Appealing to the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Tribunal
In cases where issues cannot be resolved and agreement is not reached between you and the Local Authority (LA), there are 2 other routes you can consider:
- mediation or;
- appealing to the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Tribunal (SENDIST)
The Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Tribunal (SENDIST) is the Government body that handles appeals from parent carers or young people (over the age of 16 years) regarding special educational needs and disabilities. It is also known as the First-Tier Tribunal.
Who can appeal?
You can appeal if you have:
- parental responsibility for a child or young person or;
- are their foster parent or carer
The child must be under 16 years old.
If the child is over 16 years, they may be able to appeal on their own behalf instead.
What can I appeal?
You can appeal to the Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Tribunal about:
a decision by a local authority:
- not to carry out an Education Health and Care Needs Assessment (EHCNA) or re-assessment
- that it is not necessary to issue an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP) following an assessment
- not to amend an EHCP following a review or re-assessment
- to cease to maintain an EHCP
You can also appeal about:
- the description of a child or young person's special educational needs or disability specified in an EHCP
- the special educational provision specified
- the school or other institution or type of school or other institution (such as a mainstream school/college) specified in the plan or;
- that no school or other institution is specified
- an amendment to these elements of the EHCP
SENDIST are also able to make non-binding recommendations about health and social care issues in some appeals.
How do I appeal?
When a decision is made about a request for a EHCNA or an EHCP, you will be notified in writing by the LA.
The decision letter will have details of how you can appeal the decision. However, it is always recommended you ask for a meeting with a LA representative to discuss the decision further.
Before you can appeal to the SEND Tribunal, you must have contacted a mediation adviser (unless your appeal is only about the setting your local authority has named in Section I of your child's plan or if they have not named a setting in it). You will need a certificate from the mediation adviser to register an appeal with the SEND Tribunal.
You have 1 month from receiving the certificate or 2 months from the original decision (whichever is the later date) to register an appeal with the Tribunal and for the Tribunal to receive your completed forms (including a mediation certificate where applicable).