The number of tribunal appeals over local authority refusals to provide SEND support for children has rocketed by 55 per cent in a year, and the vast majority still find in favour of families.
Data published by the Ministry of Justice today shows 21,000 registered SEN appeals were recorded in the 2023-24 academic year, up from less than 14,000 the year before, the biggest rise since current records began in 2017.
Of the registered appeals, 27 per cent were against councils’ “refusal to secure” an education, health and care plan (EHCP) assessment, while 59 per cent were over the content of EHCPs.
The government said the increase in appeals “is likely a combination of” the growth in the number of families seeking assessments, the “continued effect” of 2014 SEND reforms and the “expansion of the tribunal’s powers to make non-binding recommendations on health and social care”.
There were 17,000 outcomes relating to SEND appeals, and of these, 67 per cent were decided by the tribunal, down 1 percentage point on 2022-23.
Of the cases decided, 95 per cent were in favour of the family, down from 98 per cent the year before.
SEND caseload reaches ‘new high’
SEND open caseload also reached a “new high” of 11,000 cases in quarter two of the 2024-25 financial year, “driven by the previous noted rising trend in SEND appeals registered”.
But this figure “should be used with caution because, as the SEND volumes have grown, we are aware in some appeals the nature of educational needs which is manually extracted are being wrongly classified as moderate learning difficulty.
“We are investigating this and hope to improve the accuracy in subsequent publications.”
Laura Thompson, senior associate specialising in SEND matters at law firm Browne Jacobson, said new figures made for “alarming reading”.
“While the factors suggested by the SEND Tribunal will have played a role, each of these have existed for some time – yet this is a problem that is increasing exponentially, with the 55 per cent rise in appeals this year a significant uptick on figures of 24 per cent and 29 per cent in the previous two years.
“This is not a sustainable trend and only serves to further undermine the support available to SEND children. In most cases, tribunal hearings are being listed at least a year after an appeal is registered, which, when considered in the context of a child’s education, is huge.”
