Following a competitive procurement process LGSS Law has been appointed by Cambridgeshire County Council to provide specialist legal support in connection with the special educational needs provision including tribunal representation. The appointment will commence in December 2016 and extend to 2020.

Cambridgeshire County Council provides education for children and young people with Statements of Special Educational Needs (SSEN), Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCP) between the ages of 0 – 25 years. There are approximately 3,300 Cambridgeshire children and young people with a SSEN/EHCP. The Authority has received up to 90 appeals per year. The number of appeals has consistently increased over the past 5 years.

LGSS Law will provide Cambridgeshire County Council with a specialist legal advice assistance, and training to support and represent the Local Authority in all aspects of Special Educational Needs Tribunals. The Council explicitly requires a bespoke response to its SEN legal needs.

LGSS Law Excecutive Director, Quentin Baker said;
“We’re absolutely delighted to have been selected by LGSS’s Special Educational Needs and Disability Services in providing our legal advice assistance. We have a talented team with many years of experience in this highly specialist area and we seek to encourage resolution without resort to tribunal where that is appropriate so as to avoid adversarial and combative proceedings in this sensitive area of work. Our team have developed expertise in this field and we will be exploring the potential to offer this service to other local authorities.”