'More parents use lawyers to secure school places'

[MrsGhoulofGhostbourne]

here

• unbelieeeeeeeeeeeeeevable

I can understand using a lawyer for an appeal if parents have got a genuine case (which is not necessarily the same as believing they have, I know! ) but:

"They report more families wanting advice on deciphering the application process, filling in forms and even when to move house into a catchment area to guarantee a place."

Even if they aren't sure the application process is transparent enough to follow without assistance, surely they can just look on the internet for the information themselves? Bluntly put, I think anyone who needs a lawyer to fill in a form is either not intelligent enough to do it themselves or just has more money than sense.

Money, money, money

I am going to an Ed Tribunal, my Ds has SN and the LEA were not prepared to offer him an appropriate place.

Yes, I am using a lawyer and a barrister to represent me, it is important that my son has a suitable education.

The prices quoted on that article are laughable, my Lawyer charges £400 per hour, £40 to receice a fax/email/letter before it is even read!

Beans on toast anyone?

we are going to SN tribunal too but doing ourselves. lawyers charge too much.

I'm sorry but those lawyers are taking the utter pee.

You now what, I have decided the choice thing is just a red herring to distract everyone from the real issues about the inequalities of education provision.

Good luck NMC, my DH can't even say if he'll be in the country when it happens so we are forking out.

TBH I'm too knackered and unsupported (head in the sand DH) to write my own name somedays, so felt it best.

MSBS - sorry about your situation . Nobody could object to you using laywers - the way councils wriggle out of SN provision is scandalous. I think this article was getting at parents finding lwyers to tell 'em sneaky ways to move house etc @ the right time, not genuine reasons.

Thanks MrsGuy Ithink wrt good school places for NT DC it is a case of those with the most (money) get the best (Education), which is not how it should be.

NMC that wasn't meant to be cometitive martyrdom, more an comment on how how others seem to manage worse situations better than me.

Surely people are intelligent to work out for themselves what schools they have a chance of getting into. They are stupid to waste their money in this way.

As everyone is saying- it's a totally different thing if you have a genuine reason. I went to appeal for disabled access, but chose to represent myself as I felt that would be more effective.

But some of the parents I met there seemed to have a very poor understanding of how the admissions process actually worked, not to mention what the different stages of the appeal process were meant to achieve. I imagine a conscientious lawyer would have pointed out to them that they were wasting their time. Maybe?...