What if the council refuses an EHC needs assessment or plan?
Short answer. You can appeal to the SEND Tribunal. First you must contact a mediation adviser, who gives you a certificate whether or not you go on to mediation. Your appeal must reach the Tribunal within 2 months of the decision letter, or 1 month after the certificate if that is later. Across England, 98.9% of the appeals the Tribunal decided in 2024/25 went at least partly in the family's favour. In 2025, 62 appeals were made about Waltham Forest decisions.
Ministry of Justice figures for England in 2024/25, and DfE figures for Waltham Forest in 2025. The Tribunal does not publish outcomes for each council. This is not legal advice.
Decisions you can appeal
A parent, or a young person over school-leaving age, can appeal to the SEND Tribunal against these council decisions (Children and Families Act 2014, section 51(2)):
- not to carry out an EHC needs assessment
- not to issue an EHC plan after an assessment
- what a plan says about a child's needs or the support they must get, when the plan is first issued or after it is changed
- the school or college named in a plan, or that no school is named
- not to change a plan after an annual review, or not to carry out a re-assessment
- to stop a plan
If the council refuses an assessment, its letter must tell you that you can appeal, the time limit, and how to get mediation (SEND Regulations 2014, regulation 5(3)). You can also ask the council to explain its decision and think again, but this does not stop the time limit for appealing.
How to appeal
- Contact a mediation adviser. The decision letter tells you who to contact. The adviser explains mediation, which is a meeting with the council and an independent mediator to try to settle the disagreement.
- Get a mediation certificate. The adviser must give you one once they have explained mediation, whether you go on to mediation or tell them you don't want to (Children and Families Act 2014, section 55(3) to (5)). You don't need a certificate if your appeal is only about the school or type of school named in the plan, or that no school is named (Children and Families Act 2014, section 55(2)).
- Send your appeal to the Tribunal within 2 months of the date of the decision letter, or 1 month after the date of the mediation certificate, whichever is later (Tribunal Procedure Rules 2008, rule 20(1)(c)). See GOV.UK: appeal to the SEND Tribunal.
Enter the date of your decision letter in the deadlines calculator to see your dates. Appealing is free. For help with an appeal, contact IPSEA or Waltham Forest's SEND information, advice and support service (SENDIASS).
What happens to appeals
The Ministry of Justice publishes appeal outcomes only for England as a whole, not for each council. In 2024/25, the Tribunal decided 14,009 appeals across England. 13,860 of them (98.9%) went at least partly in the family's favour. That doesn't mean the family got everything they asked for. Councils also conceded 3,945 appeals before a decision, meaning they stopped opposing them (Ministry of Justice, Tribunals statistics quarterly: July to September 2025: SEND Tribunal Tables 2024 to 2025 (downloaded 2026-10-27)).
In 2025, 62 appeals were registered about Waltham Forest decisions. That is 3.7% of the decisions families could have appealed, against 6.6% in England. The council says that in 2024, 27% of appeals against it were about refusals to assess (London Borough of Waltham Forest, SEND Sufficiency Plan 2025-30 (in the Schools Forum pack, 10 December 2025) (December 2025), p. 27).
Source: DfE, Education, health and care plans: SEND Tribunals and appeal rate 2024-2025 (downloaded 2026-10-25). See complaints and appeals for the trends.
How often Waltham Forest says no
The council reported refusing no requests to assess in 2025, against 24% in London and 27% in England. But it recorded no decision for 18% of requests (England 7%), and its own records show no decision for 26% of assessments in 2025. So the published figures may leave out some refusals.
| Area | Requests refused | Requests with no decision recorded | Assessments that ended without a plan |
|---|---|---|---|
| Waltham Forest | 0.0% | 17.6% | 0.3% |
| London | 23.6% | 8.4% | 5.1% |
| England | 26.6% | 7.2% | 6.0% |
Source: DfE, Education, health and care plans: Requests for an education, health and care needs assessment received during the calendar year (downloaded 2026-10-25); DfE, Education, health and care plans: Assessments for an education, health and care plan carried out during the calendar year (downloaded 2026-10-25). Figures for 2025.
The council's own records for January to about September 2025 also show no requests refused, and no decision recorded for 26% of assessments. The council says this "needs further investigation" (London Borough of Waltham Forest, SEND Sufficiency Plan 2025-30 (in the Schools Forum pack, 10 December 2025) (December 2025), p. 25). The council has also said data from its case management system is inaccurate (London Borough of Waltham Forest, SEND Improvement Plan - Progress So Far (October 2025), p. 5). So these figures can't tell you how likely the council is to say no to your child.
For the trends, see assessments.
Appeals and complaints
An appeal is about a decision: whether to assess, whether to issue a plan, or what the plan says. If the council has missed a deadline, not replied or not delivered what a plan says, you can complain to the council and then to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman. The Ombudsman usually won't look at decisions you can appeal. See how to complain.