Appeals, advocacy and support

Your rights to appeal, have a voice and what support you can receive whilst applying.

The views of the child or young person and their parent carers are central to a good Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP).

Collection of these views should happen during the:

Services to support you

Your first point of contact is your Planning Coordinator in the Special Education Needs Assessment Team (SENAT).

You can get further information and advice from the West Sussex Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Information, Advice and Support (SENDIAS) service.

Mediation services and appeals

If you still feel that there are unresolved concerns or decisions that you are not happy with after communications with SENAT, you may want to consider mediation.

You can contact the mediation service for advice or to arrange mediation especially where you disagree with certain decisions about an EHCNA or EHCP. For example an EHCNA refusal or if you disagree with the contents of an EHCP.

You must seek mediation advice before lodging an Appeal at First-tier Tribunal (Special Educational Needs and Disability), except if it only relates to Section I. Mediation can occur before or instead of lodging an appeal.

The Local Authority’s arranges mediation through a company called ‘Global Mediation’. You can contact them for advice or to arrange mediation on:

If you do not want to try mediation first, the adviser will issue you with a certificate so that you can register your appeal.

Comments, compliments and complaints

You can provide feedback to the SEN Assessment Team.

Ombudsman

You must follow the full complaints process. Should you still be dissatisfied with the Local Authority's decision after this, you can take your complaint to the Local Government Ombudsman.