My local authority’s decision letter is dated 1 October and my mediation certificate is dated 29 November. Are there any special rules about when appeals must be submitted over the Christmas period? Are there other times when the deadline changes?

Yes there are.

Generally speaking appeals need to be submitted within 2 months of the date on the decision letter or one month from the date on the mediation certificate, whichever is later.

Christmas holidays

In your case your decision letter is 1 October, so the 2 months’ timescale expires on 1 December. Your mediation certificate is dated 29 November and the one month expires on 29 December. This is the later of the two dates. Therefore your appeal needs to be submitted over the Christmas period.

There are special rules for this. If the two months/one month deadline ends on or between 25 December to 1 January, as in your case, you have until the next working day in January to appeal. Therefore, you have until the next working day in January to submit your appeal form.

Summer holidays

The only other time the deadline for appeals to be made changes slightly is if the two months/one month deadline ends in August, then you have until the first working day in September to get your appeal form to the SEND Tribunal.

Please note that these changes to the deadline apply to SEN appeals in the SEND Tribunal. They do not apply to claims about disability discrimination in the SEND Tribunal.