“They assessed my child, then said no.”
The council carried out the assessment and then decided your child does not need an EHC plan. An appeal challenges that decision, and much of the evidence for it is sitting in the assessment the council itself commissioned.
Reviewed by Tom, specialist SEND advocate. Last updated 19 August 2026.
Once an assessment has been carried out, section 37 of the Children and Families Act 2014 asks a narrower question than the assessment threshold: whether it is necessary for special educational provision to be made for your child in accordance with an EHC plan.
This is not a question about whether your child is struggling in a general sense. It is about whether the support they need is specific, significant, and needs to be secured and monitored through a statutory plan rather than left to the school's ordinary SEN support.
We build the case from the assessment reports the council already holds, and from any independent evidence that fills the gaps those reports leave, to show why a plan is necessary.
The appeal deadline
Time runs from the council's notice that it will not issue a plan following the assessment, not from the earlier letter that agreed to assess. Before the appeal can be registered you need a mediation certificate: you contact a mediation adviser, and you can take the certificate and appeal without actually mediating. The deadline is two months from that notice, or one month from the date of your certificate, whichever is later. Because an assessment has already happened, there is often a body of professional evidence sitting in the council's own file, worth pulling together quickly.
How long it takes
Because the assessment reports already exist, preparation for this appeal starts from a stronger base than a refusal to assess, and a meaningful proportion resolve once the council reviews its own assessment reports again in light of the grounds of appeal. Tribunal listing times vary widely and the system is heavily backlogged, so we tell you the realistic current picture for your case on the free call rather than quoting a generic figure.
What we do at each stage
We register the appeal and frame the grounds around the necessity test specifically, anchored to what the assessment itself already found.
The assessment reports the council commissioned are usually the backbone of the case, reviewed line by line for what they actually support.
Where the assessment reports leave a real gap, rather than a disputed interpretation, we advise on what further evidence would close it.
Refusals reached against a professional's own recommendation are common, and rarely survive being tested directly against that recommendation.
If the council maintains its refusal, we prepare the bundle and put the necessity case at the hearing.
What it costs
Casework for a refusal to issue appeal is £2,400 including VAT, covering registration through to the final evidence bundle. A hearing day, if the case reaches one, is billed separately at £1,800 per hearing day for our own casework clients. Because assessment reports already exist by this stage, this is one of the appeal types where independent expert reports are least often needed on top, though if your case is the exception we will say so on the free call.
All prices include VAT, ex-VAT figures shown as small print. For the full stage-by-stage breakdown, the hearing-day representation-only rate, and the stage-billing table, see every SEND tribunal fee we charge.
From our casework
Questions parents ask first
The professionals who assessed my child recommended a plan, so why did the council refuse?
Can we use the same reports for the appeal?
Not sure this is your appeal? Not ready to commit to casework yet? see what a written case review gives you before you decide.
Book a free 20-minute call. We will listen, and give you a straight view on whether an appeal is worth bringing.