Bristol City Council £100k Bill Fighting Send Families
Bristol City Council spent nearly £100k last year, fighting against families of children needing support with their Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (Send).
According to a Freedom Of Information request published on What Do They Know, the total cost the council spent on First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability) appeals in 2022 came to £98,364.81.
Generally called SENDIST by families and professionals, the Tribunal handles appeals against local authority decisions regarding Send, including a refusal to assess a child’s Send, refusal to issue a plan, the contents of a plan or maintain the plan.
The Tribunal also handles claims for Disability Discrimination by schools and Local Authorities.
It is not clear how this figure breaks down into legal representation from the use of barristers or solicitors or internal staff costs. It is also not clear if any of the appeals it has defended include Disability Discrimination claims.
The council says the average cost of defending a decision not to do an Education Health Care Needs Assessment (EHCNA) comes to £154 a case. This, they say, is due to a Tribunal Manager taking 7 hours to speak to a school, collate information, review it and provide a response.
‘These staff are salaried staff and to date the use of more formal legal services has not been required,’ the council said.
When it came to the percentage of tribunals families win and the councils lose, Bristol City Council said it has a ‘resolutions focused approach’ meaning the ‘majority’ of appeals lodged do not proceed to a hearing.
The council says that in 2022, 67 per cent of appeals were found in favour of the family, with 33 found in their favour.
Whilst Sendist is often seen as a win or lose situation, the reality is slightly different. Contents appeals are not necessarily as straightforward as a win or lose result.
The final order from the judge can be mixed for both parties, as Tribunal will work through an EHCP in what is called a Working Document. This can result in wins and losses on both or either side. It is not clear if the council has considered these results as wins or losses in their released statistics.
The percentage of EHCNAs that have had to be completed as a result of taking the council to Sendist last year was 3.6, with the number of all EHCNAs turned down by the council standing at 14.5 per cent.
Papers to Cabinet in January 2023, showed that in the proposed budget 2023/24, £200k would be invested into legal costs for tribunal cases, suggesting the ultimate costs for tribunal cases could be much higher.
More Bristol News from Chopsy Bristol
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ChopsyBristol
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/chopsybaby
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chopsybristol/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chopsybristol
For Theatre News: https://backstagebristol.com