Get information and support Free legal guides and template letters Disability discrimination Procedure for disability discrimination claims The SEND Tribunal can hear claims about disability discrimination by a school under the Equality Act 2010. If your claim is against a different kind of setting or a local authority then the claim must be brought in the County Court. The procedure is similar to that of bringing an appeal about an EHC needs assessment or EHC plan, which is referred to as a ‘SEN appeal’. There are some a few differences, which are set out below – you should read this section as well as the section on appealing to the SEND Tribunal in relation to SEN appeals. You should also read the guidance produced by The SEND Tribunal on bringing a claim of disability discrimination against a school. Timetable The claim against the school must be received by the SEND Tribunal within six months of the discrimination you are claiming about (or within six months of the most recent act or failure to act if this has been continuing for a period of time). If a pupil has been permanently excluded and the school’s governing body has upheld the exclusion, and the SEND Tribunal is being asked to order their reinstatement, the appeal is likely to be dealt with more quickly than other types of discrimination claims. Submitting the appeal form There are different claim forms depending on whether the claim involves an exclusion or not, and whether the claim is being brought by a young person or a parent (they are called forms 4A and 4B and 26A and 26B). Claim forms can be found on the SEND Tribunal site. Check that you are using the right form. If you are also making a SEN appeal to the SEND Tribunal, you can request that they are ‘consolidated’ so that they are heard at the same hearing. However, you will need to complete a separate form for each claim. You might want to take advice first about whether or not asking for your claim and appeal to be heard together is right in your case. When you fill in your disability discrimination claim form, you should explain the: child or young person’s disability discrimination you are complaining about, and remedy you want. Evidence needed You will need copies of professional reports or other documents which help explain your child or young person’s disability. If there is a diagnosis of a particular condition, you must provide copies of documents showing this. You should submit this evidence with your claim form. You should also send copies of their current EHC plan if they have one, and any documents which might help the SEND Tribunal to understand what the disability discrimination claim is about. This could include correspondence, copies of documents sent from the school, or written statements from people who witnessed events. If you are struggling to obtain information from the school then you could consider making a subject access request (for personal information) or a request under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (for non-personal information). Maintained schools (mainstream or special) and non-maintained special schools also have a legal duty to provide an individual’s educational record within 15 days of request and we have a template letter you can use to ask for this. The evidence you need will depend on the circumstances of your claim and you may need to seek advice about this, including checking if you are eligible for legal aid. Once the appeal is registered The registration letter from the SEND Tribunal should tell you: the hearing date, and individual case management directions decided by a Tribunal chair (judge) who has reviewed the paperwork you submitted – this may include a date for a telephone case management conference. The SEND Tribunal should also send the parent or young person copies of: an Attendance Form to return to the Tribunal (you use this to tell the school and Tribunal who will be going to the hearing, including any representative and witnesses you may have), and a Request for Changes Form (this is used if you need to ask the Tribunal to do something, like extend a deadline for example). The hearing Disability discrimination claims will be heard by three-member panels. The school is very likely to be represented by a solicitor and/or a barrister (because of the adversarial nature of the claim). IPSEA strongly recommends seeking advice about claims under the Equality Act 2010 as early as possible in the process. The panel will not normally make a decision on the day, but will send out a written judgment after the hearing. Appealing a SEND Tribunal decision You can only appeal against a SEND Tribunal decision if they make an error of law – you cannot appeal just because you disagree with the panel's findings. In disability discrimination claims, you could either appeal or request that the decision is set aside – you can read more about this on the section about challenging SEND Tribunal decisions. The number of cases which are successfully set aside or appealed are relatively low. Note that for SEN appeals there is also the option to ask for the decision to be reviewed in light of a change of circumstances. This is not relevant for disability discrimination appeals, because they deal only with past events rather than ongoing provision. If you believe you have grounds to appeal, or to ask that the decision is set aside or reviewed, you should seek legal advice. You may be able to get legal aid to cover the cost of this – see the page on where to get help for more information. If you haven’t been able to find the answer to your question in this section, you can book an appointment to speak with us. Manage Cookie Preferences