Stone King Solicitor quoted in Schools Week piece on complaints to SEND watchdog

Stone King Associate Elizabeth Fortin has been quoted in a Schools Week piece investigating the increase in complaints to the SEND watchdog which have tripled in the past five years.

With total complaints rising from 509 in 2018-19 to 1,435 in the current financial year, the education publication said there has also been an increase in the number of investigations upheld rising from 85% to 94% in the same period.

Elizabeth, a specialist in advising mainstream and special schools and academies, explained that increasing numbers of schools are having to notify councils about their obligation to make education arrangements for those with special educational needs and disabilities.

With councils mainly notified in instances where schools “simply don’t feel they can keep that pupil or other pupils safe”, often in cases of self-harm or suicide risk, Elizabeth said councils had been “pushing back” on this incorrectly claiming that these are informal exclusions.

The article reported on the scale of the impact felt by families as a result of the failings that have led to £716,000 paid by councils in compensation in just the last six months.

One failing related to councils not complying with their obligations under the Education Act to “make arrangements for the provision of suitable education” for school age children who “by reason of illness, exclusion from school or otherwise” may not receive this without intervention.

Schools Week highlighted a 2022 ombudsman report that reminded councils that this was their duty and not schools’.

Read the full article here.