Rulebook · Time limit
Written response to a Tribunal health or social care recommendation
The council (for social care) or the integrated care board (for health) must reply to you in writing, saying what steps, if any, it has decided to take about the recommendation, with reasons for any decision not to follow it or any part of it. The health body's reply also goes to the council that maintains the plan. Recommendations are not binding.
- How it is counted
- Within 5 weeks beginning with the date of the recommendation: that day counts, so the period ends the day before the same day of the week 5 weeks later.
- Whose date it is
- The council (social care) or the integrated care board (health)
- What starts it
- The SEND Tribunal made a health or social care recommendation
- What counts as done
- The council or the health body sent its written reply to a Tribunal health or social care recommendation
- Type of rule
- Law (Act or Regulations)
- Rule id
recommendation_response- Rules version
- england-2026.10
- Law as at
- 30 September 2026
The Tribunal can set a different time limit for the reply. If it did, that time limit applies instead of the 5 weeks.
If the date passes
The council still has to do this, as soon as it can. Passing the date does not by itself change any decision or end the plan.
Steps people often take:
- Write to the council's SEN team, say which time limit has passed, and ask when it will be done.
- Make a formal complaint through the council's complaints process.
- If that does not resolve it, complain to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, which looks at delay.
- For serious delay, a solicitor can send a pre-action letter before a judicial review claim, which must be brought promptly and within 3 months.
Your own deadlines do not change because the council is late.
Sources
- SEND (First-tier Tribunal Recommendations Power) Regulations 2017, reg 6(3)Law (Act or Regulations)
- SEND (First-tier Tribunal Recommendations Power) Regulations 2017, reg 7(1)Law (Act or Regulations)
- SEND (First-tier Tribunal Recommendations Power) Regulations 2017, reg 6(4)Law (Act or Regulations)
- SEND (First-tier Tribunal Recommendations Power) Regulations 2017, reg 7(2)Law (Act or Regulations)
- SEND (First-tier Tribunal Recommendations Power) Regulations 2017, reg 6(5)Law (Act or Regulations)
- SEND (First-tier Tribunal Recommendations Power) Regulations 2017, reg 7(3)Law (Act or Regulations)
- Children and Families Act 2014, s 51Law (Act or Regulations)
If you think this rule is wrong or out of date, please tell us. A person reads every report.