Mother wins court fight over autistic son's £200,000 school fees

June Goh took Hammersmith & Fulham council to the High Court to obtain specialist education for Reuben, seven.

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The borough has been ordered to meet the full £200,000 cost of Reuben's education at the Rainbow School for autistic children in Earlsfield.

Ms Goh's victory is the culmination of a two-year dispute that started when she realised Reuben was failing to make any progress at a local state school and moved him to Rainbow.

"It has been an enormous struggle for us," said Ms Goh, 47, who lives with her partner, steel trader Edward Pivcevic, 43, in Fulham.

"We have spent £25,000 on fighting this through the courts and have achieved the result we wanted.

"It might seem unfair that the council has to spend £200,000 educating our son but this way he has a good chance of being reintegrated into mainstream education.

"There is also less likelihood of the state having to care for him later in life."

Hammersmith £ Fulham refused to support moving Reuben to Rainbow when he was five, saying the cost was not justified.

His parents argued their son needed a technique known as Applied Behavioural Analysis to help his verbal skills and said Rainbow was the best place for this.

Under the school's rules, they were forbidden from paying the fees themselves and when the council refused to help the couple took it to a tribunal, which ruled in their favour.

The council appealed and the case went to the High Court, where the family again emerged victorious.

Ms Goh said: "We had to do it because we were determined to do everything we could for him.

"We spent a fortune on legal fees and expert witnesses. It worries me there must be less-fortunate families who could not afford to fight.

"Surely it would make more sense for LEAs to invest in good schools rather than waste money fighting expensive tribunal cases."

Since starting at Rainbow in January last year, Reuben has changed from being almost silent to a communicative, outgoing boy.

"We could see straight away how well Reuben was doing," said Ms Goh.