Upcoming webinar: Special Guardianship Orders and SGO Support Plans

Upcoming webinar: Special Guardianship Orders and SGO Support Plans

We are delighted to announce our upcoming Webinar “Special Guardianship Orders and SGO Support Plans: Key Insights and Expectations”

📅 18 September 2025 | 🕓 4:30 PM | 💻 Online via Zoom

Hosted by the Local Family Justice Board and Fenners Chambers, this session share expert perspectives on Special Guardianship Orders (SGOs) and the expectations surrounding SGO support plans.

Fenners Barrister Louise Ballantyne will provide an overview of the regulations surrounding SGOs. Her Honour Judge Gordon-Saker will discuss the Court’s expectations for tailored SGO plans. Stuart Stapleton and Sue King from Peterborough City Council, alongside Ana Caldararu and Steve Crossman from Cambridgeshire County Council, will explore how support for Special Guardians is provided and how SGO plans are drawn up. Finally, Nicola Silk, Consultant Family Court Adviser at CAFCASS, will explain the information CAFCASS requires before approving an SGO plan and the key expectations they have for its content.

Don’t miss out on what promises to be an insightful webinar! Click here to register via Zoom. 

Samantha Marsh Secures Successes in Defence and Prosecution – with Strong RASSO Outcomes

Samantha Marsh Secures Successes in Defence and Prosecution – with Strong RASSO Outcomes

Samantha Marsh has had a busy and productive period in court, securing notable results on both sides of the criminal bar – with a growing run of successes in rape and serious sexual offence (RASSO) cases.

On the prosecution side, Samantha secured a conviction in a three-day burglary trial at Peterborough Crown Court, with the defendant sentenced to the mandatory minimum.

Defending, she achieved an acquittal after a challenging five-day rape trial at Huntingdon Crown Court instructed by Devas Keogh James solicitors.  This was followed by a successful defence in a two-day burglary trial at Peterborough Crown Court, which also resulted in an acquittal instructed by Hunt and Coombs solicitors.

More recently, instructed by Credence Law, Samantha acted as defence counsel in a RASSO case involving two minors. The matter raised complex admissibility issues which, following careful preparation and robust defence advocacy, led to the case being dismissed.

In her latest trial, Samantha defended a two-day sexual assault case at Cambridge Crown Court. The Defendant, a taxi driver, was acquitted by the jury after discrepancies in the complainant’s account were brought to light in cross-examination.

Taken together, these outcomes reflect Samantha’s expanding RASSO practice and a strong recent success rate in sexual offence trials. They also demonstrate her meticulous preparation and clear, sensitive advocacy — ensuring robust representation and fairness throughout the trial process.

Chambers Welcomes Dominic Barratt

Chambers Welcomes Dominic Barratt

We are very pleased to announce that Dominic Barratt has joined Fenners Chambers.

Dominic was formerly Head of Chambers at Cardinal Chambers, and led a large Family team on the South Eastern Circuit. Called in 1992, he brings more than three decades of experience as a specialist Family Barrister.

He is highly regarded for his work across the full spectrum of family law, including residence and contact disputes concerning children, local authority care applications, and financial proceedings on the breakdown of a marriage. Known for his approachable and client-focused manner, Dominic is praised in The Legal 500 as someone who “quickly grasps the essentials and knows exactly what must be done” and who “handles high value, complex family matters.”

We are delighted to welcome Dominic to Fenners Chambers as he continues to build his practice with us.

Family Law Training Day 2025

Family Law Training Day 2025

We are pleased to share the materials from this year’s Family Law Training Day. Thank you to all who attended!

This event would not be possible without the time and expertise of our speakers, who delivered engaging and informative presentations across a range of key topics in family law. Special thanks to HHJ Gordon-Saker, HHJ Spinks, Patrick Freer and Rebecca Clarke (Regency Chambers), Michael Nwoye (Children and Families Across Borders), Dr Ibrahim Jalloh (Consultant Neurosurgeon), Luke Dickinson (CAFCASS), as well as our own Abigail Robinson, Richard Balchin, Jeffrey Deegan, Laura McGinty, and Joshua Walters of Fenners Chambers.

Embedded above is the video playlist of each presentation. To browse the presentations, click the playlist icon in the top-right corner of the video player.

Please note: due to a technical error, there is no audio for the first part of the first presentation. The audio begins at the time stamp 0:41:41. Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience caused. 

You will find links to the individual presentations and speaker materials below:

    1. Update on Public Law
      Patrick Freer and Rebecca Clarke, Regency Chambers

    2. Assessments of Family Members Abroad
      Michael Nwoye, Children and Families Across Borders

    3. Police Disclosure
      Abigail Robinson, Fenners Chambers

    4. Inflicted Head Injuries
      Dr Ibrahim Jalloh, Consultant Neurosurgeon (MEWA)

    5. Update on Private Law – Seminar Notes and Alienating Parental Behaviour – Slides
      Richard Balchin and Jeffrey Deegan, Fenners Chambers

    6. Planning Together for Children
      Kerry Moss, CAFCASS

    7. Non-Court Dispute Resolution
      Richard Balchin, Fenners Chambers

    8. Update on Financial Relief
      Laura McGinty and Joshua Walters, Fenners Chambers
      [Presentation Materials]

    9. Notes on the Training Day from the DFJ
      HHJ Gordon-Saker DFJ
There is a national shortage of Educational Psychologists: why it matters and what the law says about it

There is a national shortage of Educational Psychologists: why it matters and what the law says about it

For some time now, there has been a national shortage of educational psychologists.  This is partly due to an increase in demand for EHC Needs Assessments (the legal threshold for an EHC Needs Assessment is relatively low).  There is anecdotal evidence that the pandemic, and the home-schooling that went with it, made many parents aware of children’s struggles with learning in a way that they may not have been previously.

A lack of available educational psychologists has become a common reason for delays in completing Needs Assessments of children with suspected SEN.

The shortage of educational psychologists (or EPs) in some areas has been problematic given that almost all children undergoing a Needs Assessment will need to be seen by an educational psychologist.[1]  However, a lack of educational psychologists is a resource issue.  It does not therefore fall within the justified exceptions for delaying an assessment.

The statutory framework for applying for, and undergoing, an EHC Needs Assessment is now governed by the Children and Families Act 2014 (and the associated secondary legislation, particularly the Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014).

When a request is made for a Needs Assessment, it triggers a statutory timetable with clear deadlines that must be complied with.  The language of the legislation is mandatory and there are very few (lawful) exceptions to these requirements:

  • After receiving a request for an EHC Needs Assessment, the local authority in question has six weeks within which it must notify the child’s parent (or the young person) of the decision as to whether or not it will carry out a Needs Assessment: The Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014, Regulation 5(1).
  • Regulation 10(1) SEND Regulations requires the Local Authority to notify the parent by not later than sixteen weeks after the EHCNA request if it decides not to issue a Plan.
  • The only exceptions to this requirement (i.e. those which might legally justify an extension of this timeframe) are the four circumstances detailed in Regulation 10(4) (see below).
  • If a positive decision is made to give the child an EHCP, the next stage will be to send out a draft plan. Regulation 13(1) requires the local authority to send a draft plan to the parent and give them at least 15 days to respond and make any comments they wish to make.
  • Regulation 13(2) requires the Local Authority to issue a final plan by 20 weeks from the date of the EHCNA request. This must be sent to the child’s parent and to any school that it has been requested to consult.

The fact that demand for educational psychologists is currently outstripping supply is not a reason to fail to comply with the statutory timetable outlined above.  The legislation is phrased in mandatory terms (‘must’ do etc) and so local councils do not have a discretion in relation to complying with the requirements.

Only the exceptions set out in Regulation 10(4) provide a legal justification for extending the timetable.  These exceptions are:

10(4): The local authority need not comply with the time limit referred to in paragraph (1) if it is impractical to do so because—(a)the authority has requested advice from the head teacher or principal of a school or post-16 institution during a period beginning one week before any date on which that school or institution was closed for a continuous period of not less than 4 weeks from that date and ending one week before the date on which it re-opens;

(b)the authority has requested advice from the person identified as having responsibility for special educational needs (if any) in relation to, or other person responsible for, a child’s education at a provider of relevant early years education during a period beginning one week before any date on which that provider was closed for a continuous period of not less than 4 weeks from that date and ending one week before the date on which it re-opens;

(c)exceptional personal circumstances affect the child or the child’s parent, or the young person during that time period; or

(d)the child or the child’s parent, or the young person, are absent from the area of the authority for a continuous period of not less than 4 weeks during that time period.

Aside from these exceptions, it is not (legally) open to a local authority to delay the timetable for its own reasons.

Most notably, a lack of resources (whether financial or otherwise) is not mentioned anywhere as a justification for a local authority failing to comply with the statutory timeframe for assessment.

There has been at least one decision by the Local Government Ombudsman on this issue.  In the case of Surrey County Council (23 000 875), the parents of a child, K, whose Needs Assessment was delayed mainly because of delays in getting an ed psych assessment, went to the Ombudsman.  The council had failed to keep K’s mother updated, so that she had had to contact them for updates about the situation.  This had left K without a suitable school placement which had had a direct, knock-on effect on the whole family. The Ombudsman decided that the council was at fault for not having progressed the assessment.  They were told to apologise and to award the family financial compensation as well as recommendations being made for them to remedy the situation overall (at the time of responding to the complaint, they had a backlog of 1000 children whose Needs Assessments were delayed because of the shortage of educational psychologists).  The local authority accepted the recommendations of the Ombudsman.

The Ombudsman will usually only investigate a case if it has first gone through every stage of the local authority’s own complaints process.  This can take time and some children are in desperate, urgent need.  If this resource issue continues to delay children’s assessments, it is an issue that might in due course lead to a legal challenge by way of a claim for judicial review.

[1] Regulation 6(1) SEND Regulations 2014 sets out the advice that a local authority must seek when carrying out an EHC Needs Assessment.  The list includes at r.6(1)(d): “psychological advice and information from an educational psychologist

© Sally Gore, 2025

Called to the bar in 2006, Sally has specialised in family law and related areas throughout her career at the Bar. Having previously been a member of a specialist family set in London, Sally joined Fenners Chambers in 2014. She also has experience in the SEND Tribunal, the Court of Protection and of cases which fall under the Mental Health Acts.