In 2016 Sutton Local Authority set up a limited company,  Cognus, with the purpose of it providing the borough’s statutory services for Special Educational Needs and Disabilities. As this is a limited company it is driven by profit. Since then, large numbers of families with children with SEND have been denied the help that they need and been forced to go to tribunal to get this. By way of example in 2018 Sutton had the highest rejection rate in the country for Education, Health and Care needs assessments at over 60% (with a national average of 23%) and over 700 children have been rejected for help.  

Setting up a company to provide such a sensitive statutory service was always going to be a risk and one which our group could never understand. Firstly from a local point of view because of the susceptibility of decisions regarding vulnerable children being compromised for profit and secondly because we were unclear how the government could let such a company be set up in the first place.

We, the Sutton EHCP Crisis Group, are looking to investigate whether we can bring a Judicial Review against the Local Authority for outsourcing these vital services to Cognus Ltd. Any claim we bring may include a challenge that our local authority’s relationship with Cognus Ltd breaches the Localism Act 2010, along with potentially other legal duties. The aim is that our children’s statutory services are brought back in house so that this company can no longer be used as buffer by the local authority and accountability is restored. 

In order for us to achieve this we need to raise an initial £2600 to begin the initial work needed, which will be undertaken by our solicitors Rook Irwin Sweeney LLP and our barrister Steve Broach (39 Essex Chambers). Any contribution you could make towards this would be very much appreciated. If successful, this proposed claim could have positive lifelong effects on the future of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities in Sutton that at the moment are not getting the services to which they should be entitled. It could also establish that other local authorities cannot outsource these services to profit-making companies.

Sutton EHCP Crisis Group