Data reveals West Northants Council has spent £275,000 of taxpayers' money fighting disabled children's parents in court

New data has revealed West Northants Council (WNC) has spent nearly £300,000 on legal fees after being taken to court by unhappy parents of special needs children.

A freedom of information request submitted by this newspaper to WNC found that in 2022, the council was involved in 54 tribunals with SEND parents, which cost a total of £274,935.54 in legal fees to defend in court.

West Northants SEND Action Group, which is comprised of parents of special needs and disabled children in the county, said the council's time and money spent on defending appeals is 'completely inexcusable'.

The group said: "The money and time spent on defending tribunal appeals is completely inexcusable. The local authority should be trying to get things right first time, rather than wasting the stretched budget on legal fees, when appeals are usually upheld anyway.

"It seems that forcing parents to tribunal is often used as more of a delay tactic than anything else.

"We would like to see the local authority stop wasting money and resources on avoidable tribunals, and also on penalising SEND parents for school attendance difficulties, and instead use the money for the SEND education budget."

The group said there are three main reasons why parents take WNC to tribunal:

- Appealing WNC's refusal to carry out an education, health and care needs assessment

- Appealing WNC's refusal to issue an education, health and care plan (EHCP), which is when the council conducts an assessment but rules against a child receiving a plan

- Appealing the contents of an EHCP and/or the named school in that plan, which is usually because the parent feels the plan and/or school is not right for their child's needs

WNC's response

Cllr Fiona Baker, cabinet member for children, families and education at WNC said the council is working hard with partners and parents to reduce tribunals.

Councillor Baker said: "“WNC recognise the number of tribunals are high.

"Unfortunately, the high number of tribunals is a challenge seen nationally and in WNC.

“We are aware of and hear the impact this is having on families, children and young people and we are committed to improving provisions and processes in collaboration with the schools and parents to continue to make needed improvements."

The cabinet member went on to explain what SEND provision WNC has been implementing recently.

Councillor Baker said: “Part of the council’s response to reduce tribunals is our ambitious project underway to increase special educational needs (SEN) provision within the West Northants area by creating an additional 500 specialist placements. The council has made progress towards meeting this placement target, with three provisions opened since Autumn 2022 providing an additional 40 places with further places opening in September 2023. This includes the recent opening of a new SEND department on February 3 2023 at Hardingstone Academy in partnership with East Midlands Academy Trust which provides much-needed additional school places for children in Key Stage Two with social and communication difficulties.

“In addition to the increase of SEN places, the Council have committed to recruit additional staff to lead the local SEND Improvement plan; this week the council, along with colleagues from health, social care and the Northampton Parent Forum Group (NPFG) will be interviewing prospective candidates to join the Council. The Council are also working closely with stakeholders including schools and parents to ensure the appropriate funding is available in schools and settings to support children and young people with SEND. As well as this, we have introduced the SEND Ranges which are centred around providing the right support to SEND children and young people and have been developed with local schools, colleges, education professionals and families to ensure these correctly meet behavioural needs."

However in a report published by WNC in November, the council admitted it was below the national average for SEND provision.

The report reads: "There are a number of areas of performance of SEND services in WNC that are poor. At present, there is a significant shortfall of specialist school places which means many children are not in school or have poor outcomes in inappropriate school places; the percentage of EHCP’s issued on time and the percentage of educational psychologist assessments completed on time are significantly below regional and national averages."

The West Northants SEND Action Group spokeswoman responded, saying: "WNC's excuse for everything is always that it’s the same everywhere. The reality is that some areas are worse than others. A national crisis - yes. But some are doing better than WNC with their own limited resources."

West Northants SEND Action Group protested outside the council's headquarters in September accusing the local authority of “failing” to provide education and support for their disabled children.