Appeals to The Special Educational Needs & Disability Tribunal (SENDIST)

With thanks to David Ruebain, education and disability lawyer (England)

Grounds for appealing to SENDIST

The tribunal was set up in 1994 to deal with appeals against decisions by Local Authorities (LAs) concerning children with SEN. The appeals system was revised in 2008 and now has two tiers. The first tier tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability) will hear all appeals against local authorities in England. A second tier - The Upper Tribunal - will hear appeals by those wishing to challenge a decision if they think there has been an error of law. Instead of going to the high court this will become the normal route for appeals from first tier tribunals.

SENDIST considers appeals on a number of grounds, including decisions by LAs:

• not to conduct statutory assessments
• not to undertake statutory reassessments
• not to make statements following statutory assessments or reassessments
• with regard to the contents of Parts 2, 3 or 4 of a statement
• to refuse to amend a statement to name a different maintained school
• to cease to maintain statements.

You cannot lodge an appeal with SENDIST against any of the following:

• how the LA administers the help set out in the statement
• the way in which the school meets your child's needs
• the length of time the LA took to carry out the assessment or the way in which it carried out the assessment
• non-educational needs (Part 5 of the statement), or Part 6: how the LA intends to meet those needs. (Although an LA may arrange the provision laid out in Part 6, neither it nor anyone else has a duty to arrange it.)

However, there may be other steps that a parent can take to remedy other disputes, such as non-provision of SEP or significant delay in carrying out assessments. These include use of a complaints procedure (for the governing body, the local education authority or to the Secretary of State), complaint to the Local Government Ombudsman or, occasionally, legal proceedings.

Appeals cannot be brought if a statement was received by a parent more than two months ago. However, if a statement is at least a year old a parent may ask for an amendment to name a different maintained school, and if the LA refuses this the parent may bring an appeal to the tribunal. But this right of appeal does not apply for a parent who is seeking a non-maintained or independent school.

Preparing your appeal

Any appeal to the tribunal must be lodged within two months of the date that the parents receive the decision against which they are appealing.

Why appeal to SENDIST?

You must give reasons for your appeal. These may include:

• seeking more help or different help from that described in the statement
• showing that your child is not making satisfactory progress at a particular school and why another school may be better equipped to meet their needs
• disagreement with either the school ...