Revealed: £100m spent to thwart special needs claims

More than £100m was spent last year by local authorities and the government on failed efforts to block support for children and young people with special educational needs in England, according to analysis by the Guardian.

- Richard Adams

The enormous cost in legal fees and staff resources came with councils winning only 136 out of more than 10,000 tribunals in 2022-23, a success rate of 1.2%, as record numbers of families took to the courts to challenge councils over agreements known as education, health and care plans (EHCPs).

Experts said the surging numbers of appeals and costs were evidence that special education provision was becoming a battle between cash-strapped councils and desperate families. The National Audit Office is among those saying that "wholesale reform" is needed.

A spokesperson for the Independent Provider of Special Education Advice, a charity providing free legal support to families, said: "It's hard to avoid the conclusion that local authorities must calculate, at some level, that it costs them less to contest tribunal appeals, even if they lose, than to provide every child and young person with what the law entitles them to as a matter of course - because the majority of families don't [or] can't appeal."

Arooj Shah, the chair of the Local Government Association's children and young people board, said: "Councils fully recognise the right of families to take appeals to tribunals. However, the fact a significant number of cases are being taken to a tribunal hearing is symptomatic of a system that is failing for families, and councils, too, who want to provide the very best for every child, in spite of the rising need for support and financial pressures.