Academies Expand An academy is funded directly by the Secretary of State for Education. They are state-funded independent schools and therefore have more control over how they do things than maintained schools. For example, academies do not have to follow the national curriculum and can set their own term times. Academies do have to follow the same rules on admissions, special educational needs and exclusions as maintained schools, and students sit the same exams. Academies include: all academies. This includes academy special schools, alternative provision academies, and academy boarding schools free schools. These are funded by the Secretary of State for Education but are not run by the local authority. They have more control over how they do things. They are ‘all-ability’ schools, so cannot use academic selection processes like a grammar school. Free schools can change the length of school terms and the school day. They do not have to follow the national curriculum. Free schools are run on a not-for-profit basis and can be set up by groups like: charities, universities, independent schools, community and faith groups, teachers, parents and businesses university technical college schools. These teach specialist subjects like engineering and construction along with business skills and IT. Pupils study academic and practical subjects leading to technical qualifications, and are provided with work experience, and studio schools. These small schools teach mainstream qualifications through project-based learning. Students work with local employers and a personal coach, following a curriculum designed to give them the skills and qualifications they need in further education or work. You can check the status of a setting online to see if it is an academy.
Access arrangements Expand Pupils who have learning difficulties and disabilities may be able to get help in public examinations. This can include, for example, extra time or having a computer or a person to read or write for the pupil (except for exams that specifically test these skills). There is a range of other possible arrangements for pupils with visual or hearing impairments, or other difficulties. You can find out more on this on our webpage.
Annual review Expand This is a review of an education, health and care (EHC) plan. The process is set out in law, and local authorities (LAs) must follow it. It involves: getting up-to-date information about the child or the young person, sending out this information before a review meeting, with an invitation to attend, holding a review meeting to consider what: progress the child or young person has made towards achieving the outcomes specified in the EHC plan, and if they are in year 9 or above, what provision is needed to help them prepare for adulthood and independent living. a report saying what changes might be required to the EHC plan (and any differences of opinion), and notice of a decision from the LA. The LA must say whether it will: maintain the EHC plan as it is, maintain the EHC plan with changes to it (and what these are), or stop maintaining the EHC plan (following consultation). Each of these decisions can be appealed in the SEND Tribunal. You can find out more about annual reviews on our website.
Case law Expand Case law is developed by the tribunals and courts. It is important for clarifying points of law which are unclear. When a case is heard by one of the higher tribunals or courts, they will give a judgement which explains how they consider the law applies and will often give more detail about what exactly a local authority (LA) has to do to meet its legal obligations and how it must make decisions. These judgements are binding on LAs as well as lower tribunals (such as the SEND Tribunal) which means that LAs and tribunals must follow them when applying the law. Case law can be very helpful for finding examples of what LAs and the SEND Tribunal should and should not do. You can find lots of helpful case summaries on our website.
Children and Families Act (CFA) 2014 Expand This is one of the main sources of law we refer to on our website. It sets out many of the legal protections and rights for children and young people with special educational needs and includes important information, including: special educational needs and provision definitions when local authorities (LAs) must carry out EHC needs assessments and issue EHC plans when EHC plans must be reviewed your right to request a particular placement in an EHC plan important mediation and appeal rights, and the duty on certain settings to support those with medical needs. The SEND Regulations 2014 sit underneath this Act and tell LAs and settings what they need to do to comply with the law. All the duties contained in this Act must be complied with – it is the law. If your LA or school is not following it, you can contact us for support.
Compulsory school age Expand The Children and Families Act 2014 sets out many of the legal protections and rights for children and young people with special educational needs. Some of these rights relate to those below, at, or over compulsory school age. Children must start full-time education once they reach compulsory school age. This is on 31 December, 31 March or 31 August following their fifth birthday - whichever comes first. If their fifth birthday is on one of those dates then they reach compulsory school age on that date. For example, if your child turns 5 on 10 February 2026 they will reach compulsory school age on 31 March 2026, and they must start full-time education at the beginning of the next term (summer term 2026). Compulsory school age ends on the last Friday in June which falls in the academic year in which they turn 16. For example, for a child born on 23 September 2009 compulsory school age will end at the end of the day on 26 June 2026.However, young people are expected to remain in education or training until they are 18 and you can find out more information on this online.
Consultation Expand The Children and Families Act 2014 and The SEND Regulations 2014 contain many duties on local authorities (LAs) and some schools. One of these duties is to consult before certain decisions are made. These decisions include: What nursery, school or college to name in an EHC plan: here, the LA must consult with your requested setting for its views on being named or not, before deciding whether to name it. Whether to secure the special educational provision a child or young person requires otherwise than in a nursery, school, or college because it is inappropriate for it to be made in such a place. What decision to make when concluding an annual review: here, the LA must consult with you when reviewing the EHC plan, to help it decide what decision to make. Whether to cease to maintain (stop) an EHC plan: here, the LA will consult with you and the setting named in the plan, to help it decide whether it can legally cease (stop) the plan or not. When the LA is required to consult it must carry out these consultations lawfully. It cannot do what it likes. A lawful consultation has 4 parts: Planning stage: consultation must be at a time when proposals are still being considered, and not when the decision has already been made Enough reasons: the person or body (such as the LA) making the proposal must give sufficient reasons for it so the idea can be properly considered and responded to Enough time: enough time must be given for consideration and response Consideration: the response to consultation must be properly considered and taken in to account in making the decision. For example, before an LA can decide to cease to maintain an EHC plan it must consult with you and with the school or college. This means your LA needs to: ask you and the setting for views and comments on a proposed ceasing of the EHC plan, before it has made its decision explain why it is proposing to cease to maintain the plan, so that you can properly consider its reasons and understand why it is proposing it give you and the setting enough time to be able to consider the matter, and respond to it, and include your comments and the setting’s comments in its decision-making process. Your views cannot simply be ignored, and must be taken into account.
Direct payments Expand Parents and young people can, at the same time as requesting a personal budget from the local authority (LA), ask the LA to say which parts of the personal budget could be received as a direct payment. A direct payment is an actual amount of money that a parent or young person would receive to arrange and pay for the special educational provision in the education, health and care (EHC) plan. You can find out more about direct payments on our website.
Disability Expand This is a legally defined term and is part of one of the elements to the definition of special educational needs. Someone has a disability if they have a: physical or mental impairment which has a substantial (more than minor or trivial) and long-term (lasting more than one year or likely to last more than one year) adverse effect on their ability to carry out day-to-day activities. This is a wide definition, and can cover physical or mental health problems, as well as conditions such as dyslexia or autism. You are also covered by the Equality Act 2010 if you had a disability in the past. For example, if you had a mental health condition in the past which lasted for over 12 months, but you have now recovered, you are still protected from discrimination because of that disability. Some conditions are automatically counted as disabilities, and these are: being certified blind or partially sighted, having a severe disfigurement, cancer, HIV infection, or, multiple sclerosis. A disabled child or young person may also have special educational needs but not automatically. If they do not meet the definition for having special educational needs, they will still be considered disabled under the Equality Act 2010. Education settings and local authorities will have duties not to discriminate against them. It may also be that a child or young person with special educational needs might be disabled, but not automatically. This will depend on them meeting the definition of disability set out above. If they are not considered disabled, they will still have special educational needs, and the Children and Families Act 2014 will apply to them. In some cases a non-disabled child or young person could be discriminated against under the Equality Act 2010 if a school follows a policy or practice which unfairly disadvantages them in the same way as it disadvantages disabled children and young people or treats them worse than others because of their association with a disabled person or because the school thinks they’re disabled when they’re not.
Disability discrimination Expand Early years settings, schools, colleges and local authorities must make sure that they: do not treat disabled children and young people worse, or badly, because of their disability, and do not treat non-disabled children and young people worse than others because of their association with a disabled person or because the school thinks they’re disabled when they’re not do not follow policies or practices which unfairly disadvantage disabled children and young people (if they do it could also be discrimination against a non-disabled child or young person if they are disadvantaged in the same way), and change what they do (or were planning to do) to make sure a disabled child or young person is not disadvantaged. The type of changes they have to make are called reasonable adjustments. What is reasonable for them to do will depend on the facts. If you feel any of these duties may have been broken, you can make a disability discrimination claim about it in: the SEND Tribunal: if it relates to any type of school or a maintained nursery, or the County Court: if it relates to a private nursery, a further education college or a local authority. You can find out more about disability discrimination on our website.
Education otherwise than in a school (EOTIS) Expand For some children and young people, education in any setting would be inappropriate due to their special educational needs. This is often referred to education otherwise than in a school (EOTIS), sometimes known as EOTAS, but includes early years and post 16 settings as well. If the local authority (LA) agrees it would be inappropriate for any required special educational provision to be delivered in a school, it can agree to arrange for it to be delivered somewhere else, for example at home. The LA must arrange and pay for that provision. EOTIS is different to elective home education. With an EOTIS package the LA is responsible for arranging and paying for the provision. If you choose to home educate your child, the LA is not responsible for meeting any of the costs or providing any support. You can find out more about EOTIS on our website.
EHC needs assessment Expand This is an investigation into a child or young person’s educational, health care and social care needs by a local authority (LA). As parents, you can ask your LA to carry out an education, health and care (EHC) needs assessment for your child at any time. Your child’s school can also make this request. Your LA must agree to this request if: your child has or may have special educational needs; and they may need special educational provision to be made through an EHC plan. If your LA agrees to carry out the EHC needs assessment, it must follow a legal process and: find out from a range of people what: educational, health and social care needs your child has, help is required to meet those needs, and outcomes are expected to be achieved by your child as a result of receiving that help. decide whether it will issue an EHC plan for your child based on the EHC needs assessment evidence. Your LA must tell you whether or not it will issue an EHC plan for your child within a maximum of 16 weeks from the request for assessment. issue an EHC plan if it is necessary for special educational provision for your child to be made via an EHC plan. Your LA must issue a final EHC plan no later than 20 weeks from the request for assessment. Young people, you are also able to make these requests for yourself, although college can ask on your behalf. Your parents can help you with your request if you would like them to as well. The process your LA would need to follow is exactly the same as above, except your LA would be finding out your needs and what support you might need. Your LA would also send any decisions, draft EHC plans and a final EHC plan to you, not your parents (although your LA can, if you ask it to). You can find out more about EHC needs assessments on our website.
EHC plan Expand This is a plan setting out your child’s, or (if you’re a young person) your own, education, health care and social care needs. It is a legal document which you can rely on and enforce. By law it must contain certain information including: what special educational needs your child has (or if you’re a young person, you have) what help is required to meet these challenges, and what setting (or type of setting) your child is, or you as a young person are, to attend (unless education otherwise than at/in a school applies). You can find a list of all the information an EHC plan must contain in our EHC plan checklist. If you are unhappy with the contents of an EHC plan, you can ask for it to be changed at the next annual review, during mediation or by appealing it in the SEND Tribunal (if it has recently been issued). You can find out more about EHC plans on our website.
Elective home education Expand As a parent, you are responsible for making sure your child is educated, either at school or otherwise. You can choose to home educate your child. This means that you are responsible for giving your child a suitable education. This is called elective home education (EHE). If your child does not have an education, health and care (EHC) plan, you do not need permission from the school or the local authority (LA) to home educate your child and remove them from school. If your child does have an EHC plan, you can choose to home educate them but: your LA does not have to provide any special educational provision set out in the EHC plan, and if they currently go to a special school, you will need your LA’s agreement to take your child off the school roll. You can find out more about elective home education on our website.
Exclusion Expand A head teacher or principal can exclude your child (or if you’re a young person, you) from school for disciplinary reasons. There are two lawful types of exclusion: permanent exclusion, or for a fixed-period, which is called a “suspension”. The law and the statutory guidance about exclusions relates to children and young people who are attending: a maintained school, an academy, a pupil referral unit, or a school sixth form, and there are certain steps the setting must follow when excluding your child (or a young person) from these settings. What steps it needs to take depends on the length of the exclusion. If a child or young person attends a: sixth form college further education college non-maintained special school section 41 school, or, an independent school or college, they can be excluded in accordance with the setting’s exclusion policies. You can find out more information about exclusion from these types of setting on our website. You can find out more about exclusions in general on our website too.
Health care Expand Many children and young people have health care needs. If you require support from the health service (including Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS)), the starting point is likely to be a referral from your GP or (in some cases) from your child’s school or a young person’s college. You can find out more about how health care support can be part of an education, health and care plan on our website.
Independent schools (excluding academies) Expand These fee-paying schools are not controlled by a local authority or the Secretary of State for Education and are often called ‘private’ schools. They are mostly controlled by charities but there are some private owners. They include prep schools, public schools, and private nurseries. In law, these independent schools are neither special nor mainstream, but all simply “independent”. Some independent schools are section 41 schools. This means parents or young people have a right to request this type of school is named in an EHC plan in the same way they can request a maintained school. You can check to see if a school is an independent setting online.
Institutions in the further education sector Expand Not all post 16 settings need to have regard to the SEND Code of Practice (the Code) or have the same duties under the Children and Families Act (CFA) 2014. The key duties related to special educational needs under the CFA 2014 and the Code only apply to section 41 approved post-16 institutions and institutions within the further education sector. An institution is within the further education sector if it is: a further education college a ‘designated institution’, or a sixth form college. You can check the type of post 16 settings online.
Integrated Care Board (ICB) Expand Integrated care boards (ICBs) replaced clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) in the NHS in England in July 2022. There are 42 ICBs in England. An ICB is a statutory body which is responsible for: developing a plan for meeting the health needs of the local population managing the NHS budget, and arranging for health services to be provided in its geographical area. If your child has an EHC plan, in most cases your ICB will be responsible for making sure they receive any health provision set out within it. If you are a young person, the same applies to any health provision in your EHC plan.
Judicial review Expand This is a legal process in which a court will look at how a public body acted or made a decision, and say whether it did so in a lawful, fair and reasonable way. This process is used when there is no other way of resolving the matter. Professional legal help should be obtained when applying for judicial review. The application for it must be made as soon as possible and within three months maximum from the date of the matter being complained of happening. There are two key stages to the process: a formal pre-action letter is sent, explaining the issue and giving the public body time to fix the problem, and a review by the court of how the public body acted or came to a decision, and whether it acted in a lawful, fair and reasonable way. If the public body did not act in a lawful, fair and reasonable way, the court can require it to do (or stop doing something) to address this. You can find out more about judicial review on our website.
Learning difficulty Expand This is a legally defined term. It is part of the first section to the definition of special educational needs (SEN). When we think about who might have a learning difficulty, we also need to think about their age: A child of compulsory school age or a young person has a learning difficulty if they have significantly greater difficulty in learning compared to the majority of others of the same age. A child under compulsory school age has a learning difficulty if they are likely to have significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of the same age when they reach compulsory school age (or it would be likely when they reach compulsory school age, if no special educational provision were made for them). You can find out more about special educational needs on our website.
Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) Expand The LGSCO can investigate complaints about local authorities, adult social care providers and some other public service organisations. It will look into situations where: the processes which should have been followed were not, or were carried out poorly, and injustice was caused as a result. It is independent and free to use. If the LGSCO decides to investigate, it looks at how decisions were made and can recommend how to put things right. You can find out more about the LGSCO, including how to make a complaint to it, on our website.
Local Offer Expand Local authorities (LAs) must publish a Local Offer, setting out up to date information about services for children with special educational needs and/or disabilities. The development and review of the Local Offer should involve children, young people and parents/carers. In setting out what they ‘expect to be available’, LAs should include provision which they believe will actually be available. However, there is no duty on your LA to provide everything in the Local Offer for your child or young person. You can find out more about the Local Offer on our website and in Chapter 4 of the SEND Code of Practice.
Mainstream nursery, school or college Expand A mainstream nursery school or school is one that: is not specially organised to make special educational provision for pupils with special educational needs, and is maintained or is an Academy. A mainstream post-16 institution, like a separate further education or sixth form college, means a post-16 institution that is not a special setting.
Maintained nursery, school or college Expand Maintained nurseries, schools or colleges are controlled and funded by local authorities, and include: mainstream schools (including mainstream community schools, voluntary-aided, trust, foundation, or grammar schools), nursery schools (free-standing or part of a community primary school and not a special school), special schools, and alternative provision (including pupil referral units). You can get information on a nursery, school and college online.
Mediation Expand This is a free way to resolve a dispute without going to court or to the SEND Tribunal. An independent person, called the mediator, helps those taking part (the parties) discuss what the problems are and see how they can be resolved. You can mediate on educational, health and/or social care issues. If agreement is reached, you should make sure what has been agreed (including any timescales) is written down. This is called a mediation agreement and this agreement forms a contract between the parties, so must be followed. You have a right to try mediation whenever: a decision is made which you could appeal to the SEND Tribunal, including if you only disagree with the name or type of setting, or the fact no setting or type has been named in section I of an EHC plan, or an EHC plan is made, amended or replaced. You can find out more about mediation on our website.
Monitoring Officer Expand Each local authority (LA) should have a Monitoring Officer. They are usually a senior person in the organisation. This person is legally responsible for making sure high standards of office are promoted and maintained. Part of the Monitoring Officer’s job is to write a report: if they think the LA has acted (or appears to have acted) illegally, or is at risk of not following the law, and on any maladministration or injustice where the LGSCO has carried out an investigation. You can find details of your LA’s Monitoring Officer if you type the name of your LA and the words “Monitoring Officer” into an internet search engine.
Part-time timetable Expand All children of compulsory school age are legally entitled to a full-time education which is suitable for them, including their age, ability, aptitude and any special educational needs they may have. As a rule, schools cannot put children of compulsory school age on a part-time timetable. Part-time timetables should only be used in very exceptional circumstances where it’s in a pupil’s best interests, such as to meet a pupil’s medical needs and enable them to access as much education as possible. A part-time timetable should be: agreed between you and the school time-limited, and have regular review dates A part-time timetable must not be treated as a long-term solution and should not be used to manage a pupil’s behaviour. The statutory guidance Working together to improve school attendance (applicable form 19 August 2024) makes the above clear (see paragraphs 66-67). Use of a part-time timetable may be discriminatory. This will depend on whether the part-time timetable is a proportionate way of achieving a legitimate aim that the school may have in using it. We have lots of resources on our website for children who have medical needs, special educational needs or a disability. If your child is on a part-time timetable due to their medical needs, please see our page on illness. If your child is on a part-time timetable due to their special educational needs, please see our pages on how school should be helping and EHC needs assessments and plans. For more information on part-time timetables generally, please see our pages on informal exclusions, disability discrimination, and making a complaint about a school.
Parent Expand In education law, the term “parent” includes: people with parental responsibility of a child or young person, as well as people who have care of a child or young person (for example, a grandparent who a child lives with or a foster carer). This is what “parent” means in the law and guidance about special educational needs including the Children and Families Act 2014, The SEND Regulations 2014 and the SEND Code of Practice 2015.
Personal budgets Expand A personal budget is the estimated amount of money that would be needed to cover the cost of making the special educational provision in section F of an education, health and care (EHC) plan. A personal budget is different to a direct payment. The local authority (LA) must consider identifying a personal budget for educational provision if you, as a parent or young person, asks for this when the LA: sends a draft EHC plan following an EHC needs assessment, or reviews an EHC plan. You can find out more about personal budgets on our website.
School anxiety Expand Some school-aged children are too anxious to go to school – very often related to their special educational needs. This is also sometimes known as 'school refusal'. There are lots of steps a parent, carer or young person can take in this situation and you can find more information on these on our website.
Section 41 schools/colleges Expand These settings are not controlled by a local authority (LA) or the Secretary of State for Education. These are English and Welsh independent special schools/colleges which have been approved by the Secretary of State under section 41 of the Children and Families Act 2014. This means that they are settings which a parent or young person can request to be named in an education, health and care (EHC) plan and if so, the LA must name unless one of three limited exceptions apply. You can check the legal status of a school online (English settings). You can also check an online list of section 41 settings (English and Welsh settings).
SEN Support Expand Mainstream nurseries, schools and colleges must support all those with special educational needs (SEN) through SEN Support. This includes: Recording for every child or young person, their SEN, what outcomes it expects the child or young person to achieve, and what provision is being put in place to reach those outcomes. Doing everything that could reasonably be expected of it to meet a child or young person’s SEN (called the "best endeavours" duty). Requesting an EHC needs assessment if it cannot meet a child or young person’s needs. If a child or young person has an EHC plan, doing its best to deliver the special educational provision specified in Section F. If it cannot, the local authority must provide the resources to do so. In addition, for example: Nurseries – must involve parents with decisions around special educational provision. Schools – should meet with parents at least three times a year to discuss the pupil’s SEN and progress record. Colleges – should involve the student and (particularly if aged 16-18) their parents in decisions around the support they receive for their SEN. You can find out more about SEN Support on our website.
SEND Code of Practice (the Code) Expand The Special educational needs and disability code of practice 2015 is important statutory guidance. It tells us lots of the practical steps and things that should be considered when decisions and actions are made and taken in relation to children and young people with special educational needs. If the Code says something must be done, then it is referring to a legal duty that must be complied with. If it says something should be done, then this means the guidance should be followed unless there is a good reason not to. The organisations and bodies who need to consider the SEND Code of Practice are: local authorities (LAs) the governing bodies of schools the governing bodies of institutions in the further education sector the proprietors of academies the management committees of pupil referral units section 41 schools and colleges all early years providers in the maintained, private, voluntary and independent sectors providing free education and childcare places the NHS and Integrated Care Board Youth offending teams and relevant youth accommodation, and the SEND Tribunal
SEND Regulations 2014 Expand The Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014 sit underneath the Children and Families Act (CFA) 2014. They set out lots of the detail as to how duties in the CFA 2014 should be carried out. For example, they set out how: EHC needs assessments must be carried out an EHC plan is prepared, what it must contain and when it must be finalised by EHC plans must be reviewed and changed EHC plans may be stopped, mediation takes place, and deadlines that apply at the end of SEND Tribunal appeals The SEND Regulations 2014 are law. If they are not being followed, you can contact us for support.
SEND Tribunal Expand This is an independent national tribunal. Its full name is the First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability). It decides: appeals against local authority (LA) decisions about the special educational needs of children and young people, (SEN Appeals), and claims of disability discrimination against schools. The SEND Tribunal will look at all the evidence it receives, and make a decision based on the law. There are no fees for making an appeal or a claim, and you may be eligible for legal aid to provide legal help in preparing your case. In SEN Appeals, the SEND Tribunal can make orders relating to special educational needs and (if asked to do so) non-binding health and social care recommendations. The SEND Tribunal can make different orders in disability discrimination claims. You can find out more about the SEND Tribunal on our website.
Social care Expand Social services can provide a wide range of support such as practical assistance in the home, respite care and short breaks, home adaptations, travel and other assistance. To get support from social care, they need to carry out an assessment. You can ask the local authority to assess your child or young person’s social care needs, and any needs you may have as their parent/carer. You can find out more about social care on our website.
Special educational needs (SEN) Expand Special educational needs (known as SEN) are those needs or challenges that affect a child or young person’s ability to learn. There might be lots of ways those needs can affect learning. SEN is a legally defined term. Meeting the definition of having SEN, or where there is evidence a child or young person may have SEN, opens up legal rights and protections under SEN law. When looking at whether a child or young person has (or may have) SEN, we need to ask two questions. If both are answered “yes”, then the child or young person is defined in law as having SEN. Does the child or young person have at least one of the following: a learning difficulty, and/or a disability and: this disability makes it difficult for them to use the facilities normally provided for others of the same age in mainstream school or college, or for those under compulsory school age, such an effect is likely when they reach that age, or would be likely if no special educational provision is made for them? If no, they do not have SEN. If yes, next we ask: Does that learning difficulty or disability require special educational provision to be put in place? If no, they do not have SEN. If yes, they do have SEN. You can find out more about SEN on our website.
Special educational provision Expand This is a legally defined term and is the second part of the definition of special educational needs. Special educational provision is: for those aged 2 or more years old: any educational or training provision that is in addition to, or different from, that generally available for other children or young people of the same age (for example, one-to-one support) for children under two years old: any educational provision, and for all children and young people: any health care or social care provision which educates or trains the child or young person (for example, speech and language therapy, or other provision made by health or social care which teaches a child or young person how to do something). Case law has confirmed that provision may be educational without educating a child itself. The dictionary definition of ‘educational’ is ‘of, pertaining to, or concerned with education’. For example, a hearing loop in the classroom would be educational provision for a hearing-impaired child, though the loop itself does not educate the pupil – the teacher does. You can find out more about special educational provision and case law on our website.
Statutory walking distance Expand Some children are eligible for transport to their school because they live beyond the statutory walking distance to their school. The statutory walking distance is: two miles for children under eight, and three miles for those eight and over. These distances are each way. We have more information on this and transport on our website (including about how different distances can apply when a child is eligible for transport because they are from a low income family).
Transport Expand Local authorities must arrange home to school transport for those children and young people who meet the criteria for it. This criteria depends on their age and you can find out more on home to school transport on our website.
Ward Councillor Expand Each local authority is separated out into different areas (known as wards). Each ward has elected Ward Councillors. They help resolve local issues, by representing the interests of everyone in the ward and being a voice for the community in the council. You can find details of your Ward Councillor online.
Young person Expand The Children and Families Act (CFA) 2014 sets out many of the legal protections and rights for children and young people with SEN. Under the CFA you are a young person if you are: over compulsory school age, and under 25. Compulsory school age ends on the last Friday in June which falls in the academic year in which you turn (or turned) 16 – usually at the end of Year 11. For example, if you were born on 23 September 2007, compulsory school age will end on 28 June 2024. However, as a young person, you are expected to remain in education or training until you are 18. Once compulsory school age ends, the rights and protections in the CFA 2014 belong to you and can be enforced by you, rather than your parents (who can support you if you like). You can find out more about the rights of young people, and how you can be supported, on our website.