Action tool
Most SEND appeals are run by parents without lawyers, and the procedure is more knowable than it looks: HMCTS publishes its own step-by-step guide, and nearly everything on this page is quoted from it. One honest boundary up front: this page covers procedure only — it contains no advice on the strategy or strength of any case. For that, the organisations at the bottom exist and are free.
Almost everything here is grounded in HMCTS, “SEND37 — How to appeal an SEN decision” (February 2019), practice guidance — HMCTS's guidance about its own process. It describes practice and convention, not statute; the statutory deadlines live on /deadlines.
“SEND Tribunal’s service is free. Unlike going to court, there are no fees involved.” The appeal is made on a form: SEND35a for refusal-to-assess appeals, SEND35 for everything else (both named by the guide). On what to write in your grounds, the guide itself says:
“The reasons don’t have to be lengthy or written in legal language, but need to say more than just, ‘I disagree‘. Explain why you disagree with the decision and what you would like SEND Tribunal to do.”
HMCTS, “SEND37 — How to appeal an SEN decision” (February 2019), practice guidance
Before registering most appeals you need a mediation certificate — you do not have to actually mediate, and one appeal type is exempt. That step has its own page: mediation or appeal.
Each step below quotes the HMCTS guide. Your own case directions override the general pattern — when they conflict, follow the directions.
Step 1
Your appeal must reach the Tribunal within the deadline (2 months from the decision letter, or 1 month from a mediation certificate, whichever is later — see the deadline calculator). The guide then puts a clock on the Tribunal itself:
“The appeal will be registered within 10 working days of receipt.”
Step 2
Case directions (your dates), an attendance form (who is coming — do not leave this one), and a case management questionnaire:
“When the appeal is registered, case directions, an attendance form and a case management questionnaire are issued. The directions will set dates by which you must take action and send the local authority and SEND Tribunal information which will be considered at the hearing.”
Step 3
The response must say whether the LA opposes the appeal and, if so, why. If nothing arrives within eight weeks of registration, the guide says to notify the Tribunal in writing:
“The local authority must respond within 30 working days of a copy of the appeal notice being sent.”
Step 4
Send everything you rely on by the final evidence date in your directions — copies to the LA at the same time as the Tribunal:
“As a general rule all the documents must be produced before the hearing. You should not normally bring new evidence to the hearing.”
Step 5
Everything both sides filed comes back to you as one paginated bundle — the version of the papers the panel will be reading:
“At least 10 working days before the hearing, you will receive a full copy of the appeal bundle and details of the time and hearing venue.”
Step 6
Issue by issue, at a table facing the panel, usually concluded within a day. Who decides:
“The appeal will be heard by a tribunal panel consisting of: a legally qualified tribunal judge, who will be the chair, and depending on the type of appeal, up to two specialist members who have been appointed because of their knowledge and experience of children with special educational needs and/or disabilities.”
Step 7
The order then carries fixed compliance periods for the LA — for example four weeks to start an assessment, five weeks to make or amend a plan, two weeks to change the named school or college, and continuing a plan applies immediately (all from the same guide):
“You should receive the decision and reasons by post within 10 working days of the hearing.”
Two more process points worth knowing from the same guide: witnesses — “You do not have to bring any witnesses at all but if you do want to, you are normally allowed to bring no more than three to the hearing.” — and the attendance form, about which the guide is unusually loud: “IF YOU DO NOT COMPLETE THE ATTENDANCE FORM IDENTIFYING WHO WILL ATTEND THE HEARING YOUR APPEAL MAY BE STRUCK OUT.”
In contents appeals (Sections B, F, I), the parties usually negotiate on a shared marked-up copy of the plan while the appeal runs — the “working document”. It is a practice of the Tribunal described in HMCTS's guidance, not a statutory requirement, and the guide defines it like this:
“A working document is a copy of the final EHC Plan, on which both parties have worked to show the changes to the wording that they want or can agree, as well as those issues which the Tribunal must decide on the day of the final hearing.”
HMCTS, “SEND37 — How to appeal an SEN decision” (February 2019), practice guidance
There is no official form for it. We've made a plain, generic starting point — the plan's sections laid out as a two-column table (current wording | changes sought, by whom, agreed or disputed) with the marking conventions explained. In many cases the working document is instead kept as tracked changes on the plan itself; if your case directions or the LA propose a format, use theirs.
Download the generic working-document template
A self-contained, printable HTML file — open it in your browser, print it or copy the structure into your own document. Nothing about your case is in it or leaves your device.
This checklist is editorial preparation guidance from us, not a legal requirement and not case advice — it lists the documents most appeals of each type turn on, so nothing is missing when the evidence deadline arrives.
Form SEND35a
Form SEND35
Form SEND35
Form SEND35
The cease-to-maintain rights card (the plan continues while you appeal)
Procedure is learnable from a page like this one. The strategy of your particular case — which arguments, which evidence, which witnesses — is exactly what the free advice services are for, and what this page deliberately does not attempt:
Where next
NOJ publishes sourced legal information about England's SEND framework. Check the source links and review date on this page because law and guidance can change. The process descriptions on this page are from HMCTS's own published guidance (SEND37, February 2019) and are practice guidance, not statute. We are not a law firm and do not provide legal advice about your individual situation or the strategy of any appeal. Content on this page verified as of 2026-07-10.