Health, Education and Social Care Chamber of the First–tier tribunal

The Health, Education and Social Care (HESC) Chamber of the First–tier Tribunal holds the jurisdictions of Mental Health Review, Care Standards and Special Educational Needs and Disability.

Care Standards

This HESC Chamber considers appeals from people who have received a decision issued by organisations concerned with children and vulnerable adults, and those which regulate the provision of social, personal and health care.

Someone can appeal to the Chamber if they have:

• Have been barred from working with children;
• Have been barred from working with vulnerable adults;
• Have been barred from teaching or otherwise working in schools/further education;
• Have received a decision you do not agree with about your registration as:
  • A child minder or other childcare provider
  • A care home owner or manager
  • A children´s home owner or manager
  • An independent hospital owner or manager
  • The provider of an agency which delivers personal or nursing care in someone´s home
  • The provider of an agency which delivers fostering and adoption services
  • A social worker or social care worker

Mental Health

The HESC Chamber hears applications and references for people detained under the Mental Health Act 1983; it covers all of England. Hearings review the cases of detained patients and direct the discharge of any patients where the statutory criteria for discharge is satisfied. In some cases, the Chamber also has the discretion to discharge patients who do not meet the statutory criteria. These cases usually involve making a balanced judgment on a number of serious issues such as:

• the freedom of the individual;
• the protection of the public; and
• the best interests of the patient.

The Chamber has no discretion to discharge ‘restricted patients’. Hearings are normally conducted in private and take place in the hospital or community unit where the patient is detained.

The principal powers of the Chamber in respect of Mental Health Review are to:

• discharge a detained patient from hospital immediately or after a short further period of detention;
• recommend leave of absence;
• recommend supervised discharge; and
• recommend transfer to another hospital.

The Chamber may reconvene and rehear a case if there is failure to comply with their recommendations.

Special Educational Needs and Disability

Parents whose children have special educational needs can appeal to the HESC Chamber against decisions made by Local Education Authorities (LEAs) in England about their children's education.

A parent can appeal to the Chamber if the LEA:

• will not carry out a formal assessment of their child´s special educational needs; or
• refuses to issue a statement of their child´s special educational needs.

If the LEA has made a statement, or has changed a previous statement, a parent can appeal against:

• the parts which describe their child´s special educational needs and set out the special educational help that the LEA think the child should get;
• the school named in the statement; or
• the LEA not naming a school in the statement.

A parent can also appeal if the LEA:

• refuses to change the school named in their child´s statement, if that statement is at least a year old;
• refuses to reassess their child´s special educational needs if the LEA has not made a new assessment for at least six months;
• decides not to maintain (decides to cancel) their child´s statement; or
• decides not to change the statement after reassessing their child.