CoPPA: Special Educational Needs and EHCP issues in the Court of Protection

Garden Court North’s Avril Rushe will be speaking at CoPPA North-West’s ‘Special Educational Needs (SEN) and EHCP issues in the Court of Protection’ seminar in Manchester on Tuesday 5 May, 2026, from 5-7pm.

Avril, who is part of Garden Court North’s COP team, will be speaking alongside Ryan Westwell, solicitor at Irwin Mitchell. Avril and Ryan have extensive experience in COP, SEN and disability law, and both are frequently instructed in COP cases to advise the families, litigation friends and other parties related to children and young people with SEN.

The seminar will address a range of SEN and EHCP issues which regularly arise in COP cases, providing practitioners tangible points relating to:

• Timescales for seeking an assessment to obtain an ECHP, review procedure, and appeal of local authority decisions regarding the EHCP;
• SEND case law on when a young person may likely be finished with education and training and transitioning to social care support;
• Court of Protection case law on capacity to make decisions regarding education and SEND case law on capacity issues in the SEND Tribunal (such as MM v R Borough of Greenwich) and appointment of alternative person to bring an appeal on P’s behalf;
• How the Court of Protection can play a role when SEND/EHCP issues arise in welfare cases.

CoPPA’s seminar will be held at Irwin Mitchell LLP, One St Peter’s Square, M2 3AF, in Manchester.

Tickets are free to members or £10 for non-members, available here. More information is available here.

When: 05 May 2026
Where: Irwin Mitchell LLP, One St Peter's Square, Manchester, M2 3AF
Start time: 17:00
End time: 19:00