(OT) press report re misleading Tribunal

December 22, 2006

Autism rap for council

By Kerry McQueeney

The parents of an autistic boy who believed a tribunal was misled

when their son was given a place at an unsuitable school have been

vindicated at the High Court.

At the High Court last Friday Judge Mr Justice Sullivan said Croydon

Council had " betrayed a complete failure " to understand its role as

an education authority.

The Croydon boy - named only as J' for legal reasons - suffers from

Asperger's Syndrome and cannot be taught in a mainstream school due

to his challenging behaviour.

continued...

His parents wanted him to go to a school specialising in treating

Asperger's, which Croydon Council deemed too expensive.

Instead, a Special Education Needs Tribunal (Sent) said in February

that J' should be taught at Brantridge School, in Haywards Heath,

West Sussex, after the school's headteacher gave misleading evidence

to the panel.

Giving evidence on behalf of Croydon Council, Nick White told the

tribunal that his school was registered with the National Autistic

Society (NAS) and that it was not an establishment for children with

behavioural and social problems, which was unsuitable for J'.

However, the High Court heard it had since emerged that the school is

registered with the Department of Education and Skills as an

establishment for those with behavioural and social problems.

And the school is only registered with the Public Autism Resource

Information Service (Paris) which, although run by the NAS, is not

credited to the society.

The council denied the tribunal had been misled either intentionally

or unintentionally, but Mr Justice Sullivan asked lawyers for the

local authority to reconsider its stance. After ordering another

tribunal, Croydon Council was told to pay J's legal bill, around

£22,000.

A spokesman for Croydon Council said: " The local education authority

does not seek to withhold information from tribunals and tries at all

times to be transparent. "

8:08am Thursday 7th September 2006

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