Appeal an education, health and care (EHC) plan decision
Appeal as a parent
You can appeal if you have parental responsibility for the child, or are their foster parent or carer. Your child must be under the school leaving age.
If your child is over the school leaving age, they may be able to appeal on their own behalf instead.
How to appeal
Download and fill in form SEND35.
There’s a different form if:
- you’re appealing a local authority’s decision not to carry out an EHC assessment (form SEND35A)
- your child’s in custody (form SEND28)
The tribunal must receive your appeal within 2 months of the date on the local authority’s decision letter or a month from the date of the mediation certificate - whichever is later.
Change or withdraw your appeal
You can change or withdraw your appeal before the hearing. Download and fill in:
- form SEND7 to change your appeal, for example ask for a different hearing date or add more witnesses
- form SEND8 to withdraw your appeal