A Practice Direction issued by the senior President of Tribunals makes radical changes to the length of expert witness reports in SEND tribunals.
1. When does this Practice Direction come into effect?
On 22 April 2025, the Senior President of Tribunals, Sir Keith Lindblom issued Practice Direction 1 of 2025.
It applies to hearing bundles prepared for special educational needs and disability appeals and for disability discrimination in schools claims.
By paragraph 11, it applies to all bundles for hearings, which are listed to take place after 15 July 2025.
2. What are the key considerations for expert witnesses?
There are specific limits and requirements for expert witnesses’ reports, which are set out in Schedule 1, on page 16 of the Practice Direction.
Specifically, expert reports must:
- Include an executive summary of no more than two pages of A4.
- Contain numbered paragraphs.
- Not exceed 15 pages, including the executive summary.
- Not be more than three years old.
- Be in a font size no smaller than 12.
Plainly, the aim is to reduce the quantity of material for the tribunals to read
3. What are the consequences of non-compliance with this Practice Direction?
Bundles that do not comply with the requirements may be rejected and may lead to hearings being vacated or in the non-compliant party being barred from participating further in the proceedings.
4. How can expert witnesses ensure compliance with the Practice Direction?
Speech and language therapy reports can be lengthy, and it may prove very challenging to reduce them to 15 pages; equally, it can be very difficult to reduce the overall report into a two-page executive summary.
The usual requirements for writing expert witness reports for the tribunal still stand and can be found here. This requires declarations to be made in the following terms:
- “I understand that my overriding duty is to assist the tribunal in matters within my expertise, and that this duty overrides any obligation to those instructing me or their clients. I confirm I have complied with that duty and will continue to do so.
- I confirm that I have made clear which facts and matters referred to in this report are within my own knowledge and which are not. Those that are within my own knowledge I confirm to be true. The opinions I have expressed represent my true and complete opinions on the matters to which they refer.”
Given that this Practice Direction applies to all hearings that are listed to take place after 15 July, experts are advised to review their current reports and check the dates of any hearings in which their evidence will be used.
If you have already submitted a report for a hearing after 15 July, the new restrictions apply and your report will need to be rewritten urgently, with all the accompanying implications for costs of rewriting and the time to do so.
It would be advisable to contact your instructing party to check on hearing dates as soon as possible.
Bond Solon can work with groups of experts from the same discipline to identify how reports can be reduced in length and how to produce an effective, short executive summary, which does not risk losing the important parts of the expert’s opinion.
If you would like to discuss or book an in-house Excellence in Report Writing course, please call 020 7549 2549 or email expertwitness@bondsolon.com.