In the 2023-24 academic year, UK families registered 21,106 appeals with the First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability) – 55% up on the previous year. That’s the largest number of appeals ever recorded in a single year, and the largest increase in any year.
Of these appeals, 27% were against ‘refusal to secure an EHC assessment’, while a total of 59% were in relation to the content of EHC plans.
In this period, First-tier Tribunal panels upheld the local authority’s original decision in just 150 of the 11,157 appeals that went to a full hearing, the lowest on record.
First-Tier Tribunal
The SEND First-tier Tribunal is responsible for handling appeals against local authority decisions in England regarding special educational needs, including a refusal to:
- Assess a child’s educational, health and care (EHC) needs
- Make a statement of their special educational needs
- Reassess their special educational needs
- Create an EHC plan
- Change what is in a child’s special educational needs statement or EHC plan
- Maintain the statement or EHC plan
Leading Expertise
Our Tribunal Assessments are carried out by Tabla Psychology’s founder and lead expert, Educational and Child Psychologist, Dr Tamasine Black. Depending on the complexity of the assessment, she may be supported by fellow specialist, Clinical Psychologist, Dr Vicki Russ.
Tamasine is highly experienced in supporting children and families in SEND Tribunals, and has worked in relation to a large number of Tribunals over her career.
As a local authority Educational Psychologist, Tamasine has worked for a number of local authorities in different capacities. She has worked in London Boroughs including Wandsworth, Islington and Lambeth, and also for Southampton City Council, Hampshire County Council, Kent County Council and BCP Council. She has sat on a number of SEND panels, and is a recommended expert for leading UK solicitor’s, Geldards and HCB.
Tribunal Educational Psychology Assessments
At Tabla Psychology, the reports produced by Tamasine are of an exceptionally high standard and are well-regarded by families and legal teams. Tabla’s comprehensive Tribunal Educational Psychology assessments (including standardised measures) provide a solid evidence base of your child’s strengths and needs, and help to inform our recommended evidence-based strategies and interventions to the SEND tribunal.
Tribunal involvement can be highly detailed and complex pieces of work, requiring intensive support.
The Tribunal Specific Service is a premium service which includes the assessment report (the in-person assessment is conducted in our clinic), with a range of information gathered from other sources via standardised checklists and qualitative methods to schools and parents. School visits can be conducted if they are within 15 miles of our clinic. The report produced is robust, evidence-based, and covers all aspects of a child’s functioning and what provision is required.
Find out more and book an assessment.
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