S v Worcestershire County Council (SEN)
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Judge | Judge Mitchell |
| Neutral Citation | [2017] UKUT 92 (AAC) |
| Court | Upper Tribunal (Administrative Appeals Chamber) |
| Subject Matter | Special educational needs,Special educational needs - special educational provision - naming school or other institution in EHC plan,Mitchell,E |
| Date | 23 February 2017 |
| Published date | 07 March 2017 |
S v Worcestershire County Council (SEN)
[2017] UKUT 0092 (AAC)
HS/2828/2015
HS/2828/2015 1
IN THE UPPER TRIBUNAL Upper Tribunal case No. HS/2828/2015
ADMINISTRATIVE APPEALS CHAMBER
Before: Mr E Mitchell, Judge of the Upper Tribunal
Hearing: 7 March 2016, Field House, Bream’s Buildings, London (followed by
further written submissions)
Attendances: For the Appellant, Mr T Tabori, of counsel, instructed by the Coram
Children’s Legal Centre
For the Respondent, Mr Mark Small, solicitor advocate Baker Small
Solicitors, instructed by the local authority’s legal department
Decision: The decision of the First-tier Tribunal (3 September 2015, file reference EH
885/15/00001) involved the making of an error on a point of law. It is SET ASIDE under
section 12(2)(a) and (b)(i) of the Tribunals, Courts and Enforcement Act 2007 and the case is
REMITTED to the First-tier Tribunal for rehearing. I direct that the appeal is remitted to the
First-tier Tribunal for re-hearing before a differently-constituted Tribunal panel. Any further
case management directions are to be given by a judge of the First-tier Tribunal.
Under rule 14(1) of the Upper Tribunal (Tribunal Procedure) Rules 2008 I hereby make
an order prohibiting the disclosure or publication of any matter likely to lead to a
member of the public identifying the young person with whom this appeal is concerned.
This order does not apply to (a) any person to whom the young person discloses such a
matter (and this includes any permitted onward disclosure or publication), (b) any
person exercising statutory (including judicial) functions in relation to the young person.
The young person’s real name is not used in these reasons.
REASONS FOR DECISION
Introduction
1. This appeal raises a number of questions about the operation of the Education, Health and
Care (EHC) plan provisions of the Children & Families Act 2014 (CFA 2014) which may be
of wider interest, including:
(a) whether local authorities’ participative and enabling obligations under section 19 of the
CFA 2014 apply to the First-tier Tribunal when it is hearing an appeal under the CFA 2014;
S v Worcestershire County Council (SEN)
[2017] UKUT 0092 (AAC)
HS/2828/2015
HS/2828/2015 2
(b) to what extent does the First-tier Tribunal have jurisdiction in relation to the outcomes
that must be specified in an EHC plan;
(c) the operation of the CFA 2014 where an appellant seeks to persuade the First-tier Tribunal
to name an independent school in an EHC plan.
2. I must straight away apologise to the parties for the delay in giving this decision. It is partly
explained by a post-hearing round of written submissions and the need to clarify the party
status of the young person concerned. The decision was further delayed by my absence from
work with an illness but nevertheless the parties have had to wait too long and I especially
apologise to Robbie for that.
Background
3. This appeal concerns the education of a young person whom I shall refer to as Robbie. He
was born in November 1998 and aged 17 when the disputed EHC plan was issued on 11
March 2015 (the plan is at p.8 of the First-tier Tribunal bundle). Since Robbie was over
compulsory school age, but under 25, he was a “young person” for the purposes of the CFA
2014 (defined by section 83(2) as “a person over compulsory school age but under 25”).
4. Robbie was due to sit his GCSEs three months after the plan was issued and this made his
educational future uncertain since his options would be influenced by his results. At the date
of the EHC plan, Robbie was attending an independent school. He had previously had a
statement of SEN.
5. Robbie’s independent school predicted that he would achieve an E grade in GCSE English
(p.164 of the bundle). That prediction proved correct.
6. The EHC plan followed the general format required by regulation 12 of the Special
Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014 (S.I. 2014/1530) (“2014 Regulations”).
7. Section B of the EHC plan (identification of special educational needs) recorded:
- a diagnosis of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and that Robbie
continued to need “in the moment training”;
- “communication skills, behaviour, emotional health and well-being, and self-esteem
have improved but still require monitoring”;
- cognitive skills “fall within the borderline range”;
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M and M v West Sussex County Council (SEN)
...L’s views 21. Arguably the tribunal erred in law by failing to take into account L’s views (see S v Worcestershire County Council [2017] UKUT 92 (AAC)). The EHC Plan, under the heading ‘views, interests and aspirations’, contained a section headed ‘What is important to [L] now’. This reflec......
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London Borough of Hillingdon v SS and TS and ES (SEN)
...where a special school or institution approved under section 41 is specified in the EHC Plan.” 20. In S v Worcestershire CC (SEN) [2017] UKUT 92(AAC) Upper Tribunal Judge Mitchell considered somewhat similar issues to those in the present appeal. In that case, the person concerned, R, was a......
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RB v Calderdale MBC (SEN)
...which has re-cast the specified SEN and provision to alter outcomes that no longer related to them (S v Worcestershire CC (SEN) [2017] UKUT 0092 (AAC)). 59. Put shortly, Ms Waldron submitted that, the tribunal having re-cast some of the special educational provisions for R, it should have m......
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BB v London Borough of Barnet (SEN)
...and other outcomes. The Upper Tribunal has decided that this section applies at the appeal stage (S v Worcestershire County Council [2017] UKUT 92 (AAC)) despite there being no legislative provision to that effect (M and M v West Sussex County Council UKUT 347 (AAC)). However, this does not......