resource issues, though it’s “trying its best”

Comments from the High Court on a local authority’s claim they could not comply with the law because of resource issues – R (W) v Hertfordshire County Council The news …

New School Transport Guidance ignores both equality and case laws protecting disabled learners

As well as updated exclusions guidance, the Department for Education also issued updated guidance on school transport just before the summer holidays. Eleanor Wright, CEO of SEND legal charity, SOS!SEN …

Will non-statutory National Standards improve SEND or just create confusion and more unlawful behaviour?

TONIGHT! LIVE WEBINAR: Will the Government’s “SEND Improvement Plan” fix SEND? Register here! The SEND Improvement Plan published by the Government on 2nd March was described in an excited press …

The cruelest cuts that jeopardise disabled children’s life chances have become just another day for England’s SEND system

Laycock Primary School is a mainstream community school in the north London borough of Islington. It has a specialist SEN unit that supports deaf children – an unusually large unit, …

Why children with SEND in penal detention routinely fail to be given educational needs support

The majority of children who find themselves in penal detention have some form of special educational needs. These needs are routinely mislabelled, unrecognised and unmet. That’s the conclusion of a …

#SENDReview: National standards plans are an assault on the rights and entitlements of children and young people with SEND

One of the main, and most worrying, proposals in the SEND Green Paper is the introduction of National Standards. Some in the SEND sector are in favour of National Standards …

Legal action launched against #SENDReview Consultation, over “misleading” disability discrimination Tribunal question

It’s all happening isn’t it? As Nadhim Zahawi scarpers to No11 (don’t let the door to Sanctuary Buildings hit you on the way out, love), the new (probably temporary) appointee, …

SNJ Report: The casual bias and daily discrimination faced by disabled children and their families from ethnic and marginalised communities

A new SNJ survey has highlighted how racial discrimination and unconscious bias are everyday experiences for disabled children and their families from ethnic and marginalised communities. Parents say they, and …

The law on educational provision to support Ukrainian children with SEN and disabilities arriving in England

with Ali Fiddy, Chief Executive of IPSEA We are all beside ourselves with shock and sickening helplessness at the invasion in Ukraine. Everyone can surely empathise with how terrifying it …

The SEND Tribunal single appeal route works. DfE must give families certainty it’s here to stay

Tribunal’s powers to make recommendations on health and social care ‘to continue’ – but why has it not been made ‘permanent’? The national trial of extended powers for the SEND Tribunal to hear …