If my appeal is successful, will the SEND Tribunal order my LA to pay me back for the costs I have incurred?

Unlike in other areas of law, the general rule in a SEND Tribunal appeal is "no costs", meaning SEND Tribunal orders are not generally ended with a direction for one party to pay another’s costs.

A party can apply for a “costs order” but the circumstances under which it can or will do so are limited - the other party would have to have behaved extremely unreasonably. However, just because one party is successful in a case does not mean it was unreasonable for the other party to defend it - a party is entitled to defend a weak case.

Costs orders are therefore the exception rather than the rule and in our experience are rare. 

If the SEND Tribunal does see fit to make a costs order, it is able to order costs which are “incidental to” the appeal. We would typically expect this to mean costs which are directly associated with appealing, such as legal fees or the cost of a witness attending the appeal hearing. Even if your appeal is successful, the SEND Tribunal is highly unlikely to order your LA to refund you for costs incurred by you choosing to

• pay for the special educational provision you think should be in your child's EHC plan whilst you wait for an appeal about the content of the EHC plan to be heard, or
• pay an independent school’s fees so your child can attend whilst you wait for the SEND Tribunal to decide whether that school should be named in their EHC plan.

Could I complain to the LGSCO, to see if it will recommend for me to be reimbursed?

No, the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) would not be able take on a complaint of this kind. As explained on its website, the LGSCO cannot deal with complaints about issues which can be appealed to the SEND Tribunal, or about issues which have already been appealed.