13/12/2025
The 2024–25 SENDIST DATA audit,
written by Matt Keer at Special Needs Jungle, shows….
•Around 25,000 families lodged appeals to SENDIST
•Two-thirds of cases went all the way to a Tribunal hearing
•5,835 cases were settled before the hearing (often late concessions)
•64% of appeals were about EHCP content and placement
•24% were refusals to assess
•The remaining 12% were refusals to issue an EHCP or other appeal types
•At the hearings, councils won just 1.1% of cases.
•Around £192 million of public money was spent on SEND tribunals in a single year 🥴
Imagine if that money had gone into
•Support in schools
•Appropriate placements
•Early intervention
•Mental health support
•Staff training etc
•Actually meeting needs
Instead of defending decisions that were overwhelmingly overturned.
Alongside this, we’re now being told to celebrate new SEND funding announcements
I often wonder, if local authorities weren’t spending hundreds of millions fighting families at Tribunal instead of following the actual law, how many of these children in crisis might already be properly supported?
A SENDIST “win” isn’t an exactly a bonus either.
It’s families pushing through pain, delay, exhaustion, gaslighting, and harm just to reach the same basic right to education that others take for granted. it shouldn’t require a court hearing and a bloody order to access it!
Link is in the comments x
