AM and SP v Wokingham Borough Council (SEN): [2026] UKUT 327 (AAC)
Upper Tribunal Administrative Appeals Chamber decision of Judge Citron on 21 August 2026.
Read the full decision in .
Judicial Summary
This appeal by the parents of a 6 year old, which was supported by the local authority respondent, concerns firstly whether the First-tier Tribunal erred in deciding that section 61 of the Children and Families Act 2014 did not apply; the Upper Tribunal decides that it did so err, because its fact-finding and reasoning was inconsistent with a conclusion that there was no part of the child’s necessary special educational provision that would be inappropriate to be made in a school.
The appeal also concerns whether it is an error of law to set out in Section F of an EHC plan, which contains the required special educational provision, the location in which special educational provision is to be made (such as “home”). The Upper Tribunal decides it is not necessarily in error of law to do so, provided the location in which the provision is made is inherent or integral to the educational or training quality of the provision. The Upper Tribunal observes that such cases will probably be rare, and states that best practice for a First-tier Tribunal setting out the location of special educational provision is to be made, in Section F, is to explain, briefly, why the location is in that particular case inherent or integral to the educational or training quality of the provision.
Finally, the appeal concerns section 33(2) of the Children and Families Act 2014, and concludes that the First-tier Tribunal erred in law in setting out “a special school” as the type of school in Section I, where there was no finding that a mainstream school would have been incompatible with the parents’ wishes, or with the provision of efficient education for others.
The decision of the First-tier Tribunal was set aside and the case remitted for reconsideration by a fresh First-tier Tribunal panel, after consolidation with a similar new case in that tribunal between the same parties.