Can anyone point me to the revelant law for this please?

[StarOfValkyrie]

I understand that if a Local Authority don't have a policy on something, then established practice stands. Is this correct?

What if they DO have a policy but just haven't used it for 10 years?

Many tia.

bump?

What area of law?

SEN, but I'm not sure it matters does it?

bump?

Well, an LA decision can be judicially reviewed if they haven't followed their our policies and procedures, whether those are written or unwritten.

If the court finds that there is procedural irregularity then it can qush the decision and make the LA consider it again.

If there are not following a policy, then the LA should be able to give a reasoned decision as to why they are not following it.

Policy should be regularly reviewed and updated. If it is not followed they need to justify why not. If the circumstances haven't arisen in that time then that's different.

No legal perspective though sorry.

Thank you. I have a policy document from 10 years ago obtained through FoI that states what I am asking for should be given. I also have evidence that it has been given since then, but they have refuse it to me without a reason, despite written evidence of my asking.

Do I have a case then?

bumpity!

Have you gone through the LA's complaints procedure?

That would be one option, the other would be to Judicially review the decision. Without knowing more info it is impossible to say whether you would have a case. The decision would need to be completely irrational, illegal or unreasonable.

The threat of JR is likely to be enough to make them either change their minds or give full reasons.

Thank you. We have a SENDIST tribunal in a few weeks. The threat of that didn't seem to be enough to change their minds.

I am wondering though, if I can move onto JR afterwards given that the tribunal should never have happened iyswim.

you could try the local government ombudsman not sure if they cover this or not, but they can probably advise you on the best course to take.

LGO is certainly a good option before or after the tribunal, as they should be able to say pretty quickly whether the LEA is at fault for not following its own policy. Judicial review (regardless of your chances of success) is likely to be slower and costlier.

Star I am struggling, to be honest. Lots of stuff on legal precedence, esp with regard to, say, contractual obligations arising from established practice. But I can't seem to find anything concrete about current practice overriding written policy, sorry.

Ahhh, there you are Louggle!

The issue is this. There is a policy. It was written 10 years ago. They pretend it doesn't exist. Where people have found it, and referred to it, it has been adhered to. I have found it but now they are taking a stand. There is no updated policy, but where people don't know about it, they do something completely different

stupid

The trouble is, as you will know, that you can't take the council to a LGO if you have started Tribunal proceedings. Well, you can try, but they decide whether to let you, and the timescale means that it will already have gone to T, so will be disqualified. Having said that, didn't WA go to LGO after T? I don't know quite how she did that, given the disqualification rule. Might be worth asking her.

Thinking some more, I wonder if this is a bit of a red-herring for you? The facts that the Tribunal look at are to do with provision for your DS SEN. They sit in the seat of the LA and look at the evidence. So it doesn't much matter if they have prior policy that they do/don't do x. Afterall, they are not allowed 'blanket policy'. So it returns to the question of provision that is suitable for your child which does not compromise the effective use of resources or the effective education of other children.

By all means, evidence that they have considered your choice effective use of resources in the past (I have pointed you to something in the public domain re: that on another thread, although I am sure you will have seen it already) should help your case to pursuade T that it was fit for the goose, kind of thing, but I am not sure that the existence/non-existence of written policy itself will be a persuading factor. But I am not a lawyer, of course.

lou I think you can take start LGO stuff if it is about things that the tribunal have not been asked to address. I know for sure that you can go to JR if you can prove you have been forced to tribunal unnecessarily too as that is abuse of the system by the LA.
And yes, thank you I have seen that document, but they have deleted it from all the most obvious parts of their website.

The issue is that the ball is in their court i.e. they can provide it in appropriate cases, but they get to define 'appropriate' iyswim. But you're right that they can't say it isn't effective use of resources, or rubbish, because if they do, they have no business spending public money on it in the first place.

Contact one of your Councillors and ask her to investigate for you.