If your appeal asks the SEND Tribunal for recommendations about health and/or social care, what difference will it make to the appeal process?

The LA will need to issue a response to all parts of the appeal, not just the educational part of your appeal. For the social care and health parts of the appeal, the LA will need to obtain a response from its social care team and the local health body, known as the integrated care board. The LA may decide to bring witnesses to the hearing from social care and/or health.

You will need to gather and prepare evidence on education, health and /or social care in preparation for the appeal. You may want to secure witnesses to support your case, for example independent health or other professionals.

As a consequence of extending the appeal to include health and social care, the hearing may be longer. They are usually scheduled for two days but you, the LA and any witnesses may only need to attend the first day with the SEND Tribunal using the second day to make its decision. If the SEND Tribunal suggests this but you feel it would be unfair not to use the second day to hear more evidence, you should explain this to the SEND Tribunal. In complex cases, hearings may even go on over two days.