After Lodging your RTA Appeal

They will then send you some information and documents about your appeal. Read these documents carefully and make a note of any actions that you may need to do, and the dates they need to be done by.

The documents you will receive will include:-

Parent Registration Letter 

This letter will give you the registration number for your appeal. It is important that you give this number whenever you contact the tribunal.         

 

Case Directions

The case directions tell you what will happen next, and what is expected of the local authority (LA) and of yourself. It gives you key dates, such as the deadline to submit any additional information by and the date of the hearing itself. Read these carefully and make a note of any actions that you need to take and the dates they must be done by. You might want to put them in your calendar and/ or set yourself reminders.  The keys dates are set out in a timetable, which can be found on the last page.  

 

Paper Hearings Advice

This will tell you more about the hearing process being based on written evidence rather than an actual hearing being held.

 

Case Review form –The Case Review form assist the Tribunal with the case management of your appeal. The Tribunal will tell you if you need to use this and send it to you to complete by a set date.  Its purpose is to help the Tribunal manage cases as efficiently as possible, by getting an update on the case and to see if there has been any progress on agreeing issues that were in dispute ahead of the hearing.

 

SEND 40 -New bundle guidance

There is more information about tribunal bundles below, but it is worth noting that Part C of this document will give you guidance about what other information you could send on to support your appeal.

Please note that you must send copies to the LA of any further documents (Additional evidence) you send to the Tribunal.

 

How you can help us- advice form 

This document gives you information about how to contact the tribunal if you need to, and the correct way to do this.    

                     

 How to send in information and additional evidence electronically.

Information about how to send in information and additional evidence electronically. When you send an email, you must put the following in the subject heading of your email, or they will not accept it:                                 

         

• Current hearing date in the format of dd.mm.yy (if known) 

• Subject matter 

• Case number and child’s/young person’s name 

An example of this would be:                         

HD 26.11.22 LA Response EH123.15.00014 Jane Smith

The tribunal will send copies of all the paperwork to the LA, who then have 6 weeks (30 working days) to respond.  The LA must clearly say whether they are going to oppose your appeal or not and their reasons why.

The local authority has the option to;

Oppose your appeal

The response must say whether or not they oppose the appeal and, if they do, they need to explain why.  Sometimes the local authority’s response can make extremely negative and disheartening reading for parents. It may even include information you consider inaccurate or misleading. You can send a counter-response addressing these issues.

If your LA changes its mind and agrees to your request for an EHC needs assessment, this is called conceding the appeal. Your LA can concede the appeal before or in/after the response.

Strike out

The local authority may also apply to strike out (bring to an end) your appeal if they believe it is a case that the SEND Tribunal cannot consider. If that happens, the Tribunal will send you a copy of the local authority’s application and ask for your written comments, giving you the opportunity to explain why you think your appeal should continue

Not oppose your appeal

If the appeal is about a decision not to carry out an EHC Needs Assessment and the local authority does not oppose it, the appeal will automatically come to an end. The local authority will have to do what they have agreed to do within a fixed time limit. 

You can read further information on Local authority's response and bundle

Case Review form –The Case Review form assist the Tribunal with the case management of your appeal. The Tribunal will tell you if you need to use this and send it to you to complete by a set date.  Its purpose is to help the Tribunal manage cases as efficiently as possible, by getting an update on the case and to see if there has been any progress on agreeing issues that were in dispute ahead of the hearing.

Case Review Fact Sheet for an RTA appeal

If your LA decides to oppose your appeal, there will be a hearing.

A refusal to assess appeal is considered ‘on the papers’, meaning there is not actually a hearing which you need to attend. You just need to send in all of your evidence and explain your arguments in writing.

If you would like an oral hearing you can still make a request for this in writing, explaining your reasons for wanting the oral hearing and this will be considered by a Registrar or Judge.  It is important to bear in mind that requesting an oral hearing may mean a longer wait for the hearing date.  

Most importantly for both oral or paper hearing, the First Tier SEND Tribunal will look at the evidence you and the local authority have submitted and will decide whether the local authority followed the law and the Code, as contained in the Children and Families Act 2014 section 36(8) , The SEND Regulations 2014 and SEN and disability case law. 

If you manage to reach an agreement with the LA before your hearing, this is known as ‘settling the appeal.’ If this happens you should ask the tribunal to record this settlement in a consent order, rather than withdraw your appeal.

If the LA decides not to oppose your appeal BEFORE it sends in its response

The LA will notify the SEND Tribunal in writing that it agrees to what you are asking for and you will be sent a copy of this notification. You do not need to do anything – the notification to the SEND Tribunal automatically ends the appeal.

Regulation 45 of The SEND Regulations 2014 outlines the local authorities duties if they are not opposing your appeal.  It states that the appeal is to be treated as though the SEND Tribunal had decided it in your favour.

 

Your LA must also comply with the deadline set out in SEND Regulation 45(3), which says:

• it must start the EHC needs assessment within two weeks of notifying the SEND Tribunal that it is not going to oppose your appeal, and
• issue a notice of its decision to refuse to issue an EHC plan within 10 weeks of this date, or 
• issue the final EHC plan within 14 weeks of this date

 

If the local authority fails to comply with this deadline, this failure is the same as the LA being in breach of an order of the SEND Tribunal and you can use Ipsea's Template letter to make a complaint. 

If the LA decides not to oppose your appeal AFTER it sends in its response

You and the LA will need the SEND Tribunal’s permission to end the appeal.  You and the local authority will write up a document setting out what has been agreed, this is called a draft or proposed consent order and will be sent to the SEND Tribunal for it to be considered.

The SEND Regulations 44 (2b) says the LA must:
• start the EHC needs assessment within two weeks of the order, and
• issue a notice of its decision to refuse to issue an EHC plan within 10 weeks of the order, or
• issue the final EHC plan within 14 weeks of this date

 

If the local authority fails to comply with this deadline, this failure is the same as the LA being in breach of an order of the SEND Tribunal and you can use Ipsea's Template letter to make a complaint. 

 

When a settlement is reached less than five days before the hearing, if an oral hearing was agreed then the tribunal may ask you to still attend to discuss why the case was not settled earlier.

The tribunal will provide their decision in writing along with their reasons within 10 working days of considering your case. They will also provide you with advice about how to appeal if you are unhappy with their decision.

You have 28 days from receiving your decision letter, to appeal against a tribunal decision. Guidance about how to do this will be sent to you along with your decision letter.

If your appeal is successful

The deadlines in regulation 44(2)(b) of The SEND Regulations 2014 will apply. This regulation says your LA must:
• start the EHC needs assessment within two weeks of
the order, and
• issue a notice of its decision to refuse to issue an EHC
plan within 10 weeks of the order, or
• issue the final EHC plan within 14 weeks of the order

If your LA fails to comply with this deadline, it will be in breach of a SEND Tribunal order.  Ipsea provide a template letter you can use - Ipsea Template letter

If your appeal is unsuccessful

Your local authority will not have to carry out an assessment.  You should continue working closely with the school on their SEN support and explore any further support options that could be utilised.  You can start another request for an assessment at any time, but you may get a similar outcome, unless you can show that things have changed or new evidence is available.  It is important for the school to record any SEN support in place with the assess, plan, do & review approach (One Planning) so that you can evidence any lack of progress made or the difficulties your child is experiencing and this will support any future requests you may make.