When (and whether) to pay

Here is the honest version, founder to parent: a great deal of this can be done for free, and many parents win appeals using free advice and their own organised evidence. Money should buy you something the free options genuinely cannot. So before you spend, be clear about what you are actually buying.

Your free first stops are IPSEA, which gives free, independent legal advice on SEND, and your local SENDIASS, the free, confidential, impartial information and support service your Local Authority must fund. For most parents at the start, these two are enough. You probably do not need to pay yet when you simply need to understand your rights, when the Local Authority already holds good reports that say the right things, when the dispute is about wording rather than disputed facts, or when you have not yet given the free route a proper try.

Paying is more likely to be worth it in four situations. When there is a real evidence gap, an independent educational psychologist, speech and language therapist, or occupational therapist report can change the outcome, because the tribunal weighs evidence. When Section F is vague, specialist evidence helps you pin down exactly what support your child gets. When the case is genuinely legally complex, for example the Local Authority refusing a duty, that is solicitor territory. And when you are overwhelmed and time-poor, paying an advocate to carry the process can be the right call for your family’s wellbeing, even where in theory you could do it yourself.

This is preparation help, not legal advice, and it covers the law in England only. The services and the law differ in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, so check your nation if you are elsewhere. Whatever you decide, sense-check anything that affects a deadline or a decision with IPSEA or your SENDIASS before you act. They are free, and that is exactly what they are there for.