Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Related legal acts

Key definition

Local authority definition

What does Local authority mean? In legal practice, a local authority is the elected council that provides local government for a defined area, exercising statutory functions including planning, housing, social care, education, highways, environmental health, licensing, and the collection of council tax or rates. The expression appears widely in legislation and case law; its precise scope is set by the relevant statute. England: county councils and district councils (including metropolitan boroughs), unitary authorities, London Boroughs and the Common Council of the City of London; parish and town councils are local authorities at the most local tier. Wales: unitary county and county borough councils. Scotland: the...

SEND in England: local authority duties, EHC needs assessments and plans, mainstream placement, joint commissioning, funding and appeals under the Children and Families Act 2014

Published by a LexisNexis Local Government expert

Practice notes

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Part 3 of the Children and Families Act 2014 (CFA 2014)

From 1 September 2014, Part 3 of the Children and Families Act 2014 (CFA 2014) took effect in England, reshaping the system for special educational needs and disability (SEND) provision. The Public Accounts Committee has urged the government to act to improve the system; see SEND emergency: Unviable system will end in lost generation of children without reform. This Practice Note addresses the law in England only; for the position in Wales, see Practice Note: Special educational needs law in Wales.

A child or young person is regarded as having special educational needs when a learning difficulty or disability requires special educational provision to be made because:

they experience substantially greater difficulty in learning than the majority of their peers,
or they have a disability that prevents or hinders them from making effective use of facilities ordinarily provided for their peers in mainstream schools or mainstream post-16 settings

A learning difficulty or disability is not established merely because the language of instruction differs from the language spoken at home. Special educational provision is support that is additional to, or different from, that which...

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Hayley O'Sullivan

Hayley has extensive experience in advising schools and trusts on a broad range of education law issues with particular expertise in exclusions and equality issues. She frequently advises schools on SEND, admissions and attendance, policies, safeguarding, Ofsted challenges, complex parental complaints and the challenges social media poses for schools. Hayley regularly delivers training to senior leaders and governing boards on an array of topics. Her approachable, straight-talking style and the way in which she brings topics to life through case studies and her own experiences has led to numerous testimonials from schools, who value her insights into various topics. Experience• Successfully defended the first nationally known case of its kind in respect of a schoolgirl who was seeking to bring an injunction in the High Court to force the school to abandon its policy relating to the use of masks in...

Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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