SEND Tribunal

The First-tier Tribunal (also known as the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal) is the court which decides appeals made against decisions made by local authorities about children or young persons with special educational needs.

See Gov.uk: First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability) for more information.

SENDIST also considers parental disability discrimination claims against schools and/or the education authority.

When you can appeal

You can appeal against a decision made by the local authority about your child if you are in one of the following situations:

The local authority has refused to secure (undertake) an EHC assessment of your child's (or young person's) special educational needs.
The local authority refuses to secure (issue) an EHC plan for your child or young person.
An EHC plan has been issued (or a previous EHC plan has been replaced or amended) by the local authority.

What you can appeal about

If an EHC plan is issued and you are unhappy with what it says you can appeal about certain sections of the plan as follows:

the description of your child's special educational needs (Section B)
the provision to meet your child's needs (Section F)
the school or other placement your child should attend (Section I) or if there is no school named (Section I)
while Outcomes (Section E) cannot be directly appealed, the Tribunal can alter them in light of amendments to Section F
the Social Care and Health sections of the EHC plan (Sections C, D, G or H)
the Local Authority has reviewed your child's (or young person's) EHC plan and decided not to amend it - you can appeal this decision, to try to achieve the changes you are seeking to Sections B, F or I of your child (or young person's) EHC plan
the local authority has decided an EHC plan is no longer necessary (known as 'Cease to Maintain')

Who can appeal

You can appeal as either:

the parent/carer
the young person, if you've finished year 11 and you're under 25

Help you can get

Check if you can get legal aid.

You can also get free help and advice from:

How to appeal

You must consider mediation before you appeal to the tribunal

Mediation is a less formal way of working out a solution to your problem.

We will have sent you a letter giving our decision about the education, health and care (EHC) plan. The letter will tell you how to contact a mediation service. See our Mediation page for more information.

You must contact a mediation adviser within two months of the decision that you wish to appeal and consider whether mediation might be a way to resolve your disagreement. If you want to appeal only about the school or other institution named in the EHC plan you do not have to contact a mediation adviser.

Once a mediation adviser has been contacted, or once you have taken part in mediation, you will be issued with a certificate. This will be necessary if you are still unhappy and wish to progress to an appeal with the Tribunal. An appeal to the Tribunal must usually be made within two months of the decision about which the appeal is being made or one month following the issuing of the mediation certificate, whichever is the latter.

What to do if you do not want mediation

If you do not want mediation, you still need to contact the mediation service to get a mediation certificate so that you can appeal.

An exception to this is if your appeal is solely about the name of the school, college or other institution named on the plan; the type of school, college or other institution specified in the plan; or the fact that no school or other institution is named, you do not have to contact the mediation adviser prior to registering your appeal with the Tribunal.

Find out more about the SEND tribunal

Related information

Offsite links