Special Educational Needs: Tribunals
(asked on 21st November 2018) - View Source
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate his Department has made of the number of appeals made to the special educational needs and disability tribunal in each year since 2014; and how many of those appeals have found against local authorities in (a) Lewisham Deptford constituency, (b) London and (c) England.
The case management system used by HM Courts & Tribunals Service (HMCTS) to administer the First-tier Tribunal, Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) does not record data by parliamentary constituency. The figures provided below are for the Borough of Lewisham.
Year | LEWISHAM appeals received | Appeals determined at hearing | Decision in favour of appellant | Local Authority (LA) decision upheld |
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2014 - 15 | 32 | 17 | 11 | 6 |
2015 - 16 | 50 | 17 | 13 | 4 |
2016 - 17 | 51 | 31 | 27 | 4 |
2017 - 18 (*) | 49 | 33 | 33 | 1 |
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Year | LONDON appeals received | Appeals determined at hearing | Decision in favour of appellant | LA decision upheld |
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2014 - 15 | 784 | 288 | 252 | 36 |
2015 - 16 | 791 | 301 | 270 | 31 |
2016 - 17 | 823 | 385 | 343 | 42 |
2017 - 18 (*) | 891 | 444 | 402 | 42 |
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Year | NATIONAL appeals received | Appeals determined at hearing | Decision in favour of appellant | LA decision upheld |
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2014 - 15 | 3147 | 788 | 680 | 108 |
2015 - 16 | 3712 | 883 | 780 | 103 |
2016 - 17 | 4725 | 1599 | 1418 | 181 |
2017 - 18 (*) | 5679 | 2298 | 2035 | 263 |
* The annual statistics produced by the First-tier Tribunal (SEND) reflect the school year, i.e. from 1 September to 31 August. The annual statistics for 2017–18 will be published on 13 December 2018. The figures quoted above cover the period up to 30 June 2018.
Note
Appeals are recorded as disposed of within the same time period. In SEND the tribunal hears appeals within 22 weeks of the appeal being registered. Therefore, disposal figures may be different from appeals registered in the period as hearings may not take place until the next reporting year.
The tribunal reports a successful appeal if one part or all of the appeal is found in favour of the parent or young person. HMCTS’ manual data collection shows that 75% of appeals scheduled for a final hearing settle or concede prior to the hearing date with a decision at hearing not required.