Twenty-four Leicestershire parents have given the local education authority notice that they are planning to sue it for alleged negligence. The parents - who come from throughout the county - claim that their children’s learning difficulties, mainly dyslexia, were not recognised at a young age.
They have appointed a solicitor who has already written to the director of education, Jackie Strong, indicating their intention to take action. Some children - said solicitor Keith Lawson-West, who has obtained legal aid for the parents - even attempted suicide when their lives became so difficult because the problems were not recognised.
Mr Lawson-West said: “We are claiming that the education authority failed to identify many of the children as having special needs, typically dyslexia, and that they failed to provide adequate special educational help for them. ”
A spokesman for the education authority said that the correspondence from Mr Lawson-West was now in the hands of the county solicitor who “would be responding in due course.”