Regulation 17 Acknowledgement of appeal and service of documents by the Secretary of the Tribunal

(1)

Upon receiving a notice of appeal the Secretary of the Tribunal shall—

(a)

enter particulars of it in the records;

(b)

send to the parent—

(i)

an acknowledgement of its receipt and a note of the case number entered in the records;

(ii)

a note of the address to which notices and communications to the Tribunal or to the Secretary of the Tribunal should be sent;

(iii)

notification that advice about the appeals procedure may be obtained from the office of the Tribunal; and

(iv)

subject to regulation 18(2), a notice stating the time for submitting a statement of the parent’s case and written evidence under regulation 18(1);

(c)

subject to paragraph 18(2), send to the authority—

(i)

a copy of the notice of appeal and any accompanying papers;

(ii)

a note of the address to which notices and communications to the Tribunal to the Secretary of the Tribunal should be sent; and

(iii)

a notice stating the time for submitting a statement of the authority’s case and written evidence under regulation 18(1) and the consequences of failing to do so;

(d)

if, in accordance with regulation 7(1)(a)(vi), the notice of appeal names a maintained school, other than one maintained by the authority, give the head teacher of that school notice of the appeal, stating the name and date of birth of the child and the name of the authority.

(2)

Where the Secretary of the Tribunal is of the opinion that, on the basis of the notice of appeal, the parent is asking the Tribunal to do something which it cannot do, he may give notice to the parent—

(a)

stating the reasons for his opinion; and

(b)

informing the parent that the notice of appeal will not be entered in the records unless, within a specified time (which shall not be less than five working days), the parent notifies the Secretary of the Tribunal that he wishes to proceed with it.

(3)

Where the Secretary of the Tribunal is of the opinion that there is an obvious error in the notice of appeal—

(a)

he may correct that error and if he does so shall notify the parent accordingly and such notification shall state the effect of paragraph (b); and

(b)

unless within five working days the parent notifies the Secretary of the Tribunal that he objects to the correction, the notice of appeal so corrected shall be treated as the notice of appeal for the purposes of these Regulations.

(4)

If the Secretary of the Tribunal has given a notice under paragraph (2), the notice of appeal shall only be treated as having been received for the purposes of paragraph (1) when the parent notifies the Secretary of the Tribunal that he wishes to proceed with the appeal.