A MOTHER wants Barnet Council to send her disabled son to a school – instead of wasting its money on solicitor’s fees.

Janet Willicott, who lives in Edgware, is one of 4,000 parents who have signed a petition to take a stand against the use of special education needs’ budgets.

Her son, Bastian, 12, has a rare genetic disorder but the authority has refused to fork out for taxis to send him to the Collette School, in Hemel Hempstead, where she believes he will thrive.

Instead, it is paying for a solicitor in the hopes a judge will order she stop home-schooling him and force him to go to Oak Lodge, in Whetstone.

Ms Willicott said: “The money that should be used to secure my child’s future is being paid to a solicitor while we are sat at home in devastation.”

"Local authorities are using our tax money, which should be spent on providing children with education, to employ solicitors to defend themselves, which is ludicrous.

“There’s a group of us who are standing up and saying no more to our local authorities.

“We have come together to create this petition, others are stating their own local advocacy groups, and we will be holding peaceful marches."

She believes people are unaware about the way taxpayers’ money is spent and hopes the petition will help raise awareness.

The petition comes in the wake of a scandal last week which saw Barnet Council drop law firm Baker Small for making a series of tweets which mocked parents who had lost their cases.

But Ms Willicott will still go up against solicitor Mark Small in September as the authority agreed to see out its remaining contracts.

Bastian’s disorder means he struggles to process information and cannot read, and his mother feels Oak Lodge is the “wrong” school for him to go to.

She added: “I am knowingly wasting my tax money, which is paying for a solicitor to tell me to go away.

“There’s no money to provide for our children, but there is money for councils to defend themselves, it just doesn’t equate.”

Councillor Reuben Thompstone, chairman of children education libraries and safeguarding committee, said: “Wherever possible we will always try to name the school that a parent wants unless we consider the school would be unsuitable for their child or if the placement would not be the best use of public funds.

“On the rare occasions when a parent disagrees with us they can receive support through an independent mediation service.  If they are still not satisfied, in a few cases parents can appeal against the decision to a special educational needs tribunal.

"When this happens, local authorities sometimes use specialist solicitors to act on their behalf, particularly if the parents have legal representation.  There have been 48 tribunal appeals lodged by parents over the past 12 months.”