CEO Melissa Davis is working with law firm Rook Irwin Sweeney to bring a Judicial Review against the government for its controversial SEND reforms.
Melissa has instructed Rook Irwin Sweeney, a specialist public law and human rights firm, on behalf of her daughter Jessica, a child with complex special educational needs, to send a letter before claim to Bridget Phillipson, Secretary of State for Education, challenging the Government’s “SEND reform: putting children and young people first” consultation which was launched on 23 February 2026 on the basis that the consultation is unfair and irrational.
This has been covered by the Law Society Gazette and other publications.
Melissa writes:
On behalf of my daughter Jessica, and through our phenomenal lawyers Polly Sweeney and Bethany Parr at Rook Irwin Sweeney LLP, a letter before claim was sent to the Secretary of State for Education.
The consultation proposes changes that would fundamentally weaken the legal protections for children with special educational needs and disabilities, including reducing the powers of the SEND Tribunal and shifting responsibility for delivering Education, Health and Care Plans away from local authorities and onto schools.
These are not technical adjustments. They go to the heart of whether EHCPs remain enforceable at all, and whether parents retain meaningful rights of appeal when provision breaks down.
Yet despite the scale of these proposals, the consultation asks no questions about them and barely explains their implications. Changes that could reshape children’s futures are mentioned only in passing.
If the Government is serious about children’s rights, it must be honest about proposals that would reduce protections for very vulnerable children. Families deserve a consultation that genuinely invites scrutiny, not one that sidesteps the hardest questions.
When a child’s education, care and future depend on an EHCP being enforceable, these are life-altering decisions and parents deserve transparency and a real voice.
This challenge is about legality, fairness and basic public law principles. It is about ensuring that rights are not eroded by omission.
I am deeply grateful to Rook Irwin Sweeney, acting through their Social Justice Fund, and to Steve Broach KC of 39 Essex Chambers for his pro bono support. Also to Eduardo Reyes, a dear friend and supporter and campaigner in this space for being the first on the scene to write about it and Catriona Moore at IPSEA – Independent Provider of Special Education Advice for her piece in Special Needs Jungle Ltd news.
Read the press release issued by Rook Irwin Sweeney
