SEND complaints and judicial review are different from SEND Tribunal appeals. A Tribunal appeal is usually for disputes about assessment, EHCP contents, placement or ceasing a plan. A complaint or LGSCO complaint is usually about delay, poor process, failure to carry out duties, failure to hold annual reviews or failure to deliver provision. Judicial review is usually a last-resort legal route for unlawful action or inaction by a public body, such as failing to secure Section F provision or failing to provide suitable education.
The right route depends on the problem. Families should first identify whether they need a decision changed, a delay remedied, provision delivered, a complaint investigated, or urgent legal action.
Many families and professionals have noticed a real shift. Ten years ago, SEND work was often dominated by Tribunal appeals: refusal to assess, refusal to issue, contents and placement. Those routes still matter. But more disputes now arise because something that should already be happening is delayed, missing or not implemented.
The public data supports that sense of pressure. The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO) dealt with 22,010 complaints and enquiries in 2024-25. It carried out detailed investigations in 4,441 cases and upheld 83%, equal to 3,665 upheld complaints. Education and Children’s Services made up 27% of the Ombudsman’s caseload and 47% of all upheld investigations. The Ombudsman also reported fault in 91% of Education and Children’s complaints it investigated, and 94% of cases involving special educational needs provision. (lgo.org.uk)
Judicial review is also rising across the public law system. Ministry of Justice civil justice statistics recorded 3,700 judicial review applications in 2025, up 24% on 2024. (gov.uk) These figures are not SEND-specific, and there does not appear to be a public national dataset that isolates SEND judicial reviews. However, the overall increase matters because SEND families increasingly use pre-action letters and public law routes where the issue is not an appealable decision, but a failure to act.
School complaints are also increasingly visible. Ofsted says it considered around 18,400 complaints about schools in 2024-25, although most did not meet Ofsted’s criteria for investigation because Ofsted does not resolve individual family disputes. (gov.uk) This is important: more families may be complaining, but the route chosen still has to match the outcome needed.
A local authority SEND complaint is usually the first route where the issue is service failure rather than the contents of an EHCP. It may be appropriate where a local authority has delayed, failed to communicate, missed a statutory step, failed to complete an annual review, failed to arrange provision already written into the plan, or failed to make suitable education available while a child is out of school.
A complaint can ask the local authority to put something right. Depending on the issue, that might include issuing a decision letter, completing an annual review, arranging provision, reviewing a case, apologising, making a service improvement, or considering a financial remedy for missed education or avoidable distress.
A complaint is usually not the right route where the family disagrees with a decision that carries a right of appeal to the SEND Tribunal. For example, if the local authority has issued a final EHCP and the family disagrees with Section B, F or I, the Tribunal is usually the route for changing the plan. If the plan already says the provision should happen but it is not happening, complaint or enforcement routes may be more relevant.
The LGSCO investigates maladministration causing injustice. In SEND cases, that often means delay, failure to follow procedure, failure to carry out annual reviews, failure to secure provision, poor complaint handling, or failure to provide suitable alternative education.
The LGSCO is clear that it generally cannot investigate where the issue carries a right of appeal to the SEND Tribunal. It also cannot usually investigate the local authority’s conduct during the Tribunal process. However, it can investigate complaints about delays within the EHC assessment and review process, delay or failure to carry out annual reviews, and failure to ensure a child receives provision set out in an EHCP. (lgo.org.uk)
This distinction is crucial. If the problem is “the plan should say more”, that is usually Tribunal territory. If the problem is “the plan already says this, but nobody is doing it”, a complaint or LGSCO route may be more appropriate. If both are happening, families may need both routes, carefully separated.
The LGSCO can recommend remedies such as apologies, financial payments for lost education or avoidable distress, completion of delayed actions, staff training, service reviews and policy improvements. Its recommendations are not court orders, but councils usually comply; LGSCO reported compliance with recommendations remained very high in 2024-25.
Complaints against schools are growing as a practical issue, but the data is harder to interpret because there is no single national dataset covering every school’s internal complaints process. Schools, academy trusts, local authorities, Ofsted and the Department for Education all have different roles depending on the type of school and the issue.
A school complaint may be relevant where the issue is day-to-day school practice, communication, behaviour responses, reasonable adjustments, bullying, homework, classroom support, pastoral support, attendance handling or how the school has applied its own policies. If the issue is discrimination, a disability discrimination claim may also need to be considered. If the issue is EHCP provision not being delivered, the local authority should usually be included because it maintains the EHCP and is responsible for securing Section F provision.
Ofsted’s complaints role is limited. Ofsted says it does not have power to investigate individual circumstances; it considers whether a complaint raises wider concerns about the school that may justify inspection action. In 2024-25 it considered around 1,710 qualifying complaints, retained information from around 1,600 for future inspection and carried out 25 immediate inspections following complaints.
Families should therefore be realistic about school complaints. They can be useful for creating a record and asking the school to change practice, but they may not be enough where the issue is EHCP delivery, discrimination, exclusion, or a child being out of education.
Judicial review is different from an appeal. It is not usually about whether a decision is the best decision. It is about whether a public body has acted lawfully, followed the correct procedure, used the right legal test, taken relevant matters into account, avoided irrelevant matters, and acted within its powers. (judiciary.uk)
In SEND, a pre-action protocol letter or judicial review may become relevant where:
The Pre-Action Protocol for Judicial Review usually requires a letter before claim. The letter should set out the decision, action or failure being challenged, why it is unlawful, what remedy is sought and the deadline for response. The protocol says defendants should normally respond within 14 days, although urgent cases may require a shorter deadline. (justice.gov.uk)
A judicial review claim must be brought promptly and within the legal time limit. Families should not assume that a complaint process stops the judicial review clock. Where the issue is urgent, specialist legal advice should be sought quickly.
There is no single reason, but several pressures are converging.
First, more children and young people have identified SEND and more have EHCPs. The National Audit Office reported a 140% increase in 0-to-25-year-olds with EHC plans between 2015 and 2024, alongside rising high-needs spending and a system that is not consistently delivering better outcomes. (nao.org.uk)
Second, more disputes are now about implementation. Families are not only challenging what a plan should say; they are challenging missed deadlines, annual review failures, provision not delivered, children out of school, transport gaps, social care drift and health input delays.
Third, financial pressure means local authorities may be more reluctant to commit resources quickly, even where duties remain. (parliament.uk) This does not mean every failure is deliberate, but it does mean families increasingly need written decisions, clear evidence and escalation routes.
Fourth, families are more aware of their rights. They know Tribunal is not the only route. Where the problem is delay, inaction or non-delivery, complaints, Ombudsman referrals and pre-action letters may be more effective than starting a Tribunal appeal that cannot deal with the actual problem.
Start with the problem, not the process.
If the problem is the content of the EHCP, consider mediation and appeal. If the problem is that provision in the EHCP is not happening, consider complaint, escalation and possibly pre-action correspondence. If the problem is annual review delay, ask for the decision and consider a complaint. If the problem is a child out of education, ask what suitable education is being arranged now. If the issue is school practice, start with the school complaint process unless the matter is urgent or another route is clearly required.
Families should create a simple table with four columns:
This often reveals that more than one route is needed. For example, a family might appeal vague EHCP wording, complain about missed provision already specified, and ask for alternative education while the appeal is ongoing. The key is not to mix everything into one unfocused complaint.
Navigate SEND helps families and professionals work out which challenge route fits the problem. This is often the most important step, because using the wrong route can waste months.
We can help by:
The aim is not to escalate every case immediately. The aim is to choose the route that is most likely to get the child or young person back into education, receiving the right provision, and moving forward.
No. A Tribunal appeal is usually about changing a decision or EHCP wording. A complaint is usually about delay, poor process, missed duties or provision not being delivered.
Yes, but not all of them. The LGSCO usually cannot investigate issues that carry a SEND Tribunal appeal right, but it can investigate delay, annual review failures and failure to secure provision in an EHCP.
Judicial review may be relevant where a public body is acting unlawfully or failing to act, especially where there is no adequate alternative remedy and delay is causing serious harm. It is usually a last-resort legal route.
Yes. Schools should have complaints procedures. A school complaint may be appropriate for day-to-day practice, communication, behaviour, policy application or reasonable adjustments. EHCP delivery issues should usually also involve the local authority.
Yes. Navigate SEND can help separate appeal issues from complaint issues, organise evidence, prepare focused complaint points and identify when legal advice may be needed.
If you are unsure whether your issue is a Tribunal appeal, local authority complaint, school complaint, LGSCO complaint or possible judicial review, Navigate SEND can help you map the problem and prepare a clear next step.