EHCP refused: exactly what to do next

Where can a council refuse an EHCP?

There are two points in the process where a council can say no, and they have different deadlines and different appeal rights. Knowing which one you have received tells you what to do next, because the evidence you need is not the same.

The first is a refusal to carry out an EHC needs assessment. It comes early, usually within 6 weeks of your request, and it means the council has decided not to investigate at all. The second is a refusal to issue a plan after the assessment has been done. It comes later and means the council accepts the needs exist but says a plan is not necessary to meet them.

If the refusal is to assess, your job on appeal is to show the low threshold in section 36(8) is met: that your child has or may have special educational needs, and that it may be necessary for provision to be made through a plan. See how to apply for an EHCPfor what that test actually says. If the refusal comes after an assessment, the advice already gathered under regulation 6(1) is your evidence, andthe assessment guide explains what the council should have collected.

What must the refusal letter contain?

A refusal notice is not just a no. It has to give reasons, and it has to tell you four things: your right to appeal, the time limits for doing so, the mediation information required by regulation 32, and that disagreement resolution services and information and advice services are available. That is regulation 5(3) for a refusal to assess and regulation 10(3) for a refusal to issue a plan.

Do three things with the letter before you do anything else:

• Find the date it was sent and write it down. Every deadline runs from that date, not from the date you read it.
• Read the reasons and check them against the legal test rather than against how reasonable they sound.
• Note anything missing from the reg 5(3) or reg 10(3) list, and say so in writing. A defective notice is a point in your favour.

How long do you have to appeal?

Two months from the date the notice was sent, or one month from the date a mediation certificate is issued if that is later (Tribunal Procedure Rules 2008, r.20(1)(c)). Separately, you must contact a mediation adviser within two months of the decision notice (SEND Regulations 2014, reg 33). Two clocks, both starting on the day the council sent the letter.

Mediation itself is voluntary and free to you, and using it does not affect your right to appeal. For appeals only about the school named, the type of school, or the fact that no school is named, no certificate is needed at all (CFA s.55(2)). Everything else, including a refusal to assess, needs one. Our guide onappealing to the SEND Tribunalcovers the appeal itself. Check the current appeal form and how to submit it on gov.uk, because form names and versions change.

How often do parents win?

Almost always, when a case reaches a decision. Parents win between 95% and 99% of decided SEND Tribunal appeals. That is the single most useful number to hold onto after a refusal letter lands, because it tells you what the refusal is worth as a prediction of the outcome, which is not much.

95% to 99%

Share of decided SEND Tribunal appeals won by parents and young people. Source: HMCTS tribunal statistics, analysed by Browne Jacobson.

Two things to be clear about. The figure covers appeals that are actually decided by the Tribunal. Many appeals end before a hearing because the council concedes once it has to set out its case in writing, and a concession gets you the same result faster. And a high win rate is not a guarantee about your case. It is evidence that refusals as a class do not survive scrutiny. The full methodology and sources are set out in ourSEND Tribunal success ratesguide.

Why do councils refuse in the first place?

The reason is structural, not personal. Refusals happen at scale because demand is rising faster than councils can absorb it, and a refusal is the cheapest decision available at the point where the least is known about your child. Nothing in the letter is a judgement about you or your parenting.

The numbers make the pattern clear. In 2025 councils in England received 162,700 requests for an EHC needs assessment and refused 26.6% of them. There were 638,745 EHC plans in place in January 2025, up 10.8% year on year, and 110,700 new plans were made in 2025, up 13.3% (all figures Department for Education). A system growing at that rate produces refusals at the front door.

Source: Department for Education, 2025.

Put the 26.6% refusal rate next to the 95% to 99% parental win rate and the picture is hard to miss. A large share of refusals do not hold up when someone independent looks at them. That is why the right response to a refusal is a process, not a rethink.

It also matters that pressure is not a legal excuse. The regulations list four narrow grounds that can pause the council's deadlines, and workload, staff shortages and a lack of educational psychologists are not among them.

What to do next, in order

Work through these in sequence. The first four should happen in the week the letter arrives, because the deadlines run from the date the council sent it and nothing you do afterwards pauses them.

1. Record the date the notice was sent. Take it from the letter itself, not the postmark or the day you opened it. Every deadline in your case now runs from that date.
2. Work out your deadlines. Put the dates into the freeEHCP deadline checker. It shows your mediation window, your appeal window and anything the council has already missed, with the regulation cited on each line.
3. Ask for reasons in writing if the letter does not give them.Reasons are required by s.36(5)(a) for a refusal to assess, and the notice must also cover appeal rights, time limits and mediation information (reg 5(3) or reg 10(3)).
4. Contact a mediation adviser. Do this within two months of the notice (reg 33), even if you have no intention of mediating. Declining mediation gets you a certificate within 3 working days (reg 34(1)), and you need that certificate to appeal.
5. Write your challenge to the council. Set out the legal test, the evidence and where the refusal has gone wrong. Ourrefusal to assess template lettergives you a structure to adapt. Councils sometimes reverse a refusal at this stage without any appeal.
6. Gather your evidence. Reports you already hold, the school's records of what has been tried, your own written account of a typical day, and anything showing needs that are not being met. Date everything.
7. Lodge the appeal in time. Send it to the First-tier Tribunal within the r.20(1)(c) window, with the decision letter and the mediation certificate where one is required (r.20(3)). Check the current form on gov.uk before you start.
8. Keep everything. Emails, letters, dates, names, phone calls. A dated paper trail is what turns a disagreement into a case, and it is what the Tribunal reads.