The Case

In the instant case, the local education authority's refusal to comply with a direction of the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal, namely that the claimant's child had to be subjected to further assessments, for the purposes of updating her statement of special educational needs, could not be justified on the basis that the child's welfare would be compromised given that the assessments would be 'intrusive, unnecessary and abusive'. The starting point was that the tribunal's direction had been rational and valid. Had the authority wished to object to the tribunal's direction, the proper course would have been for it to have mounted a challenge either by way of an appeal to the High Court, an application for judicial review, or on points of law before the Court of Appeal.