The SEND Complaints Map: Which Door for Which Problem

Most SEND complaints go nowhere because they go to the wrong place. Six doors cover most of it, with four more that are less used but real, and each one handles a different kind of problem. Knocking on the wrong one can cost you months and sometimes the right itself.

This guide covers England. It is a map, not a campaign: for each door, what it decides, what it cannot touch, and the deadline.

Start here: which door?

Door 1: the SEND Tribunal

Section 51(2) of the Children and Families Act 2014 sets out the decisions you can appeal. Two other jurisdictions sit alongside it: disability discrimination claims, which paragraph 3 of Schedule 17 to the Equality Act 2010 sends to the same Tribunal, and the power to make recommendations about health and social care. Outside those three, the Tribunal has no role.

The section 51(2) list:

• A refusal to carry out an EHC needs assessment
• A decision, after assessment, that a plan is not necessary
• The special educational needs described (Section B)
• The special educational provision specified (Section F)
• The school or institution named, or the type specified (Section I)
• The fact that no school or institution is named
• A refusal to carry out a re-assessment
• A decision not to amend or replace the plan after a review or re-assessment
• A decision to cease to maintain the plan

The deadline is two months from the date written notice of the decision was sent, or one month from the date the mediation certificate was issued, whichever is later.

Two things people do not believe until they read them. The service is free: as the HMCTS booklet puts it, “SEND Tribunal’s service is free. Unlike going to court, there are no fees involved.” That is the service, not the whole cost. The same booklet says public funding for a lawyer to represent you at the hearing “is only available if the circumstances are exceptional”, and if you decide to commission a private report, that is your own cost. And you do not need a lawyer: the current appeal form, updated in February 2026, says in terms, “You do not need a representative to appeal.”

Health and social care: recommendations, not orders

The Tribunal can also make recommendations about the health (Sections C and G) and social care (Sections D and H) parts of a plan, where an appeal about the plan itself is already running. Check which appeal you are bringing. Regulations 4 and 5 of the SEND (First-tier Tribunal Recommendations Power) Regulations 2017 attach the power to appeals under section 51(2)(b) and (c) to (f), so it does not reach an appeal against a refusal to carry out an EHC needs assessment, which is section 51(2)(a).

Two honest halves to this. The power is permanent: it started in April 2018, the Department for Education confirmed on 20 July 2021 that it would continue, and anyone still calling it a “National Trial” is about five years out of date. But the recommendations are not binding. The commissioner has to respond in writing within five weeks and give reasons for not following a recommendation, which is real pressure, and it is not the same as an order.

So: the Tribunal orders on education, and recommends on health and social care.

Door 2: mediation (the gate before door 1)

This one is widely misunderstood in a way that costs people their appeal.

Section 55(3) of the Children and Families Act 2014 says you may appeal “only if a mediation adviser has issued a certificate”. So the certificate is compulsory.

Mediating is not. Section 55(4) says that where the adviser has given you information and advice and you say you do not wish to mediate, the adviser must issue the certificate. The regulations give them three working days to do it.

The trap is the clock. Regulation 33 of the SEND Regulations 2014 says you must contact the mediation adviser within two months after written notice of the Local Authority’s decision was sent, and regulation 34(2) says the adviser may not issue a certificate if you did not.

Missing that window does not end the appeal. Regulation 34(3) is the way through: you “may seek leave to appeal to the First-tier Tribunal not withstanding that he or she is required to obtain a mediation certificate and a mediation adviser has not issued a certificate”, precisely where the regulation 33 deadline has gone. Separately, rule 20(4) of the Tribunal Procedure Rules lets you file outside the time limit if you include a request for an extension of time and the reason. So if the date has passed, apply anyway, apply straight away, and explain why it was missed.

There is an exception to the certificate itself: you do not need one where the appeal is only about the school or institution named, the type specified, or the fact that none is named. Watch the word “only”. If your appeal also touches Section B or Section F, you need the certificate.

And for anyone worried that declining mediation looks bad, the Code of Practice at 11.40 is explicit: “The Tribunal will not take account of the fact that mediation has taken place, or has not been taken up… Parents and young people will not be disadvantaged at the Tribunal because they have chosen not to go to mediation.”

Door 3: the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman

The Ombudsman investigates how a Local Authority behaved: delay, failing to follow the process, failing to secure provision it had promised, failing to arrange education for a child out of school.

How much of this there is: in its annual review published on 15 July 2026, covering 2025-26, the Ombudsman received 4,721 education complaints, decided 3,730, investigated 1,699 of those, and upheld 1,576, which is 93%. Its news release put it this way: “In education, complaints about support for children with special educational needs made up more than a third of all the cases we upheld, more than any other single issue.”

Read that 93% for what it is. It is the share of completed investigations that were upheld, not the share of people who complained and got somewhere. Only 46% of decided cases went to investigation at all, and 1,576 upheld against 4,721 received is about a third.

Three limits to know before you go there.

It is not a second chance at an appeal. Section 26(6) of the Local Government Act 1974 bars investigation of anything you had a right of appeal about. There is a discretion to investigate anyway where it would not be reasonable to expect you to have used the appeal, but do not plan around it.

Twelve months. Section 26B(2) of the same Act gives you twelve months from the day you first had notice of the matter. Section 26B(3) lets the Ombudsman set that requirement aside for a particular complaint, but plan on the twelve months.

Complain to the Local Authority first. Section 26(5)(a) says it has to have had a reasonable opportunity to investigate and respond. Section 26(5)(b) is the release valve: the Ombudsman can also proceed where “in the particular circumstances, it is not reasonable to expect the matter to be brought to the notice of that authority or for that authority to be afforded a reasonable opportunity to investigate the matter and to respond”. If you have been waiting months with no response, say that in your complaint rather than waiting on in silence.

One useful quirk: the Ombudsman generally cannot investigate schools, but where a Local Authority’s provision was not delivered, the Code of Practice at 11.90 confirms it “can investigate what part the school may have played in the provision not being delivered”.

Its findings are recommendations rather than orders, though compliance runs at over 99%. Where fault caused a loss of education, its remedies guidance says it will usually recommend between £900 and £2,400 per term.

Door 4: complaining about a school

Different school types, different procedures, same final stage.

Maintained schools. Section 29(1) of the Education Act 2002 requires the governing body to establish and publicise a complaints procedure. The DfE recommends two stages ending in a governing body appeal.

Academies and free schools. The Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014 require a published procedure with clear timescales, an informal stage, a written formal stage, and a panel hearing before at least three people not directly involved, at least one of whom is independent of the management and running of the school. You can attend and be accompanied.

The final stage for both is the Department for Education, at gov.uk/complain-to-dfe.

You do not always have to finish the school’s procedure first. Gov.uk sets out three situations where you can go to the DfE before that: where “a child is not getting an education”, where “a child has been exposed to harm”, and where “the school is stopping you from following its complaints procedure”.

One thing to update if you have researched this before: the Education and Skills Funding Agency no longer exists. It closed on 31 March 2025 and its functions moved into the Department for Education. A lot of advice online still sends people to the ESFA.

Be realistic about what the DfE does. It checks whether the complaint was handled properly, not whether the school was right. Its guidance on academy complaints says so directly: “We cannot overturn the decision about a complaint.” For state schools generally, gov.uk lists what it will not take on at all, including a lack of compensation or apologies from the school. And Ofsted “cannot resolve issues between you and the school”, though it will take whole-school concerns as intelligence.

Note too that the Ombudsman does not investigate complaints about an academy itself. That is not the same as being shut out. Where the failure is the Local Authority’s, provision in a plan that was never secured being the common one, Door 3 is open whatever type of school your child attends.

Door 5: your child’s records

Two rights, two clocks, and which one you have depends on the school type.

The educational record: 15 school days. Under the Education (Pupil Information) (England) Regulations 2005, a parent can inspect the educational record free of charge within 15 school days of a written request, and get a copy within 15 school days on payment of a fee not exceeding the cost of supply.

But regulation 5(1) applies this right to schools maintained by a Local Authority other than nursery schools, and to special schools that are not maintained. It does not apply to academies, free schools or maintained nursery schools. And “15 school days” excludes holidays, so a request made in late July effectively starts running in September.

A subject access request: one month. This works at any school. The rule changed on 5 February 2026: the time limit now sits in Article 12A of the UK GDPR, inserted by the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025. One month, extendable by two further months where the requests are complex or numerous (with notice and reasons given inside the first month), and there is now a stop-the-clock provision where the school reasonably needs more information to identify what you are asking for.

If a school will not comply, the Information Commissioner’s Office is the regulator for subject access requests.

Door 6: admissions

If your child does not have an EHC plan and you are unhappy with a decision not to admit them, that goes to the independent admission appeal panel, not the Tribunal. That is true even where you say the refusal was disability discrimination: paragraph 13 of Schedule 17 to the Equality Act 2010 requires an admissions discrimination claim to be made under the appeal arrangements.

If your child does have an EHC plan, it is the other way round. The School Admission Appeals Code 2022 says so at paragraph 3.20: “Appeals by the parent of a child with an Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan against the choice of school named in the EHC plan, or the fact that no school has been named, are considered by the First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability) not a school admission appeal panel.” That is the Section I appeal in Door 1, with the two month deadline that comes with it, so it matters which one you are in.

If the panel itself did not follow the correct procedure, something does follow. Paragraph 5.4 of the Appeals Code: complaints about maladministration by an appeal panel go to the Ombudsman for maintained schools, and to the Secretary of State, in practice the Department for Education, for academies. Know the limit before you spend the energy. Appendix 2 to the Code says the Ombudsman “is not able to overturn the appeal panel’s decision” and that a complaint “must relate to the administration of an appeal rather than the appeal decision”, though it can recommend a rehearing by a different panel. Only a court, on judicial review, can quash the decision itself.

The one big exception to all of this, and it is the opposite of what a lot of advice says: a disability discrimination claim about a permanent exclusion in England goes to the First-tier Tribunal (SEND), not an appeal panel. Paragraph 14 of Schedule 17 to the Equality Act 2010 routes exclusion discrimination through appeal arrangements only in Wales, and has done since September 2012.

Four more doors, less used but real

Judicial review. Where a decision is unlawful and no other route can put it right in time, the High Court can look at it. Rule 54.5(1) of the Civil Procedure Rules says the claim form must be filed “promptly” and “in any event not later than 3 months after the grounds to make the claim first arose”. It is a court rather than a form, so it normally means a solicitor and a letter before claim first. It is the route people reach for when a child is receiving no education at all, or provision in a plan is simply not there, and a complaint would take longer than the child has.

Permanent exclusion. The governing body considers reinstatement first. If it decides not to reinstate, you can apply for an independent review panel within 15 school days of written notice of that decision (Schedule 1 paragraph 2(1) to the School Discipline (Pupil Exclusions and Reviews) (England) Regulations 2012), and you can ask for a SEN expert to be appointed at the same time. Be clear about the panel’s power. Under section 51A(4) of the Education Act 2002 it can uphold the decision, recommend that the governing body reconsiders, or quash the decision and direct a reconsideration. It cannot itself put your child back in the school. A disability discrimination claim about the same exclusion is a separate route, and in England that one goes to the Tribunal.

Children’s social care. Complaints about a social care assessment, service or decision have their own statutory procedure under section 26 of the Children Act 1989 and the Children Act 1989 Representations Procedure (England) Regulations 2006: local resolution, investigation, then a review panel (regulations 14 to 19). Representations must normally be made within one year of the grounds arising (regulation 9), and the Local Authority can still consider a late one where it would not have been reasonable to expect you to complain sooner and it can still be looked at fairly. After the review panel, the Ombudsman.

Health. If it is the health provision in the plan that is not being delivered, the NHS complaints procedure comes first, then the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman. The Code of Practice at 11.90 notes the two Ombudsmen can investigate together where a complaint spans both. The PHSO will not normally take a complaint made more than a year after you first had notice of the matter, “unless he considers it reasonable to do so” (section 9 of the Health Service Commissioners Act 1993).

Three rules that apply whichever door you use

• Put the deadline in your diary first. Before you draft anything, before you gather anything. Most of what goes wrong is a missed date, not a weak argument.
• Ask for decisions in writing, with reasons. A decision you cannot quote is a decision you cannot challenge.
• Keep one dated file. Every letter, every email, every phone call with the date and who said what. Whichever door you end up at, that file is your case.

One deadline outside SEND, closing this month

For parent carers: the Department for Work and Pensions’ call for evidence on Carer’s Allowance, covering the earnings taper and how the earnings rules work in practice, closes at 11:59pm on 18 August 2026. If the earnings cliff edge has affected your family, that is the place your experience counts.

Where to get free help

None of these doors requires you to pay anyone. Every area has an information, advice and support service, because section 32 of the Children and Families Act 2014 requires the Local Authority to arrange one, and the Code of Practice at 2.8 says what it offers “should be free, accurate, confidential”. IPSEA and SOS!SEN run free legal advice lines: check the opening hours before you build your day around a call, because some lines pause in the school holidays. Contact holds the family-life end.

And everything we make is free: our SCOPE course, the two-minute quiz that reads your situation and points you at a next step, and the 2026 SEND Briefing if you want to understand where the system is heading.

Sources: Children and Families Act 2014 sections 32, 51 and 55; Special Educational Needs and Disability Regulations 2014, SI 2014/1530, regulations 33 to 39; Tribunal Procedure (First-tier Tribunal) (HESC) Rules 2008, rule 20; SEND (First-tier Tribunal Recommendations Power) Regulations 2017, SI 2017/1306, regulations 4 to 7; Equality Act 2010 Schedule 17 paragraphs 3, 4, 13 and 14; Local Government Act 1974 sections 26 and 26B and Schedule 5; Education Act 2002 sections 29 and 51A; Education (Independent School Standards) Regulations 2014, SI 2014/3283; Education (Pupil Information) (England) Regulations 2005, SI 2005/1437, regulation 5; School Discipline (Pupil Exclusions and Reviews) (England) Regulations 2012, SI 2012/1033, Schedule 1; Children Act 1989 section 26 and the Children Act 1989 Representations Procedure (England) Regulations 2006, SI 2006/1738; Health Service Commissioners Act 1993 section 9; Civil Procedure Rules rule 54.5; School Admission Appeals Code 2022, paragraphs 3.20 and 5.4 to 5.6 and Appendix 2; Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 section 76; LGSCO Annual Review of Local Government Complaints 2025-26, published 15 July 2026; SEND Code of Practice paragraphs 2.8, 11.40, 11.45 and 11.90.