Schools will remain closed well into – if not for the duration of – the Summer term. The Government's plan for schooling is that it should shift online [1], however, if matters stay as they are a million children from lower income families will be left behind - either because they are sharing a tablet or laptop with siblings and working parents or because they don’t have a device or home internet access at all.

The Institute for Public Policy Research has estimated that one million children do not have adequate access to a device or connectivity at home [2]. A recent survey from Teach First showed that only 2% of teachers working in the UK’s most disadvantaged schools believe their pupils have adequate access to online learning [3].

Section 19 of the Education Act 1996 places an obligation on local authorities to provide a suitable education for children, whether inside or outside school. And it is unthinkable that children from lower income families, already the most educationally disadvantaged [4], should fall further behind. If teaching online is to replace that in classrooms, all children must have access to laptops or tablets and to the internet.

Tomorrow, lawyers will write to an inner city local authority on behalf of a number of children who are struggling or unable to access education being provided online. The case will be made on the basis of the Education Act 1996, supported by the Human Rights Act, the Equality Act and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. We believe the case is legally very compelling.

However, although the legal obligation to provide a suitable education falls on local authorities, many are already operating on shoestring budgets [5]. And therefore we want Government to help local authorities to meet those costs. Local authorities are also operating without clear guidance from the Government on access to online resources for the most disadvantaged children, so lawyers for Good Law Project will also write to the Secretary of State for Education asking him to set out his plans for the Summer term.

The litigation will be taken forward urgently, in the hope it might be determined in time for the Summer term which begins on Monday 20 April.   

Good Law Project has instructed Caoilfhionn Gallagher QC and Adam Wagner and Dan Rosenberg of Simpson Millar all of whom will work at considerably below market rates.

This crowdfunding page will be updated with links as soon as the letters to the local authority and the Secretary of State are sent. 

What are we crowdfunding for?

We are asking for the costs of running the litigation. It may well be that some of the claimants – children presently unable adequately to access education – will benefit from legal aid. Others such as Good Law Project will not.

To ensure important voices are heard we will allocate up to 20% of all funds raised to covering the legal costs of those interested in or who wish to intervene in the litigation and would not otherwise be able to do so. 10% of the funds raised will be a contribution to the general running costs of Good Law Project. We will use any surplus to develop other litigation to protect the most disadvantaged.

Good Law Project’s founder, Jo Maugham QC, continues to work unpaid.

Notes: [1] https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/closure-of-educational-settings-information-for-parents-and-carers/closure-of-educational-settings-information-for-parents-and-carers 

[2] https://www.ippr.org/files/2020-03/1585586431_children-of-the-pandemic.pdf 

[3] https://inews.co.uk/news/education/home-learning-tablets-laptops-teach-first-free-unlimited-data-2521004 

[4] https://epi.org.uk/publications-and-research/annual-report-2019/ 

[5] https://www.local.gov.uk/sites/default/files/documents/5.40_01_Finance%20publication_WEB_0.pdf