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.

 

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.

 
You can find more details about the SEND mediation service that Newcastle use here. 

 

 

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.

  • (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.

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.

 

Read our "How to appeal a decision" guide here.

 

 

These videos explain hearings at the SEND tribunal:

A video hearing 

 

 A video hearing - British Sign Language (BSL) version

 

 

Complaints

 

School

The first step is to talk to the teacher. If you need to discuss things further, you can speak to the Head Teacher or to the Special Educational Needs Coordinator (SENCo). We would advise that you ask for a meeting at the setting to discuss your concerns, it is a good idea to keep notes or have records of what they have done and have told you. If you have tried to resolve disagreements informally and you feel that this hasn’t been enough then you need to start the formal complaints process. To do this you need to follow their complaints procedure as detailed on their website. If it’s not on the website, request it directly from the school office.

If you have gone through the whole procedure (including escalation to the Governors/Academy Trust) and feel you still haven’t had a suitable response, then you can escalate it further: You can complain to the Department for Education (DfE) directly if:

  • a child is at risk
  • a child is missing school
  • the school is stopping you from following its complaints procedure

 

Ofsted cannot respond to or resolve individual complaints, but you can still tell Ofsted about a problem with a school. They can use the information you provide to decide when to inspect and what areas to focus the inspection on.

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

If your complaint is about an allegation of abuse at the educational setting you can contact LADO (Local Authority Designated Officer). To do this contact Business Support staff at the Initial Response Service on 0191 2772500 who will take a message and will pass it on to the LADO.

 

Health

Everyone who provides an NHS service must provide their own complaints procedure, this is normally found in waiting rooms or on their website but if you aren’t able to find it ask the provider for a copy. You can either complain to the service provider directly or to the body that pays for that NHS service, you can only complain to one, not both. You will need to follow the provider procedure as detailed and the complaint should normally be made within 12 months of the incident.

 

For further help you can contact the Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) as they can provide you with advice and support and may be able to help you rectify the complaint on an informal level. If after trying to resolve the complaint on an informal level you’ve decided to formalise it the Independent NHS Complaints Advocacy Service could support you with the procedure you would need to undertake.

 

Local Authority

If you are unhappy with a service provided by the Local Authority (LA) then you must complain to them directly. You could start by complaining to the Head of Service or Service/Team Manager, following this if you aren’t happy with the response you can complain to the LA ‘Compliments and Complaints’ service.

 

Newcastle Council have a central complaints procedure, a link to which you can access here. If you scroll down to the 'How to make a complaint section' then click on the link entitled 'Make a complaint about a council service' and then fill out the relevant forms.

Alternatively, you can speak to Complaints Line staff by phoning 0191 278 7878 and asking for ‘Complaints’.

You can also write to the complaints department at the below address:

Complaints at Newcastle

Newcastle City Council

Civic Centre

Newcastle upon Tyne

NE1 8QH

 

Please see below for Newcastle Council's 3 step complaints procedure, taken directly from the aforementioned link:

 

There are three steps to our Corporate Complaints Procedure.

Step 1 is where we try to deal with your complaint informally.  Often, we can resolve the matter on the spot and settle your complaint without you needing to do anything else.

 

Step 2 of the procedure is where we acknowledge receipt of your complaint in three working days. A senior manager investigates, takes any necessary action and sends their reply out in 15 working days.  We will try to make sure that the same or similar complaint does not happen again.

 

Step 3, also called a Complaint Review, takes place if you let us know that you are still unhappy with the handling of your complaint.  You should write saying what you think was wrong about the handling of your complaint at Step 2, and what outcome you would like as a result of reviewing your complaint. The Corporate Complaints Officer will acknowledge receipt of your complaint in three working days. They will review the complaint and send out their reply in 25 working days.

 

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

Last modified
Tuesday, February 27, 2024 - 11:17