TZA, R (on the application of) v A Secondary School
[2023] EWHC 1722 (Admin)
AI, R (on the application of) v London Borough of Wandsworth
11 August 2023
[2023] EWHC 2088 (Admin)
High Court
A transgender student with special needs sued the council because he said they didn't help him enough at school, partly because people misgendered him. The judge said the council *did* try to help and that other problems, not just the misgendering, were the main reason he had problems at school. So, the student lost the case.
Key Facts
- •AI, a 22-year-old transgender young person with complex SEND, challenges the London Borough of Wandsworth's compliance with the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) under the Equality Act 2010.
- •AI has a long history of disrupted schooling and multiple diagnoses, including autism, ADHD, and reactive attachment disorder.
- •AI argues that the Defendant's failure to adequately address misgendering contributed to repeated breakdowns in his educational placements.
- •The Defendant argues that external factors, not misgendering, caused the placement breakdowns and that their actions fulfilled their PSED obligations.
- •The case hinges on whether the Defendant's actions in providing for AI's needs under section 42 CAFA sufficiently addressed their PSED obligations.
- •The Defendant points to the lack of evidence of systematic discrimination against transgender students with EHCPs in Wandsworth.
- •A key piece of evidence is an Equality Impact Needs Assessment (EINA) that identified a data gap regarding gender reassignment but concluded no significant adverse outcomes.
- •A 'Toolkit' document, drafted but later withdrawn, is presented as evidence of Wandsworth's awareness of the need for improved support but is ultimately deemed irrelevant
Legal Principles
Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) under section 149 of the Equality Act 2010.
Equality Act 2010
Absolute duty of local authorities to secure special educational provision under section 42 of the Children and Families Act 2014 (CAFA).
Children and Families Act 2014
Tameside duty: Public authorities must take reasonable steps to inform themselves before exercising public functions.
Secretary of State for Education and Science v Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council [1977] AC 1014
Outcomes
Claim dismissed.
The court found that the Defendant's actions in fulfilling section 42 CAFA sufficiently addressed their PSED obligations. There was no evidence of systematic discrimination or that misgendering was a material cause of AI's placement breakdowns. The Defendant's actions were deemed reasonable and not irrational.