This is an independent national tribunal which decides appeals against local authority (LA) decisions about the special educational needs (SEN) of children and young people. It also hears claims of disability discrimination against any type of school and maintained nursery schools. Its full name is The First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability). 

 

You can appeal to the SEND Tribunal if you’re unhappy with a decision your LA has made in relation to an education, health and care (EHC) needs assessment or an EHC plan. There are no fees for making an appeal or a claim, and you may be eligible for legal aid to provide legal help in preparing your case. The SEND Tribunal has the power to order LAs to carry out EHC needs assessments, issue EHC plans, and amend existing EHC plans. Your LA must comply with orders made by the SEND Tribunal. If it is asked to do so, the SEND Tribunal can also make non-binding recommendations about health and social care. 

The SEND Tribunal makes decisions based on the law, which is made up of Part 3 of the Children and Families Act 2014, The Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014 and SEN and disability case law. Case law is the interpretation of the law by higher courts in judgments about previous SEN disputes. It is binding, meaning the SEND Tribunal (and your LA) must follow it. The SEND Tribunal must also have regard to the SEN and Disability Code of Practice (the Code). This is statutory guidance which advises schools and LAs on identifying and making provision for children with SEN. Because the Code is guidance, not law, the SEND Tribunal does not have to follow it to the letter, but it generally accepts the Code’s guidance in coming to its decisions. 

The SEND Tribunal will look at the evidence you and your LA put before it and decide whether your LA followed the law and the Code when making its decision. It will make a decision based on what is right for your child or young person at the date of the hearing.  

The SEND Tribunal produces a free booklet called How to Appeal, and other guidance forms which can all be accessed on its website. The SEND Tribunal has  also produced a set of videos which explain more about what appealing to the SEND Tribunal is like – these are available on YouTube or you can request a DVD from the SEND Tribunal. 

You can request copies of the booklet, any of the other forms, and the DVD by calling the SEND Tribunal helpline on 0300 303 5857; by emailing send@justice.gov.uk; or by writing to: 

HMCTS - Special Educational Needs & Disability Tribunal 

1st Floor 

Darlington Magistrates Court 

Parkgate 

DL1 1RU 

 

To be able to appeal, you must be:

If the decision concerns a child, it is the parent who has the right of appeal. If the decision concerns a young person, then it is the young person who has the right of appeal. Where a young person cannot make decisions in relation to their appeal themselves, because they ‘lack capacity’ under the Mental Capacity Act 2005, their parent or another representative can appeal on their behalf. Our pages on young people aged 16-25 contain helpful information on the rights of young people.

What is the deadline for registering an appeal?

The first thing to make a note of is the deadline for making an appeal. When your local authority (LA) makes a decision (for example, to cease to maintain an EHC plan or a refusal to carry out an EHC needs assessment) or issues a final plan, it must also tell you of your right of appeal.

The date of this notification is the date from which the time frame for making an appeal starts to run.

For most appeals, you must make sure your appeal form is received by the SEND Tribunal within two months of the date on the LA’s decision letter or the letter enclosing the final EHC plan, or one month from the date you obtain a mediation certificate, whichever is the later.

To get a mediation certificate (or to try mediation if you want to), you need to contact the mediation service within two months of the LA’s decision letter. Please see our information about mediation and what you need to do if you are unsure about this.

If you are only appealing section I (placement) the mediation service is not legally required to give you a mediation certificate, so make sure your appeal form is received by the SEND Tribunal within two months of the date on the LA’s decision letter/ letter enclosing the final EHC plan. For all other types of appeal, you will need to a mediation certificate.

Mark any deadlines on your calendar and in your diary, with reminders, so you don’t miss them.

You should have been sent a letter from the LA when they took the relevant decision or issued you with the final EHC plan. This letter should contain the following information on your rights of appeal:

  • your right to appeal that decision;
  • the time limits for doing so;
  • information about mediation — including relevant contact details;
  • the availability of —
    • disagreement resolution services; and
    • information and advice about matters relating to the special educational needs of children and young people.
  • for all appeals except when the LA’s decided not to do an EHC needs assessment, the letter must also explain that the SEND Tribunal can make recommendations about health and social care.

The SEND Tribunal may well extend the deadline if all this information was not provided and the deadline has passed.

If you have missed the deadline, you can ask the SEND Tribunal to accept your appeal late. If you need to do this make sure you submit the appeal form and enclosures as soon as possible. You will need to explain why you could not have submitted it on time and why it would be fair for the SEND Tribunal to accept it late. There is space on the form to do this.  If any of the above information was missing from the LA’s letter, make sure you mention this when asking for your appeal to be accepted late.

If you were unable to get a mediation certificate because you did not contact the mediation service in time, you should explain why, and why it would be fair for the SEND Tribunal to accept your appeal without it, on the appeal form too.

You will need to fill out a form and send in supporting evidence to the SEND Tribunal. Remember to keep copies of all of your paperwork (letters, reports etc.), so you have a clear record of everything you’ve sent.

For more information on what to send with your appeal form see below.

You can submit your appeal by email or by post. For all appeals except against an LA’s decision not to carry out an EHC needs assessment, you have the option of completing the appeal from online instead.

If you send your appeal form by post, we recommend that you send it by recorded delivery.

 

The appeal form

You will need to fill in an appeal form. Make sure you are using the right form depending on what you are appealing. For children and young people living in the community (those who are not in custody in the criminal justice system)

 

In the appropriate section of the form, you will need to explain which decision you’re appealing against or which parts of the EHC plan you disagree with. This is called your reasons for appeal.

If you are using the online appeal form, each time you answer a question you will have the option to “continue” to the next one or “save for later”.

We suggest you regularly save the form, otherwise if there is an error or you lose internet you may lose information you have added to the form. The form will also time out, without saving, if you leave it for more than 30 minutes.

 

If you save the form, you will be asked to enter some details before leaving the form and be sent a link to come back to it later. The link only works once and you must use it within 28 days. You could then complete more of the form and save it again or submit it.

 

Always remember to finish and submit your appeal form within the deadline explained above.

Hearing dates for appeals can be many months away but the SEND Tribunal prioritises some appeals for earlier hearing dates.

 

The SEND Tribunal will prioritise hearings for appeals that include section I (the name and/or type of school or institution) for children and young people approaching a phase transfer. The SEND Tribunal has confirmed this includes young people moving from one post 16 setting to another post 16 setting.

 

You should make the SEND Tribunal aware as soon as possible if the appeal involves a phase transfer placement and you can ask for an earlier hearing date if so. You can do this by including “phase transfer placement appeal” on your appeal form. If you are sending the form by email, rather than using the online version, include “new phase transfer placement appeal” in the subject line and cover email too.

 

There are other reasons that a child or young person may need an urgent hearing, such as children/young people out of education or who are looked after by the local authority (sometimes called “in care”) and you should bring this to the SEND Tribunal’s attention when you submit the appeal too.

If you are downloading or printing the appeal form, it is often easier to put these on a separate sheet and write ‘See separate sheet headed Reasons for Appeal’ in the box/boxes on the form.

If you are using the online appeal form, you will provide your reasons for appeal in answer to relevant questions. When you click “continue” from one question, the next one appears.

Your reasons for appeal are where you set out why you think the LA’s decision is wrong, or why the contents of the EHC plan need to change. Try to put in everything you need to say, your full case, at this point.

As much as possible, you should try to get together any supporting evidence to submit with your appeal form. In your reasons for appeal, you should refer to this evidence to support your arguments (for example, if you are saying that your child has not made progress despite the support they currently receive, refer to school reports and/or annual review records which show this). Don’t worry if you don’t have everything ready to send straight away; you can submit more evidence after you’ve registered your appeal.

You must send in enough information for the LA to be able to respond.

 

DO

  • Keep it short and to the point.
  • Separate your points into paragraphs.
  • Number your paragraphs or organise them under headings.
  • Refer to any evidence that backs up your points. (You can send more evidence later and you should say if you know there is evidence you don’t yet have but intend to send later.)
  • Refer to the legal issues.

DON’T

  • Get bogged down on history, the focus of the appeal is forward looking. If there is a long history of difficulties between you and the LA which are relevant to why it is not in agreement with you about the appeal let the evidence (e.g. letters between you and the LA) speak for itself.

What should I send with the form?

With the completed and signed form send the SEND Tribunal the following:

 

  • A copy of the letter the LA sent you that told you of its decision
  • Your mediation certificate
  • The evidence supporting your arguments
  • A list of all the documents enclosed with the application (it will be helpful to the SEND Tribunal if you put your evidence in chronological order and then write out a list explaining what each document is, you can do this by completing the last page of the PDF form).

If you are using the online form, you will be able to upload documents. If not because you are emailing or posting the form, don’t send original documents, send photocopies or scans. Keep a copy of everything you send, including the form. If using the online form, you will be emailed a copy of it.

There are limits on the amount of evidence that can be submitted in an appeal - don't forget to check the SEND Tribunal bundle guidance

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