On 15 April 2026, the Legal Aid Agency granted Exceptional Case Funding (ECF -‘the legal aid safety net’) for representation in an Independent Review Panel (‘IRP’) hearing. It follows years of litigation, policy work and campaigning on this issue and represents a significant breakthrough in ensuring access to justice for children who have been permanently excluded from school.
Once excluded from school, many children are sent to Pupil Referral Units (‘PRUs’) where a child’s education prospects are diminished. Children outside mainstream education are also at increased risk of child criminal exploitation (‘CCE’), criminal prosecution, detention in youth offending institutions, homelessness and unemployment as they enter adulthood. Children from Black Caribbean and other ethnic backgrounds, Gypsy, Roma and Traveller children, children with special educational needs and disabilities (‘SEND’), and children in poverty (e.g. receiving free school meals) are all disproportionately excluded from school.
Since its foundation in 2021, the number one priority of the School Inclusion Project (‘SIP’) has been obtaining legal aid for school exclusion hearings. SIP is a forum coordinated by the Garden Court in partnership with the Communities Empowerment Network, Coram Children’s Legal Centre (‘CCLC’) and the Law Centres Network.
Counsel from Garden Court, instructed by CCLC, acted for the Claimant in the High Court case of R (CWJ) v Director of Legal Aid Casework & Lord Chancellor [2025] EWHC 306 (Admin), which established for the first time that the right to a fair hearing under Article 6 ECHR could be engaged in an IRP hearing. The Lord Chancellor also amended his guidance in response to the litigation, to lift a categorical ban on ECF being granted.
Garden Court counsel (instructed by CCLC and others) have repeatedly acted ‘at risk’ of ECF not being granted in IRP hearings. The Legal Aid Agency has been slow to determine these applications, in part relying on the recent cyber-attack. Now, for the first time, legal aid has been granted for representation in an IRP hearing.
“It remains a priority for SIP to continue pushing for access to justice in IRP hearings, however, this is a significant step forward. SIP will be arranging training to support legal aid providers to apply for this funding now that we have established that it is impossible.”
