Statements of special educational needs and tribunal appeals in England and Wales 2003–2013 – in numbers

Abstract

The study presents a statistical analysis of statements of special educational needs and Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) tribunal appeal rates in England and Wales. It is set against the backcloth of the 2014 Children and Families Act which replaces statements with Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans. The numerical overview provides a research baseline for future Local Authorities’ (LAs’) benchmarking of EHC plans by comparisons with statements and SEND tribunal rates. There have been wide variations across LAs since 2003. The percentage change in statements ranges from +49% to −60% whilst there are even larger differences in the rate of tribunal appeals, both by type and location of Authority. The discussion refers to the use of mediation to resolve disputes between LAs and parents and for regular LA self-reviews, to avoid a potential inflationary and inequitable growth in EHC plans and to avert resource drift.

Keywords:

• special needs education – England
• special needs education – Wales
• statistics education
• education health and care plans
• local government – England
• local government – Wales
• finance
• inequality