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special educational needs (SEN) appeal?

Special Educational Needs (SEN) Appeals

Appeals against a local authority’s decision on a child’s special educational needs (SEN) and complaints about disability discrimination in schools are handled by the Special Educational Needs and Disability Tribunal (SENDIST), which is now part of the Tribunals Service.

 

Parents and carers can appeal against a wide range of SEN decisions, including the LEA’s refusal to carry out an assessment on a child, refusal to make a statement of SEN, cancelling a statement, refusal to reassess a child or to change a statement after re-assessment, or if the LEA makes a statement of SEN or names a school that the parent or carer disagrees with.

 

SEN appeals must be lodged within two months of the date of the local authority’s decision letter, and normally take about five months for the appeal to be processed and heard.  The appeal form can be downloaded from the Tribunals Service website, along with more detailed guidance on the process.

 

After the appeal form and the local authority’s response have been received by the tribunal, it will give directions for the future management of the case and will set a date for the hearing.

At the directions hearing, which can be held by telephone, the tribunal will want to know how many witnesses will be called by each side and how long the case is likely to take.  It is crucially important to consider what written or oral evidence will be available to support the case—this may include an educational expert, psychiatrist, psychologist, paediatrician or other doctor, someone from the child’s current educational setting or nursery environment or someone involved in caring for the child at home.  Children are not expected to attend the hearing.  There may also be directions about any further documents that need to be filed.  The local authority will usually call the Head-teacher or Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator (SENCO) to give evidence.  This does not mean that they are “against” the parent, but the tribunal will want to hear from the school and the teachers are usually local authority employees.  

 

The hearing of the case itself will usually take place at a neutral venue local to the parties involved.  The hearing is usually completed in one day or less.  Costs are not awarded but out-of-pocket expenses can be recovered.

 

SEN appeal factsheet - COMING SOON