Tom Tabori successful for young people with special educational needs in two Upper Tribunal appeals of significance for the evolution of the Children and Families Act 2014 statutory regime

Tom Tabori represented the successful appellants in two judgments handed down by the Upper Tribunal this week, in appeals concerning the education of young people (aged under 25 but over compulsory school age) with special educational needs [S v Worcestershire County Council [2017] UKUT 0092 (AAC) and Gloucestershire County Council v EH (SEN) [2017] 0085].

In doing so, the UT(AAC) determined a number of questions about the operation of the Education, health and Care (EHC) plan provisions of the Children & Families Act 2014 (CFA 2014) and gave guidance to the First-tier Tribunal, including on:

1. Whether local authorities' participative and enabling obligations under section 19 of the CFA 2014 apply to the First-tier Tribunal when it is hearing an appeal under CFA 2014;
2. To what extent does the First-tier Tribunal have jurisdiction in relation to the outcomes that must be specified in an EHC plan;
3.  The operation of the CFA 2014 where an appellant seeks to persuade the First-tier Tribunal to name an independent school in an EHC plan.