Cardiff Council v X & Anor
| Court | Upper Tribunal (Administrative Appeals Chamber) |
| Judge | Sir Gary Hickinbottom |
| Judgment Date | 15 February 2025 |
| Neutral Citation | [2025] UKUT 68 (AAC) |
| Date | 15 February 2025 |
| Year | 2025 |
| Counsel | Laura Shepherd,John Friel,Matthew Wyard,For |
IN THE UPPER TRIBUNAL Appeal No UA-2024-001734-HSW
ADMINISTRATIVE APPEALS CHAMBER [2025] UKUT 068 (AAC)
ON APPEAL FROM THE EDUCATION TRIBUNAL FOR WALES
Dated: 15 February 2025
Before:
The Rt Hon Sir Gary Hickinbottom Judge of the Upper Tribunal
Appellant: Cardiff Council
Respondents: Mr & Mrs X (Parents of X)
Heard at: Cardiff (Cardiff Civil Justice Centre)
Attendance
For the Appellant: Laura Shepherd of Counsel
For the Respondents: John Friel and Matthew Wyard of Counsel
Date of hearing: 7 February 2025
Date of decision: 15 February 2025
DECISION OF THE ADMINISTRATIVE APPEALS CHAMBER
OF THE UPPER TRIBUNAL
On Ground 1:
(i) the appeal is allowed;
(ii) the Decision of the Education Tribunal for Wales dated 10 October
2024 is quashed insofar as School A is named in Section 2D of the
Individual Development Plan, otherwise that Decision shall stand;
(iii) the case shall be remitted to the Education Tribunal for Wales for
reconsideration and determination by a differently constituted
panel of the issue of whether Section 2D of X’s Individual
Development Plan should name a maintained school for the
1
Appeal No UA-2024-001734-HSW NCN No [2025] UKUT 068 (AAC)
purpose of securing X’s admission to that school because the
conditions set out in section 48 of the Additional Learning Needs
and Education Tribunal (Wales) Act 2018 have been met; and, if so,
which school should be named; and
(iv) this case shall immediately be referred to the President of the ETW
with a request that she gives directions so that the re-hearing of Mr
& Mrs X’s appeal on this issue can be expedited.
On Ground 2, permission to appeal is refused.
Subject Matter
Parental choice of school for a child with Additional Learning Needs in Wales
– the proper approach to specifying a school in an Individual Development
Plan under section 48 of the Additional Learning Needs and Education
Tribunal (Wales) Act 2018, and the extent to which that approach is informed
Cases referred to
Watt v Kesteven County Council [1955] 1 QB 408
Richardson v Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council [1998] ELR 319
C v BuckinghamshireCounty Council [1998] ELR 463 (QBD) and [1999] ELR
179 (CA)
IM v London Borough of Croydon [2010] UKUT 205 (AAC)
[2012] PTSR 1393
811
Introduction
1. To ensure the rights and interests of X are protected, this Decision has
been anonymised; and no report of this case shall be made that, directly
or indirectly, may lead to the identification of X.
2. This is an appeal from the decision of the Education Tribunal for Wales
(“the ETW”) (Judge Kelly Byrne, Specialist Member Catrin Lewis and
Specialist Member Rhys Parri, “the ETW Panel”) dated 10 September
2024 allowing the appeal of the Respondents (Mr & Mrs X, the parents
of X) against the decision of the Appellant local authority (“the Council”)
to issue an Individual Development Plan (“IDP”) in relation to X’s
Additional Learning Needs (“ALN”) in the terms that it did.
3. In particular, the Council seeks to appeal against the decision of the
ETW Panel (i) to name School A in Section 2D of the IDP to secure X’s
admission to that school (Ground 1), and (ii) to determine that X’s ALN
2
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