Mediation, appeals and complaints

Disagreement resolution

Disagreement resolution services are for all parents of children and young people with SEN, and young people themselves with SEN. Using the service is voluntary and covers SEN provision as well as disagreements about health and social care.

Details about the arrangements for disagreement resolution will be set out in the local authority’s Local Offer.

There are three areas of disagreement that this service can help with:

• If you disagree with your local authority, your school, early years setting or college about how they are carrying out their education, health and care duties. This applies if your child has any kind of SEN – it’s not just if they are going through EHC needs assessment or if they have an EHC plan.

• If you disagree with your early years settings, school or college about the SEN provision they are making. This applies if your child has any kind of SEN – it’s not just if they are going through an EHC needs assessment or if they have an EHC plan.

• If you disagree with your Integrated Care Board (ICB) or local authority about the health or social care provision during your child’s EHC needs assessment, or about their EHC plan, and any review or reassessment of the EHC plan.

Remember that at any point if you can’t agree on any aspect of an EHC plan you can ask to take part in disagreement resolution. This is in ADDITION to any mediation or appeal.

Mediation

Mediation is a way of trying to settle the dispute between you and the local authority (and/or the health authority, which is called the integrated care board (ICB). It involves a meeting between you, the local authority and/or ICB and an independent mediator, who will try to help you reach agreement on the points of dispute.

The mediation may also be attended by other relevant parties such as representatives from the child or young person’s school or college. It is free of charge. You have a right to try mediation whenever the LA makes a decision which you could appeal to the SEND Tribunal.

Appeals to the SEND tribunal

If you are not in agreement with a decision that the Local Authority has made in relation to your (or your child’s) SEND, you might be able to appeal against it to the SEND tribunal. The First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability) is a court which will make a decision on appeals or claims regarding a child’s or young person’s special educational needs or disability.

When can you appeal?

If you are a young person over 16 years with SEND or a parent or carer of a child with SEND under 16 years, you can appeal to the SEND tribunal if your Local Authority:

• Refuses to carry out an Education, Health and Care needs assessment.

• Refuses to issue an EHC plan after an assessment.

• Refuses to amend an EHC plan following a review or reassessment.

• Decides to cease to maintain an EHC plan.

You can also appeal about some of the contents of an EHC plan, but not all parts. The sections you can appeal are:

• Section B: detailing the Special educational needs.

• Section F: setting out the Special educational provision.

• Section I: naming the school or other setting.

Since 2018, it has been possible to include the health and or social care parts of an EHC plan in an appeal. 

You can appeal about the health part of the plan, or the social care part, or both together. But, to appeal these parts of an EHC plan, you must also be appealing the education part of the plan.

The tribunal can make “non-binding” recommendations about the health and social care support set out in an EHC plan. This means that legally, health and social care organisations do not have to follow the Judge’s recommendations. Even though they are non-binding, the local authority and health care commissioners are expected to follow them.

What do you need in order to appeal?

If you wish to lodge an appeal with the Tribunal then you must submit the following:

• An appeal form. You can download this from the SEND Tribunal website (external link).

• A local authority decision letter - this will state that you have two months in which to appeal from the date of this letter and is usually the cover letter accompanying the final EHC plan.

• A mediation certificate (this is mandatory if you wish to appeal against an EHC-related decision, unless the dispute is simply about the naming of a school) - a mediation certificate can be obtained by contacting the number provided in the LA’s decision letter. You can then appeal within one month of obtaining this certificate. Therefore, the mediation certificate can potentially extend your appeal deadline.

  *The only time these deadlines are different is over August and the Christmas period:

  • If the two months/one month ends in August, then you have until the first working day in September to get the form to the SEND Tribunal.

  • If it would end on or between 25 December to 1 January, you have until the next working day in January to appeal.

• (If appealing against contents of an EHC plan) The most recent final EHC plan complete with appendices.

• Your Grounds of Appeal (which detail your reasons for appealing the local authority’s decision). This is a section on the appeal form.

Appeals to the SEND tribunal usually take around 20 weeks although this varies depending on time of year and the number of appeals lodged.

If the appeal is concerning a “phase transfer” e.g. between primary and secondary school, the tribunal service will try to complete the process in a shorter timeframe.

Appeals against a refusal to complete an EHC needs assessment are normally paper based unless an oral hearing is requested and agreed.

All other types of appeal will usually result in an oral hearing heard by a tribunal panel, which may be virtual. The young person or parent/carer would normally attend.

There are no costs to you with appealing, unless:

• you choose to have legal representation. (If you decide to have legal representation, it is likely the local authority will also instruct a lawyer).

• a witness you call charges a fee.

Resources

• How to appeal a SEN decision to the First-tier Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Tribunal (external link)

• Evidence ideas for education, health and care (EHC) appeals (PDF download 138kb)

• Flow chart for if you disagree with decisions (external link)

These videos explain hearings at a SEND tribunal

Compliments, comments and complaints regarding other services

Other council services

if you have feedback or concerns regarding other council services, you can contact them directly, or use the Local Authority’s Complaints procedure, as previously mentioned.

If you are not satisfied with the responses you receive, the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman may be able to help.

They look at complaints about:

• councils

• adult social care providers including care homes and home care agencies

• other organisations providing local public services

Schools

If you have feedback or are concerned about your child’s school, you should start by talking directly to the teachers or headteacher or, if necessary, the governing body or the local authority.

If you are not satisfied with the responses you receive, Ofsted (external link) may be able to help. You can find out more on their website or by calling their helpline on 0300 123 4666.

Alternatively, if your concerns relate to disability discrimination, you may be able to appeal to the First-tier Tribunal: Special Educational Needs and Disability (external link).