What is inside

1. The three dates that decide everything

Your appeal deadline is two months from the decision, or one month from your mediation certificate if that falls later. Most parents never learn the second half of that sentence, and it is the half that saves cases.

2. The test they were supposed to apply

Section 36(8) of the Children and Families Act 2014 requires an assessment where a child has or may have special educational needs and it may be necessary for provision to be made through a plan. Two "mays". Parliament set the bar low on purpose. Your appeal's entire job is showing the council used a higher one.

3. The six reasons councils give, and what is wrong with each

Not exhausted SEN support. No diagnosis. Making progress. Needs can be met from existing resources. Attendance too low. Come back in six months. Each one gets a response grounded in the legislation, ready to put into your grounds.

4. Mediation and your certificate

How to get the certificate without sitting through mediation, why the certificate date can extend your deadline, and the one situation where you can skip mediation entirely.

5. Registering the appeal

Form SEND35A, what to send with it, and why lodging on time with imperfect evidence beats lodging late with perfect evidence.

6. Model wording for your grounds of appeal

Section by section: the opening, limb (a), limb (b), answering their stated reasons, and what you are asking the tribunal to order. Written to be adapted to your child, not copied blind.

7. Your evidence index

A front sheet to fill in, plus the evidence parents routinely forget they already hold and which carries real weight.

8. What happens after you lodge

The directions, the council's response, why many refusal-to-assess appeals are decided on the papers with no hearing, and what it means when a council concedes early.

9. If your child is home educated

The section other guides leave out entirely. The right to request belongs to you as the parent and does not depend on a school roll, and there is wording here for when a council treats home education itself as the reason to refuse.

Written properly

Eleven pages, no padding. Sourced from the Children and Families Act 2014, the SEND Code of Practice, the Tribunal Procedure (First-tier Tribunal) (HESC) Rules 2008, Department for Education statistics published 25 June 2026 and Ministry of Justice tribunal statistics to March 2026. Checked on 26 July 2026.

England only. The system works differently in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Please read this before you buy

This is information and document preparation. It is not legal advice, it is not tailored to your child's facts, and nobody can promise you an outcome.

Free, expert, independent help exists and you should use it alongside this. Your local SENDIASS is statutory and free in every area. IPSEA runs free advice lines and a tribunal support service at ipsea.org.uk. If money is tight, go to them first. I would genuinely rather you kept the £39 and won.

And if you have not actually been refused yet, you do not need this. Use the free EHC needs assessment request letter generator instead.