This petition was submitted during the 2015 to 2017 Parliament
Closed petition Make LAs fund parental chosen legal representation at SEND appeals
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LAs are increasingly instructing expensive, external legal firms to represent them at SEND tribunals. Often this will be a barrister, regardless of whether the parents of the disabled child is represented. Tribunals are meant to be light touch, and families are not being given a fair hearing.
Parents are at breaking point, constantly fighting for their disabled childrens' educational rights, while LAs spare no expense to 'win' tribunal claims.
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09687590701259674?journalCode=
https://onedrive.live.com/redir?page=view&resid=3EA9503A53A03A77!230&authkey=!APLwZXHPVC_Xem8
To redress this imbalance, LAs should either not be allowed to instruct external legal representation, or if they do, they should fund legal representation of parents choice.
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This petition will stay open until 22 December 2016.