Preparing for the Tribunal Hearing Day

At least 10 working days before the hearing you will receive a copy of the full appeal bundle.  The bundle is usually sent by email but if you would like a hard copy, you will need to request this and it will be posted to you. 

The bundle is the full collection of evidence submitted by both parties.  The Bundle may include for example:-

• Parent/carers/young person appeal form
• Local Authority decision letter
• EHC plan
• Annual Review Documents
• LA Response
• Request for Change forms
• Case Review Form
• Additional evidence

It is the local authority’s responsibility to put the evidence in order, number the pages and send it out as ‘the bundle’ to the parents and to SEND Tribunal

• It must be sent to you two weeks ahead of the hearing.
• It is very important that you go through the whole bundle.  The bundle will be referred to throughout the hearing so do make sure you have familiarised yourself with the contents, including the local authority's evidence and argument. 
• You may find it helpful to print/copy the bundle index to help you with the page numbering - have this in front of you, or you may find it easier to use coloured post-it notes to highlight key evidence.
• If you have a hard copy of the bundle, coloured post-it notes can be used as page makers, for example; you can use post it notes at the top of the bundle for the various types of professional reports e.g. EP reports could be in red, speech and language reports in blue, Occupational Therapy reports in green and medical reports in yellow.  Then down the side of the bundle you can use them as tabs for the relevant correspondence within the bundle, such as the local authority decision letter, the EHCP, any correspondence from the authority.  This will help you to locate the information efficiently. 
• Make sure, as best you can, that all the evidence you submitted has been included (especially any additional evidence and emails pertaining to it).  If there is any missing evidence, you should notify the local authority, SEN Tribunal Team Sentribunals@essex.gov.ukTel: 0333 013 1200 and remind them they must include all of your evidence, even if it is over the page limit.

• Make sure it is readable, if any pages are missing or pages unclear then ask for the local authority for it to be re-issued.  Send the correspondence by email so there is a record of this request.   All pages of the bundle must be numbered as the tribunal panel will refer to the page numbers throughout the hearing.

• Highlight evidence and page numbers/documents which you think you will be likely to draw on and you have made notes of any questions you would like to ask at the hearing.  This will save you time searching when you need to reference key evidence. 

You should make sure you provide a copy of the bundle for your witnesses and the correct log in link for the hearing.  If the witnesses are being called by the local authority then it is their responsibility to do this. 

They must have a private space in which to work from on the day so they are not disturbed (this is particularly the case if they are school staff members working from the school building). 

If you are intending to ask your witnesses about specific facts or figures, such as numbers of children in the class etc, you may wish to let them know in advance to have this type of information to hand on the day. It is important to note that witnesses can only discuss the evidence they put in their report or statement.

Some hearings take a full day, so make sure your witnesses are aware of this and they are prepared to stay.

You should make sure you have the bundle at the hearing, and you should provide a copy of it to any witnesses attending for you.

You will have a deadline for submitting final evidence. You can find the deadline date in the parent registration letter which you received from the SEND Tribunal Service after lodging your appeal

It is important that you keep to the deadline for final evidence because any late evidence might not be accepted.  If you have late evidence, you must seek the views of the LA (i.e. the other party), and then ask permission from the SEND Tribunal. All this must be done via a Request for Change form

• If you know that you will have late evidence (perhaps a report that is yet to be finished) you will need to alert the SEND Tribunal and the local authority to this before the deadline for final evidence. You should identify what this late evidence will be, why it will be late and roughly when you expect it to be available. You do this using the Request for Change form.
• If, after the final deadline, you receive new evidence that you were not anticipating, you simply need to explain this using the Request for Change form.
• Make sure any late evidence has been received, don't assume the panel members have it on the day. 

Important Note: The LA do not have to agree to a parent sending in late evidence, including bringing late evidence on the day, just that you have got their opinion on this.  Then the court will decide whether to accept the late evidence or not.  The local authority is required to go through the same process should they wish to add late evidence.

You can ask to have an interpreter (GOV.UK) at the hearing. They'll translate what happens, but they cannot represent you or give you legal advice.

Let the tribunal know if you'll need any other reasonable adjustments to take part in the hearing, such as hearing loops or disabled access

Childcare and schools runs – Tribunal can take a full day so make sure you have any childcare and school runs covered by a suitable person

Snacks, drinks and lunch – although you may be accessing the hearing from the comfort of your own home,  you will be expected to stay on the hearing link until the Judge directs otherwise.  It may be helpful  to have a drink of water close by for the hearing itself and to have a prepared sandwich in the fridge for when the Judge provides a break.  If you are planning on accessing the hearing from a different space to home, for example in the school, then again make you have lunch and drinks as you may not be provided with enough time to ‘nip out’ to buy a sandwich.

Private space - make sure you are in a private quiet room and only those listed to attend the hearing can be in the room.  Nobody else can be sitting off camera 

The device you will be using on the day – ideally we recommend you make use of a lap top or larger screen tablet, however, we appreciate that not all families will have access to such a device.  Although it is possible to access the hearing via a mobile phone, if this is the only device you have available, you may wish to speak to your supporter or your witness (for example your school) to see if it would be possible to share the same space/device on the day.