Many parents of children with special educational needs have been sent threatening cease-and-desist letters by Local Authorities (LAs) after attempting to secure support plans for their children.
For parents in receipt of these letters, many will undoubtedly experience undue stress caused by fear of any potential legal repercussions. With little support available, parents will now feel isolated and lost within the system, without any clear recourse. By their nature, these letters can only serve to discourage parents from accessing support for their children, inevitably resulting in discussions between parents and LAs breaking down or reaching a standstill.
From the point of view of a parent receiving such letters, the intimidation factor of cease-and-desist correspondence from a LA can result in parents feeling as though they are doing something wrong and, unfortunately, may mean they do not question the validity of the threats made. As the letters are from a LA- often parents will have a misplaced trust on the basis that the LA are a public body. This may mean that the content of any such letter is accepted, rather than being viewed with appropriate scepticism.
It is very concerning that this issue ultimately stems from a broader one. It appears to be the case that language used for safeguarding purposes is being wrongly applied by schools and LAs to punish parents, simply for exercising their statutory legal rights, of which they are entitled to do so.
The Department of Education have stated that it does not recognise this particular matter as a widespread issue. However, there is a clear need for legal protection for those parents where circumstances, such as these, arise. The issues at hand are in urgent need of address by the Government, who need to more to ensure parents can access support for their children, without fear of legal action or retaliation of any sort.
At a time where the Government is set to reform the SEN system in England, it is vitally important that any changes, or potential new system, implemented are now made to help ensure families can obtain appropriate support by removing any bureaucratic barriers that currently serve as an obstacle to parents who are in this process.
Our Director, Mr Michael Charles, has recently discussed this matter recently on LBC News. LBC have also written an article about this issue, which Mr Charles has contributed to at ['The system is rotten at the core': Parents threatened for seeking special needs support... - LBC] on the 9th of July 2025.
If you are affected by any the issues discussed and you would like to make an enquiry with us, please do email us at enquiries@sinclairslaw.co.uk