A woman wearing a cap with a speech bubble coming out of her mouth.

Parents and carers have the right to speak about concerns of their child's educational support.

A woman stuffing envelopes at a desk saying "Help please."

If speaking to the school or local authority hasn't made any changes, there are more organisations that can help you.

Concerns about the support your child is getting

If you are concerned about any aspect of your child’s support, you have the right to bring this up with the people involved , and to challenge the decisions being made.

There are many organisations out there who can help you do this, and there are official processes in place to help make sure your child gets the best possible outcome.

How to challenge your child's support

The first thing you can do is request a meeting with the people involved, or write to the school or local authority about your concerns. This problem solving toolkit from disability charity Cerebra has some helpful model letters and tips for preparing for a meeting.

If the people involved aren't able to find a satisfactory solution, you can take your concerns further and you may end up in contact with the SEND tribunal (find out more below).

Organisations that can help

There are several organisations who can help you challenge your child’s school or education provider, or the local authority:

  • Your local Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Information, Advice and Support (SENDIAS) services are there to advise and support disabled children and young people and their families. Find your local IAS service.
  • Contact have specialist education advisors available on their helpline on 0808 808 3555.
  • IPSEA also offers advice on your child’s rights , and resources to help you challenge education providers and local authorities .
  • Cerebra’s Legal Rights Service helps families of children and young people with special educational needs who are experiencing problems with education services.

The SEND Tribunal

The SEND Tribunal is there to adjudicate between schools, local authorities and families/young people with special educational needs and disabilities. The tribunal can make decisions on the following matters:

  • if you believe that a school has discriminated against your child because of their disability
  • if the local authority refuses to carry out an EHC needs assessment
  • if the local authority refuses to issue an EHC plan
  • if the local authority refuses to make changes to a plan after a review or reassessment
  • a decision by the local authority to end the plan
  • what the plan says about your child’s special educational needs, including the school or college named in the plan.

Parent carer forums

You might want to do more to influence decisions about special educational needs issues locally and nationally. Your local parent carer forum campaigns on issues that are important to you and your child. Visit the National Network of Parent Carer Forums to find your local forum.

Mencap colleagues sitting around a table

Making an appeal

You have two months to lodge your appeal with the tribunal. For many appeals you must decide whether you want to go through optional mediation.

You can do this by phoning the mediation services your local authority has recommended for you. You must make this call within the two month timeframe that has been set. Once you've called the mediation service, your deadline for lodging your appeal may be extended.

Your child's rights in education

Get the education your child deserves - know your rights

Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND)

Information and guidance about SEND and the system in education from school to further education.

Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans explained

A child's Education Health and Care (EHC) plan

Questions and answers about challenging the support your child gets in education

It means raising concerns if you think your child isn’t getting the right kind of help from their school or local authority. You can ask for meetings, write letters or emails, and use official processes to ask for changes.

There are specialist organisations that can help you, such as SEND information and advice services (IASS), education advice charities like Contact, IPSEA, and support projects like Cerebra’s Legal Entitlements Project.

The SEND Tribunal is a service that makes decisions when parents and schools or councils disagree about a child's support. You might use it if you think your child has been discriminated against, if an EHC plan was refused, or if you want changes to the plan.

First, it is best to start by talking to the people involved — for example, ask for a meeting with school staff or your local authority to explain your concerns and ask for changes to be made.

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The creation of this page was funded by The National Lottery Community Fund.