Commentary on Sections Appeals, mediation and dispute resolution Section 58: Appeals and claims by children: pilot schemes
278.This section gives the Secretary of State a power to establish pilot schemes in local authority areas to enable children to make appeals in relation to their special educational needs and to bring disability discrimination claims against schools to the First-tier Tribunal. Currently the Education Act 1996 and the Equality Act 2010 only give parents such a right.
279.The pilots will test whether the right to appeal is something that children would use, the best way to handle these appeals and the cost implications, with a view to extending the right to children across England. The section establishes the things the pilot scheme can cover. These include the age from which a child may appeal and make claims; how mediation before a child’s appeal works; and advice, information and advocacy provided to a child. The section stipulates that the power to make an order establishing pilot schemes is repealed after five years (from the date on which the Act receives Royal Assent).