What We Do

How The Education Law Department Can Help You

Our education lawyers practice solely in this particular area of law, as a result of their extensive experience and high level of training. Because of this, we understand many of the difficulties you face when it comes to delicate legal procedures.

We also offer expert special educational needs advice for England and Wales, including EHCPs, appeals to SEN tribunals, securing addition support for young people, EHC needs assessments, and many more aspects of this complex area of education law.

Due to this intricate nature of Education Law, our focus is on achieving the best outcome as quickly as possible, by providing you with a realistic assessment of your case and your likeliness of success.

We provide education law advice for: parents, university students, young people, solicitors/deputies, and advocates.

How We Help Parents

Every child deserves the chance to achieve their potential but education funding cuts are making this more and more difficult as Local Authorities and schools struggle to balance their costs. We endeavour to help parents readdress the equilibrium.
Our education law team can provide advice on all matters parents face, including:

• securing additional support for special educational needs
• claims for disability discrimination
• exclusion appeals
• admission appeals
• school non-attendance
• disputes with schools – including bullying
• out of education
• home tuition
• school transport

Parents deserve to get the best advice and support, but they can often be let down by an increasingly complicated system. At HCB we can help guide you through the ever more difficult procedures that exist in education.

How We Help University Students

Universities are gradually becoming more over-subscribed, and yet they seem to have less time to consider individual circumstances.

Students are not numbers – they are individuals who sometimes need more support to achieve the grade they deserve. We have already helped many students appeal against unfair classifications or exclusions from universities.

Our expert higher education lawyers can help you by attending university hearings or pursuing court proceedings if that becomes necessary. You are paying for a service with your student fees, so don’t allow your university let you down.

How We Help Case Managers

In many instances, funding and time is very limited for case managers. Sometimes you need additional support if you can’t resolve the matter yourself, in which case you may need to employ the help of a specialist education lawyer.

Case managers play a critical role in making sure their clients are fully catered to. You will likely be acting for disabled young people who often require considerable additional support. We can help in securing this extra support, in addition to helping make claims for disability discrimination, exclusion appeals, admission appeals, home tuition appeals, and school transport appeals for children with special educational needs.

We initiate our cases by weighing the costs and benefits for your client, including an assessment of what savings can be made by guaranteeing their legal entitlements are secured, rather than privately appointing outside support. We focus on getting the best deal; ensuring there is a cost-benefit. We will always tell you if our assessment reveals that instructing us will not result in a financial saving for your client.

It can be tempting to use funding from a negligence of personal injury claim, rather than resolving the dispute. This is not a long term solution, particularly when a claim has not secured 100% liability. We look to help your client face these difficulties, and can offer a more stable outcome. If you are not sure what they may be entitled to, our education law team will be happy to help.

How We Help Young People

Our education law team has significant experience in providing direct assisstance to young people.

Young people who are in dispute with their parents, or are looked after by local authorities will need impartial advice. It is imperative that they are provided with clear, straightforward advice, without the use of legal jargon, to ensure they have the chance to make an informed decision regarding their education. It is important to remember that young people will benefit from proper education, and it should be a priority to do all to enable that.

If you have been discriminated against, mistreated, or excluded from school and you require addition support, please get in touch and one of our education team will be able to offer the advice you need.

How We Help Solicitors and Deputies

We can provide education law advice to claimant solicitors, including personal injury and negligence cases, in addition to supporting deputies – both professional and lay deputies – understanding the responsibilities you have to make sure funding is used appropriately. We even work with the Court of protection, so we fully appreciate the restrictions you might be facing. We know that many lay deputies will be parents to severely disabled children, meaning there are also personal reasons in wanting the best outcome.

For claimant solicitors, we can helping with valuing a claim and focus on securing extra support for your client – without their compensation being required to fund it.

In our experience, young people and children who have suffered from negligence or personal injury struggle with their acquired disabilities, which exposes them to social complications and difficulties with remaining in education. It is important that adequate support is available to make sure schools and local authorities act accordingly.

In all the work we do, we strive to ensure our clients’ best interests are upheld. Our goal is to make sure the young person in question is able to access education and get the support they require, in a supportive environment.

How we help Advocates

We support advocates throughout England and Wales.

Advocacy groups that provide support for parents and guardians of disabled children and young people are invaluable. These groups can offer help with most areas of special education needs, admissions, disability discrimination, and exclusion appeals.

As local authorities attempt to employ more solicitors and barristers to provide legal advice, the more complex appeals and discrimination claims can be. In addition, it means a legally qualified representative will be available to the local authority or school should they need them – giving them an unfair advantage.

This means that the need for advocacy groups and their excellent work to support the rights of individuals is more important than ever. We can help by offering the legal guidance and assistance to support advocacy groups with the necessary legal training and experience for cases that have become more complicated.