[2025] UKUT 239 (AAC)

The appellants seek permission to appeal, in time, against the decision of the First-tier Tribunal of 13 March 2025. They also seek an order suspending the decision of the First-tier Tribunal pending the outcome of the appeal. Permission to appeal was refused by the First-tier Tribunal on 5 June 2025. The application for permission to appeal to the Upper Tribunal was lodged on 6 June 2025.

I gave directions for the listing of an oral hearing to determine the applications for permission to appeal and suspension of the First-tier Tribunal’s decision.

At that hearing, which lasted approximately 1 hour, the appellants represented themselves and the local authority was represented by Ms Staines (an in-house solicitor) and Ms Maffre (a member of the local authority’s SEND team) also contributed to the hearing. The appellants submitted a number of additional documents in advance of the hearing, which I considered.

The local authority also submitted written representations, which arrived after the start of the hearing. The local authority at the hearing did not rely in any detail in what was in the written submissions and, as it was a permission hearing at which the question was whether the appellants had identified an arguable error of law in the First-tier Tribunal’s decision, I did not consider there was any need to deal in any more detail with the local authority’s response as the local authority would have an opportunity to respond in full to the appeal if permission was granted. However, subsequent to the hearing, the appellants, having by then had an opportunity to read the local authority’s written submissions, submitted a ‘rebuttal’ to the local authority’s written submissions. I have considered that rebuttal in preparing this decision.